By John Galt
The Chronotimer Series 1 presented by Porsche Design is the first complete series of timepieces developed completely by themselves with the principles of the series 1 rooted deep in its history. Professor Ferdinand Alexander designed the first watch in 1972 wanting a piece that had optimal readability, technical perfection and using the highest quality materials, and so was the Porsche Design was born.
Porsche Design rightly anticipated a trend with black chronograph pieces back in the early 1970s with their first release, viewed as revolutionary at the time but now part and parcel of the watch world with its white on black design.
Continuing Porsche Design’s tradition with pure function the new Chronotimer 1 takes designs from the legendary chronograph 1 from 1972 and the titanium chronograph from 1980 with its matte black and titanium finish. The 42mm case is made from glass bead-blasted titanium then painted matte using their own special process, nothing on the dial is decorative, just purely functional with 3 sub dials for small seconds, 30 minutes and 12 hour counters at 3, 6 & 12. The date window is at the normal position of 3 O’clock.The matte black dial is purely functional with all but the hands and numbers in black giving the wearer a perfect view at any angle or light conditions much like the instrument dials in Porsche race cars.
Turning the piece over the black theme continues with a blackened sapphire crystal case back that shows off the energy-optimised Porsche design rotor attached to a mechanical ETA Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement with power reserve of an impressive 48 hours.
The titanium case and bracelet make this piece very resistant to scratching and also extremely light to wear weighing much less than stainless steel.
Movement/Functions: Calibre ETA Valjoux 7750; self-winding mechanical chronograph; Porsche Design Icon rotor; 48 hour power reserve; 28,800 vibrations per hour; 25 jewels; notification of hours, minutes and seconds; stopwatch functionality [seconds, minutes and hours]; date indication.
Dial/Hands: Matt black glass bead-blasted and galvanic dial; circular brushed chapter ring; matt white numerals; matt white and matt grey indices; black galvanic and high-polish white luminescent bar indices; black galvanic and high-polish Porsche Design Icon; small seconds hand at 9 o’clock; 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock circular brushed with polished edges; date indicator at 3 o’clock; black galvanic and high-polish white luminescent hour and minute hands; matt white small seconds hand; matt red chronograph second hand; matt white chronograph hour and minute hands with matt red tips.
Case/Case Back: Glass bead-blasted titanium case with black coating; diameter 42 mm; height 14.62 mm; tachymeter scale on the bezel; screw-down crown; convex, scratch-resistant and double-coated anti-reflective sapphire crystal; screwed case back with black-tinted sapphire crystal opening; water-resistant to 5 bar.
Strap/Clasp: Glass bead-blasted titanium bracelet with black coating; glass beadblasted double folding deployant clasp with push button release made of titanium and stainless steel with black coating.
For more info, please visit porsche-design.com
Conclusion
With its purist looks without any decoration or needless addition this is a purely functional piece for those that want function over decoration. Do I personally think they have kept the principles laid out in the 70s? Yes I do.
John Galt – Contributing Editor
John Galt caught thehorology bug back in 2010 on his first visit to a London watch show and has snowballed since; John has become an avid writer and blogger of timepieces of all kinds, from everyday timepieces to modern Luxury HauteHorology, his favorite brands being HYT and GreubelForsey that push the boundaries of modern watch-making. John keeps a keen interest in the UK watch scene with their many emerging brands and timepiece’s. John Galt currently contributes watch related articles for online publications in the UK and USA. You can follow John on Twitter @johng73 Read his articles here.
