By Jovan Krstevski
Baselworld 2016 is near the corner and we are all excited simply because of the new releases. The Swiss watchmaker Eberhard & Co. is no doubt in sync with the event through its beautiful Extra-fort Grande Taille Chronograph preview. This, my friends, is an elegant chronograph with pleasing personality as all the other enthusiasts remark about it. Well, I for one agree since there is the Swiss standards and the fascinating specs that I am going to delve on a bit later. We all know that this Bienne-base watchmaker touts watches that are subtly classic and elegant with very distinctive details such as the frappé finishing technique or a special stamping style that we can see on the new Extra-fort Grande Taille Chronograph. Fortunately, we get all the bells and whistles with this watch and that is why I am excited about the Baselworld 2016.
The 41 mm case is made of stainless steel which is perfect for that classy look. Personally, I like steel so I might be biased but aren’t we all? The bezel also comes polished which is superbly enticing as it redirects your gaze to the most important centerpiece of the watch which is the dial. The pushers at the 2 and 4 surrounding the aptly sized crown are also very subtle and even if I don’t mind their rectangular shape a round one might have been better, again personal preferences are hard to ignore. Anyhow the lugs are neat and slim yet it shows enough bravado for the watch against the leather strap. Besides at 13.90 mm thickness, I have no complaints especially when it looks fantastic for a 41 mm standard classic case.
The Extra-fort Grande Taille Chronograph comes in 4 beautiful dial iterations namely, Silver/silver counters, Blue/silver counters, Grey/grey counters, and Silver/black counters. All these variants come with the firm’s trademark frappé finishing and snailed counters. The finishing is truly remarkable plus you always get to enjoy the skill full blend of Swiss watchmaking techniques on the Extra-fort Grande Taille Chronograph. The Dauphine hands, applied indices and Roman numerals also make time reading a breeze although if you are new to this style you might find the dial quite populated. Anyhow if you are like me, you will find the chronometers beautifully situated at the 9 and 3. The date happens to be at the 6 but I don’t mind even though my eyes are trained to look for it the 3.
Power is provided by the calibre base ETA 7750, a mechanical chronograph with automatic winding capable of offering 42 hours when the chronograph is not being used. It also sports 2 counters, the 30 minute counter at the 3 and the small continuous second counter at the 9. The caseback although not an exhibition material offers solid quality enhanced by the screw-in crown and 6 screws making it water resistant to 50 meters. You get to wear this watch on a black or brown alligator strap although other choices involve a Chalin steel bracelet with the option of the patented Déclic deployment clasp. Price is pegged at Euro 3,630.
For more info, please visit eberhard-co-watches.ch
JOVAN KRSTEVSKI – FOUNDER, PROPRIETOR & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jovan Krstevski has been collecting watches every since his father bought him an Omega Seamaster back when he was just a teenager. He launched Watchgeek back in 2011, which is now known as WristReview and is one of the most widely read watch blogs on the Web. He quotes ’WristReview is a site to help people find, explore, discover and enjoy wristwatches.’ Besides WristReview, he also writes for a number of publications. Read his articles here
