Chronoswiss, whose stock-in-trade is the regulator watch, continues to develop new and intriguing variations on that 19th-century device in its increasingly colorful collection of Flying Grand Regulator wristwatches. The first Open Gear versions of the model, which placed wheels and bridges on the front of the dial in an openworked configuration, debuted in 2018, and this year the Lucerne-based brand takes this design to the next level with the Flying Grand Regulator Open Gear Retrograde Second, or ReSec. Perhaps even more notably, it does so with a dazzling “Electric Blue” color combo scarcely seen before in watchmaking.
The stainless steel case of the Flying Grand Regulator Open Gear ReSec is treated with a highly scratch-resistant DLC (diamond-like carbon) that imparts a hardness of 4,500 Vickers in addition to its eye-catching, lustrous blue color. Measuring 44 mm in diameter and 13.35 mm thick, the 17-piece case houses Chronoswiss’s automatic Caliber C.301, designed to bring attention to its dial side, with skeletonized gear train bridges screwed firmly to the front, along with the funneled subdial at 12 o’clock hosting the off-center hours display, the large central minutes hand, and the model’s namesake function, the retrograde seconds display at 6 o’clock, with a hand sweeping across a 120-degree scale, jumping back to zero once every 30 seconds. The blue tones of the case flow seamlessly into the dial — which is essentially, in the Open Gear design, part of the movement — whose elaborate guilloché motif was executed by hand on a historical rose engine; the large cylindrical hour indices, made from a mixture of Super-LumiNova and ceramics; and the elongated triangle hands with their luminous inlays. The hands and indices glow a bright blue to echo the monochromatic color scheme of the timepiece.
The watch is attached by curved, shortened lugs designed for comfortable conformity to the wrist, to a hornback crocodile leather strap in the same blue as the case, which features Chronoswiss’s hallmark coin-edge motif on its sides and large onion crown. Its sapphire exhibition caseback offers a rear view of the movement, which oscillates at 28,800 vph (4 hz), features a power reserve of 42-hours, and winds its mainspring by means of blued rotor that echoes the color of the case and dial. The Electric Blue model of the Chronoswiss Flying Grand Regulator (price: $9,900) is one of five new references launched this year in a variety of materials and colorways; all are limited editions of 50 pieces.
Beatifull o clock elegant and low cost
‘Electric Blue’…?
That’s a shame to see that name being used by Chronoswiss, as I for years had always assumed that my 2006 Omega SMP 2255.80 was THE ‘Electric Blue’.
Geez. What an ugly piece.