Having been founded in 1983, Lucerne-based Chronoswiss isn’t often a brand we think about when discussing heritage in watchmaking, but this week the brand showcased the unique contributions it has made in its relatively short history with the release of the new Open Gear Tourbillon.
The watch is meant to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Chronoswiss’s unveiling of the world’s first serially produced regulator tourbillon, the Chronoswiss Régulateur à Tourbillon, in 2000. It brings together a flying tourbillon movement with some of the brand’s signature design elements, all executed in an avant-garde electric blue colorway with modern accents. This anniversary model thus simultaneously celebrates both the “old” and “new” aspects of Chronoswiss, a watch company that has evolved greatly in its 37-year history.
The Open Gear Tourbillon has a 17-piece, 44-mm x 13.1-mm steel case with an electric blue CVD coating. Its classical Chronoswiss design elements include the coin edging on the sides, the large onion-style crown, and screwed-in strap bars in place of the traditional spring bars used on most other watches. This vibrant case alone is enough to give the watch a striking look, but is further bolstered by a color-matched dial and crocodile leather strap.
Forty-three pieces comprise the elaborately constructed dial, which places the watch’s namesake open-gear flying tourbillon as its centerpiece at the 6 o’clock position. The regulator-style dial itself is separated into three sections, with the uppermost layer featuring screwed-on skeletonized train wheel bridges and a funnel-like construction for the hours subdial and outer minute ring. The middle level hosts hand-guillochéd and hand-engraved styling, and the bottom level is embellished with côtes de Genève; together, these levels showcase the brand’s expert workmanship. The final details of note are the use of blue lacquering and Super-LumiNova accenting on the hour and minute hands, rather than the CVD coating used throughout the rest of the ensemble; and of course the contrast provided by the flying, metallic tourbillon to the blue coloring of the rest of the dial.
Powering the timepiece is the Chronoswiss Caliber C.303, a semi-skeletonized, flying tourbillon-equipped movement. The in-house produced, hand-wound mechanism holds a 60-hour power reserve, and is visible, along with its various finishes and blue CVD-coated bridges, via a sapphire exhibition caseback.
The Chronoswiss Open Gear Tourbillon will be limited to 15 total production models and is available now, directly through Chronoswiss, with a retail price of $39,000.
For more information and to inquire for purchase, you can visit Chronoswiss’s website, here.
