To say it loudly and clearly: in the more than 430-year history of the portable watch there has never been an instrument like this. This pronouncement concerns the design, the equipment, and the technology in equal parts – all of which is so exceptional that it can only have come from the Munich watch fabrication Chronoswiss – behind which stands Gerd-Rüdiger Lang, an imaginative perfectionist with great experience in watchmaking. His long, upwardly mobile career, his extensive love of the chronographic profession, and his passion for fast vintage automobiles have made him well known for timekeepers of various markedness. This includes pocket watches as much as regulators, board watches, and – last but not least – wristwatches. The knowledge and talent he has carefully collected through the years has now led to a spectacular world premier by the name of Wristmaster, which debuts at Baselworld 2008.
It is instantly noticeable that this groundbreaking newcomer is not something for gentle souls with delicate wrists – alone its impressive dimensions of 84 x 42 mm underscore this point. The steel base plate, upon which the diverse and above all flexible chronometric happenings take place, measures precisely this amount of millimeters, and two timekeepers make their homes there: one for keeping the precious, irretrievable time and a second for stopping any given period of time. Both function completely independent of each other, but tick fully as the company founder’s spirit and his polished watch philosophy dictate: purely mechanically. Which of the two watch movements is placed where – on the left or the right – is a decision that alone the future owner of these time racers without example will make.
The automatic caliber, placed either here or there – which, with the exception of its very careful finishing and masterful individualization, corresponds to the ETA 2892-A2 – displays the hours, minutes, and seconds using hands and the date in a window at 6 o’clock. With a height of only 3.6 mm, this movement is among the especially flat examples of its species. Its diameter is 25.6mm, frequency four Hertz, and power reserve 42 hours.
Caliber C. 751 is in charge of stopping any given time interval ranging from one-eighth of a second to twelve hours. Here, as well, a central ball-bearing rotor tensions the mainspring, whose energy is enough to power the watch for 42 hours. The controls for the start, stop, and reset functions are activated by two ergonomic buttons located on top of the case and a slideway control within the movement. The coupling and uncoupling of the stop mechanism is guaranteed by a sliding pinion. Connoisseurs probably know by now that we can only be talking about the well-known ETA Valjoux 7750, 30 mm in diameter and 7.9 mm in height, which simply and easily performs its service in Chronoswiss’s chronographs.
Chronoswiss took over the incredibly easy-to-use, absolutely safe, and thus patented bayonette clasp from the widely acclaimed Grand Régulateur, the pocket watch for the wrist. One flick of the wrist is enough to release the movement container water-resistant to three atmospheres (30 meters of water pressure) with its bidirectionally rotating fluted bezel. Another puts it back into the desired position. This flexible construction offers a great deal of possibilities – also for future extensions of the model line. The idea for this new wristwatch was not pulled out of the blue – it was derived from Gerd-Rüdiger Lang’s past: in the 1970s, this automobile lover was present to stop time during the filming of the legendary race car driver film Le Mans starring Steve McQueen. Furthermore, he was a Formula 1 timer and even an official timekeeper for the Olympic Games in Moscow. To this day, the Chronoswiss founder proves his passion for vintage automobiles by taking part in various rallies and the company’s own "nautomobility" event, Chronoswiss Classics. No wonder, then, that his love for fast cars is mirrored in the watch collection: the so-called Bordmaster from the Timemaster family combines a stop watch (Stopmaster) with a board watch, which displays the time. These two watches are predestined for installation in the cockpit of historical automobiles and have already aided many rally teams in their winning bids. In the form of the Wristmaster, motor sports connoisseurs can now also wear their board watches on their wrists.
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