Chronoswiss Opus Chronograph Flag
The Chronoswiss Opus Chronograph Flag brings together three elements that have come to define the Lucerne-based brand, namely, skeleton watches, chronographs and, lastly, the playful use of colour. However, while this company keeps making increasingly desirable watches, it still retains some of the historic codes from its past.
Chronoswiss, the Lucerne-based watch brand was founded in 1983 by Gerd-Rüdiger Lang. The company’s first model was a chronograph equipped with a moon phase. Interestingly, the watch featured an exhibition caseback, an unusual feature for the time. Thereafter, the company began making regulator watches, a speciality of the brand that continues to the present day.
Although Chronoswiss is probably the leading exponent of regulator watches, the firm’s efforts are not limited to one horological genre. In 1995, the firm unveiled the Chronoswiss Opus, the first serially manufactured, self-winding, skeletonised chronograph. Again, the firm continues to make this type of watch.
During the Lang era, many of the watches where dressed in sober shades, however, in 2012, everything changed. The company was acquired by the Ebstein family and Maik Panziera was tasked with product design. Suddenly vivid hues were the order of the day. Rest assured though, Chronoswiss did not abandon its existing clientele, but released new models clearly intended for a new, younger audience.
The new Chronoswiss Opus Chronograph Flag is openworked and equipped with a self-winding chronograph movement, the Caliber C.741S (based on the ETA Valjoux 7750). Most pertinently, this timepiece is suffused with blue, red and white hues which, according to Chronoswiss, are ‘the three most used colours for national flags’. Cleverly, Chronoswiss has endowed the movement with a galvanic black finish which helps accentuate the aforementioned blue, red and white tones.
Some things never change, no doubt reassuring the brand’s die-hard fans. On this latest model, its 41mm case sports the firm’s much-loved onion crown, the bezel is enriched with rope-like knurling and the strap is held securely with screw-in lugs and the company’s Autobloc system.
What made the Chronoswiss Opus of 1995 stand out from the crowd was that it democratised skeleton watches. Hitherto, an openworked or skeleton watch necessitated an artisan taking a conventional movement and removing superfluous material using handsaws and files. Great care was necessary to ensure that the functionality and reliability were not impaired as a result. This technique was highly skilled, labour intensive and, by default, expensive. However, everything changed with the advent of the Opus.
The Chronoswiss approach involves using a pantograph that uses a feeler to follow the lines and contours of a reference movement/template. As the pantograph’s feeler or finger moves it guides a milling tool that precisely removes superfluous metal. This method ensures the functionality and torsional rigidity remain comparable with a standard movement.
Over the years, Chronoswiss has evolved and conceived a plethora of new models. Furthermore, the Swiss Maison has explored new colours and different textures. While Chronoswiss has developed new, exciting products, it has not abandoned the best aspects of the Lang-era. The future looks bright for this dynamic brand and not just because it has a penchant for ebullient hues.
Price: CHF 11,400 (RRP as at 3.3.2021)
The brand’s press release
The new skeletonised Opus Chronograph Flag is an updated edition of a true Chronoswiss classic. The dial may be scarcely there after the careful and ingenious skeletonising process – but nevertheless the blue and fair subdial perimeters make a great impression. This modern mechanical 300-part horological marvel is sporting blue with highlights in white and red – the three most used colours for national flags.
The mechanical clarity of the Opus Chronograph is achieved by carefully paring away all superfluous material, leaving nothing but a filigreed skeleton – which functions just as well as when fully fleshed. On the new model the bridges of the Chronoswiss Calibre C.741S movement have a galvanic black finish, which provides a shadowy backdrop to the sweeping hours, minutes, seconds, date and the bright red chronograph seconds. You will also see the skeletonising clearer than ever before, as the curved sapphire crystal is now getting a double anti-reflection treatment.
Around for more than a quarter-century, the Opus architecture has been thoroughly updated. Its new geometry combines a 41-millimetre diameter with shorter lugs hugging the wrist more comfortably. Made of stainless steel, the solid construction calls for no fewer than 23 pieces. Finishes include a satin-brushed case band, shiny lugs and the typical Chronoswiss markers of a knurled bezel and generous onion crown. Water resistance has also been improved – now at 10 bar. And the alligator leather band is held in place with screw-in lugs featuring the Chronoswiss patented Autobloc system.
The skeletonising on the Opus Chronograph is executed with a pantograph technique – imagine having a larger template made after a handmade prototype. The pantograph uses a steel finger to follow the pattern on the large drawing while a mechanical arm guides the tool that mills the small movement components, in essence skeletonizing them. When Chronoswiss first introduced the Opus back in 1995, it was one of the brands pioneering this technique for skeletonising.
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