Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323
Angus Davies spent a few enjoyable days wearing the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323, a watch equipped with a jumping hour and guilloché dial.
A few days ago, I was reminded of some sage advice imparted by my late great-aunt, Madge Langhorn. She often talked of her dislike for radios in cars, stating they were distracting and, by default, dangerous. Whenever she was a passenger in a car, at some point her soft voice would be heard emanating from the back seat, advising, ‘keep your eyes on the road’. Indeed, she would often proffer cautionary words to the driver, despite having never driven a car herself.
However, her words of wisdom came to the fore the other evening when I nearly veered off a twisty, rain-soaked country lane, while momentarily gazing at the gorgeous timepiece gracing my wrist. The horological object, which very nearly led to my car ploughing into a hedge, was a Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323.
I acquired the watch a couple of days beforehand, for a period of ‘hands-on’ evaluation, and found its eye-catching appearance repeatedly enticed me to stare at its exquisite form. However, on this occasion, my foolish gawping could have had very grave consequences.
Chronoswiss – a history of graceful aesthetics and mechanical virtue
In 1983, Chronoswiss was established by Gerd-Rüdiger Lang in Munich, Bavaria. Lang, a highly accomplished watchmaker with vast experience working for Heuer, created a range of attractively designed chronographs.
During the company’s history, it has designed an array of watches sporting an unusual ‘onion-shaped’ crown. Furthermore, several Chronoswiss timepieces have been equipped with guilloché dials, elongated lugs and traditional details such as blued hands.
Today, the watchmaking operations of the Chronoswiss are located in Lucerne, Switzerland and the company is owned and operated by the Ebstein family, with Oliver Ebstein holding the position of CEO. Despite the changes in ownership a few years ago (2012), the models continue to exhibit the same, graceful aesthetics and mechanical virtue.
The dial
The dial of the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323 immediately differentiates itself from the majority of watches on the market, courtesy of its sumptuously appointed guilloché dial. Various contrasting motifs harmoniously co-exist, delivering a spellbindingly beautiful dial canvas.
In the upper region of the dial, an aperture reveals the prevailing hour in clean, crisp black text. The font is sans serifs and proves highly legible. The hour advances within the blink of an eye. The aperture features a chamfered edge which confers a seemly appearance, gently bridging the differing levels of the hour disc and the basket pattern guilloché motif. The ‘feuille’ or ‘leaf’ shaped hand is thermally blued and its tip points to a minute track, adorned with satiné circulaire.
The aforementioned minute track overlaps a small running seconds, biased to the lower hemisphere of the dial. This small seconds display, a scaled-down facsimile of the larger, hour and minutes dial, shares the same basket pattern, feuille hand and seconds track, again employing a satiné circulaire pattern. By repeating the dial detail, the cohesion of the dial vista is augmented.
The main dial surface is adorned with a contrasting, but equally alluring, flinqué pattern. Finally, the periphery of the dial canvas repeats the satiné circulaire motif.
By featuring three different guilloché patterns, Chronoswiss has imbued the dial with much appeal, exploiting differing depths and skilfully orchestrating the interaction with ambient light using the various motifs employed. Indeed, by judiciously adopting this approach to dial design, the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323 reminds me of a fine painting where soupçons of exquisite, individual details synergistically fuse to form a cohesive masterpiece.
Despite the myriad of details imparting said aesthetic appeal, the functionality of the dial remains very good. It does take slightly longer to assimilate the hours and minutes of the prevailing time compared with a conventional three hand watch, but the process of reading the time is a joyful experience.
The case
‘Appearances can be deceptive’ is a well-known expression. The stainless steel case of the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323 is 40mm in diameter, but ‘wears’ smaller. I have tried to deduce a possible reason for this, and suspect it relates to the unusual lugs. The elongated profile of the lugs, which seamlessly emanate from the caseband, each measure approximately 10mm in length, spanning a greater proportion of the wrist than many other watches. The union between the strap and the lugs is steadfast, employing refined screwed bars.
For the average-sized wearer, the 40mm diameter case should prove optimally sized. However, personally I would have preferred the case to be perhaps 42mm, albeit, I concede I possess leviathan-like arms, placing me on the periphery of the standard deviation curve.
Chronoswiss has expended much energy finessing minute details of the case, showcasing delightful pockets of smile-inducing features that will, no doubt, confer a lifetime of ownership pleasure.
The highly polished bezel is adorned with a slender fluted edge just above the caseband. This fluted motif is repeated on the edge of the caseback, occupying a slightly larger surface area than its sibling above but, rest assured, exhibiting notable decorum. Indeed, a strength of the whole composition of the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323 is that it masterfully incorporates many lovely elements without appearing ‘fussy’ or outré.
Another meritorious aspect to the case design is the surface treatment. Whilst the bezel is presented in highly polished steel, the caseband is vertically satin-brushed. The caseback is fitted with a sapphire crystal, while the adjacent surface is satin brushed with the fine concentric lines following a circular path. This tasteful melange of surface treatments heightens the appeal of this watch still further.
Part of the Chronoswiss design language is the prominent onion-shaped crown. Before wearing this watch I did wonder whether the crown would prevent free movement of my wrist or chafe my skin. However, the crown did neither and the watch proved very comfortable to wear. The scale of the crown, together with its well-defined knurled grip, proved highly practical, making winding and ease of adjustment very user-friendly.
The watch is presented on an alligator leather strap with a steel pin buckle. The tactility of the materials employed by Chronoswiss is superb, providing further confirmation, not that it was needed, that this is a high quality timepiece, especially considering its modest asking price £5,210 (RRP as at 10.11.2015).
The movement
The self-winding C.283 Caliber has a frequency of 28,800 vph (4Hz), contains 27 jewels and offers a 42 hour power reserve.
The open-worked oscillating mass is stylishly executed with the brand’s logo delivered in skeletonised form. Beneath the oscillating mass, perlage graces the bridges.
The smoothness of the winding action, when operating the crown is excellent. Furthermore, whilst adjusting the time, it is fantastic to observe the super smooth and instantaneous transition of the jumping hour.
Closing remarks
Wearing the Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323 has proved very revealing and my ‘hands-on’ experience has been most enjoyable. The level of finishing surpasses many other watches I come across within this price segment.
To my professional shame, I have not reported on this Swiss brand’s products for some time. However, based on my recent Chronoswiss encounter, I suspect I will be writing several more articles about this interesting family-owned company.
I have only one piece of cautionary advice, if your watch is as beautiful as this Chronoswiss timepiece, exercise caution when driving and heed my great aunt’s advice, ‘keep your eyes on the road’.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Chronoswiss Regulateur Jumping Hour CH-8323
- Reference: CH-8323
- Case: Stainless-steel; diameter 40mm; height 9.75mm; water resistant to 3 bar (30 metres); sapphire crystal to front and caseback.
- Functions: Hours; minutes; small seconds.
- Movement: C.283 Caliber; self-winding movement; frequency 28,800 vph (4Hz); 27 jewels; power reserve 42 hours
- Strap: Alligator leather strap presented with a steel pin buckle
- Price: £5,210 (RRP as at 10.11.2015)