We interviewed the Chronoswiss CEO Oliver Ebstein recently, and were shown an interesting new watch, which they call the Chronoswiss Régulateur 30. Looks like a cross between Chronoswiss Régulateur with the offset hours, central minutes and subsidiary seconds, and the Chronoswiss Delphis with a jumping hour, retrograde minutes and subsidiary seconds.
Let’s take a look at the Régulateur:
The Chronoswiss Régulateur
Chronoswiss Régulateur, with the characteristic guilloché dial with offset small hours subdial, central minute hands and subsidiary seconds hand.
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The watch is cased in the signature Chronoswiss styled coin edge bezed and a large onion crown. The guilloché is done particularly well, and since the interview, we were intrigued by the in-house produced dials.
Detail of the Chronoswiss Régulateur dial. The guilloché is particularly well done, and looks amazing.
We provide a wallpaper sized image of the above which measures 1920 pixels x 1200 pixels. This Watchscape image is available for free download subject to the condition that by clicking here to download, you agree that it is only for your personal, non-commercial use and agree not to modify the image in any way.
Chronoswiss Manufactured C.122 automatic movement. This movement is one of the early in-house manufactured movements. The style is a simple, robust automatic movement, with a large gold rotor, and equipped with a three legged Glucydur balance with a standard Nivarox balance. Shock protection is provided by Incabloc and fine adjustment is via an eccentric cam. The movement beats at 21,600 bph with a power reserve of 42 hours.
The movement on the Régulateur is the in-house C. 122 automatic.
Finishing is basic, as befits the inexpensive price positioning, but is adequate and the result is a rather pleasing aesthetic finish which meets the engineering requirements for finish.
Chronoswiss Régulateur: in a nutshell, a magnificent dial in a beautiful case. Nice proportions. Movement is exclusive as it is in-house manufactured, and finished in accordance to its intended price position.
The Chronoswiss Régulateur 30
The Chronoswiss Régulateur 30 with the jumping hour replacing the hour dial on the Régulateur. However, there is more than meets the eye, as the movment is totally different C.283.
The dial remains the main attraction. As with the Régulateur, the Régulateur 30’s dial is magnificently guilloché on a solid sterling silver plate. The jumping hour is displayed in large numerals visible through a cutout on the dial. The arrangement is aesthetically very pleasing, and the dial is highly legible. As this is intended as a dress watch, the dial markings are not covered in luminous material, so understandably legibility in the dark is compromised.
The Régulateur 30’s dial is one of the high points for us. Very beautifully guillochéd.
The movement is a new C.283 beating at 28,800 bph with a power reserve of 42 hours.
C.283: 30mm diameter, 5.2mm height, 28,800 bph with a power reserve of 42 hours.
We note that the C.283 is visually more interesting than the C.122. The rotor has a stylized cutout to show the Chronoswiss logo, and the perlage patterns on the main plate is nicely done. Movement finishing also seems to be a notch higher than what we observed on the C.122. The jump hour module is not visible as it is under the dial, but the action of the jumping, both forwards and backwards as one winds the crown backward is crisp and has a nice, positive feel.
Concluding remarks
Neither watch is perfect…if ever there was one perfect watch. But both are very beautiful. The aesthetics are particularly attractive. The magnificent dial being the focal point. The guilloché is done very well, and rivals many dials on much more expensive watches. Both have the signature coin edged bezel and onion crown.
The movements are very similar, though we observed that the C.283 in the Régulateur 30 is done to a higher aesthetic and cosmetic finish than the Régulateur. But we must note that both are finished to an acceptable level which meets fine engineering requirements for a clean, polished movement.
Both are built to a price point, which we feel is very reasonable. We seldom see such honest pricing these days. And can heartily recommend either as a candidate for a good modestly priced watch.
The Chronoswiss Sirius Régulateur on the right, and the Régulateur 30 with a jumping hour on the left demonstrating the aesthetics and beauty.
Retail Price:
The Chronoswiss Régulateur 30: RG version CH2811R is S$24,900 and Stainless steel CH2813 is S$11,700.
The Chronoswiss Régulateur CH1241.1R is S$22,500 and the steel version CH1243.1 is S$8,800.
