FEW WATCH FUNCTIONS ARE AS DRAMATIC AS A JUMPING SECONDS HAND . Chronoswiss takes full advantage of its twice-per-minute jumping hand by placing it just above the 6 o ’ clock spot on the new , metallic blue and gold Open Gear ReSec , a new 44mm regulator watch .
The watch is a new limited-edition model within the Lucerne-based watchmaker ’ s existing Open Gear ReSec collection . Named for its premier function ( ReSec stands for Retrograde Seconds , the more technical name for the over-active hand ), the watch gleams with a particularly rich blue 44mm CVD-coated case accented by gold hands and markers .
Chronoswiss wisely mounts its gold-colored jumping hand on a nicely hand-finished straight-grained bridge with smartly polished edges . The jumping hand itself operates in a half-circle , leaping from the thirty seconds position back to start its arc to complete counting each minute .
As Maik Panziera , Chronoswiss Head of Design , explains in a press release : “ This ‘ jump back in time ’ takes a millisecond , and the precision of the watch is well within ± 5 seconds per day .” He adds that the invention of the retrograde display dates from 17th- century pocket watches .
To add even more visual punch , Chronoswiss has finished the bridges that hold the retrograde complication in place with three different finishes : sandblasted matte , chamfered edges and polished surfaces .
And there ’ s more to treat the eye . Chronoswiss contrasts the dial ’ s metallic blue sheen with easy-to-read luminous hands framed in gold plate , including the large minute hand that circumnavigates the dial and the smaller hour hand at the 12 o ’ clock position . Chronoswiss then adds hour indexes made of white cylinder-shaped blocks of SuperLuminova to ensure visibility . To add texture to the already multi-layer dial , Chronoswiss has skeletonized a few of the gears visible through the hours subdial . On the exterior , Chronoswiss also mixes it up with matte-finished , channeled case-sides , a shiny bezel and polished lugs .
All told , there ’ s a lot to please a collector searching for a distinctively finished watch that won ’ t hide on the wrist . The bonus here is that Chronoswiss adds two unusual functions : a regulator dial featuring a timehonored , action-packed retrograde seconds hand .
Price : $ 9,900 ( limited edition of fifty ).
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