In the Chronoswiss Atelier in Lucerne, an engraver spends weeks cutting Chronos, the ancient Greek god of time, into a solid gold case, one stroke at a time.
Chronoswiss today introduces the Neo Digiteur Chronos, limited to 33 pieces worldwide. It builds on the Digiteur, first introduced in the early 2000s by founder Gerd-Rüdiger Lang: a mechanical watch that shows the time digitally, without hands.
There is no conventional dial. Chronos holds an hourglass, with the minutes sweeping in its upper chamber, the time still to come, and the seconds below, the time already passed. The jumping hour appears at the centre of his scythe.
A Greek meander, a classical symbol of eternity, runs around the 5N gold case and onto the strap.
The hand-wound calibre C.85757 is named after the postal code of the brand’s first workshop, founded in 1983, and carries a jumping-hour module developed in-house.
On the case, a single incorrect stroke cannot be reversed, so no two pieces are ever perfectly identical.
The Basics
Brand: Chronoswiss
Model: Neo Digiteur Chronos
Reference: CH-1371R.2-GO
Diameter: 48mm × 30mm
Thickness: 9mm
Case material: Solid 5N gold, hand-engraved
Dial: No conventional dial; hand-engraved gold scene with three apertures; white matt discs with black print
Water resistance: 3 ATM
Strap: Black nubuck, meander pattern printed inside
Limited edition: 33 pieces
The Movement
Calibre: C.85757, hand-wound, with in-house developed Jumping Hour Digiteur module
Functions: Jumping hour at 12 o’clock, sweeping minutes in the centre, sweeping seconds at 6 o’clock
Winding: Manual
Power reserve: Approx. 48 hours
Frequency: 21,600 A/H (3 Hz)
Jewels: 19
Images courtesy of Chronoswiss.