Singer Reimagined Track1 (Hong Kong Edition)
In case you don’t have your eye on the hardest-fought horological competition of the year, the shortlist of pre-selected watches was revealed a couple of months ago for the Grand Prix D’Horlogerie De Geneve: the GPHG. It’s a race for the big boys, the veterans of the prestigious bleeding edge of watchmaking. Except, that is, for one brand: Singer Reimagined.
Despite being around for not much longer than a year, Singer has made the GPHG shortlist twice. That’s an impressive feat for any watchmaker, let alone an entirely new one, but it’s not hard to see what got the judges’ attention.
We’ve all seen racing-inspired chronographs before. Every major brand has their own take on the subject matter. Singer’s Track 1 however, is not like anything that’s come before.
For one, the entire architecture of a traditional chronograph has been, as Singer’s full name suggests, reimagined. It shares as much in common with the racing stopwatches of the 60s and 70s as it does today’s timers. More in fact.
Normally you’d see the stopwatch minutes and hours on subdials, with the seconds replacing the local time second hand. It’s a reliable formula, but well-trodden to the point of tiredness. Singer takes a different approach. The Chronograph is the most important part of a racing watch and so has been placed dead centre, with all three hands indicating time elapsed. The time of day has instead been pushed to the edge on a pair of rotating disks, readable at a glance at 6 o’clock.
It transforms what should be a by the numbers timepiece into something revolutionary, both figuratively and literally. While it might look technical, it’s also incredibly easy to read. You can just read off the local time in one place and when timing you read it like a normal watch without having to visually jump from subdial to subdial.
That ease of reading though does not make the Track 1 a simple watch. Singer might have only launched a year ago, but the watch itself has been in development for a decade and contains almost 500 different components. Revolution is never straightforward.
Of course, it’s not all about mechanics. Even the most ground-breaking timepiece is going to suffer if its ugly as sin. The Singer Track 1 has no such problems. Both the Launch and Geneva editions have a much more understated style than you’d expect from anything so closely linked to the automotive world.
Singer Reimagined Track1 (Launch Edition)
Singer Reimagined Track1 (Geneva Edition)
Rather than carbon fibre and DLC think Grade 5 Titanium and white (Launch Edition) or pale yellow gold and black for the more luxurious Geneva edition. Both veer more towards racing heritage than insane performance-led style and are all the better for it.
If you do want a touch more of that performance pedigree however, there’s the Hong Kong Edition, the GPHG contender and as far as we’re concerned the coolest racing chronograph of the past few years. It’s still reserved compared to its contemporaries but the pure black with flashes of orange are, put simply, awesome.
Singer Reimagined just goes to show that age and ability are not inextricably linked. In their first year of operation they’ve not only proved they can play with the big boys, but have done so with a revolutionary statement of horological intent. Time will tell if their next project will be as ground-breaking, but we’re more than happy to put our money on a resounding yes.
Price & Specs:
- Model name: Singer Reimagined Singer Track1 Hong Kong Edition
- Dial/Case: 43 mm x 15mm
- Movement: Caliber 6361, automatic mechanical movement column-wheel chronograph, AgenGraphe, Singer Reimagined exclusive 3×60 indication central chronograph
- Power reserve: 60-hour
- Water resistance: 10 ATM / 100 meters
- Price & availability: €44’500 CHF (excluding VAT and local taxes)
More at: www.singerreimagined.com
