When the summer rolls around, many watch brands embrace the heat by launching vibrant watches with bold, playful designs that encourage you to get outside and enjoy the warmer weather. However, Chronoswiss have taken a different approach to the concept of a summer watch launch by presenting two watches centred on the material choice of gold. What other precious metal could represent the warmth of the sunshine? Those watches are the Opus Dakar Sundown and Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold.
Chronoswiss Opus Dakar Sundown
The Chronoswiss Opus is a seriously impressive looking chronograph that combines the traditional sporting complications of a 12-hour timer, 30-minute timer and 60-second timer with a skeletonised display and classical aesthetic. You don’t see Breguet hands, an onion crown or flute-tipped pushers on a chronograph very often. It makes for a somewhat grand interpretation of the archetype.
The Opus Dakar Sundown only heightens that sense of luxury by upgrading the case from titanium to red gold and steel bi-metal. The gold is used across the coin-edge bezel, caseback, crown and pushers, accenting the steel case body. If you’re unfamiliar, red gold is a particular gold alloy that has a higher copper content compared to the more common rose gold, which gives it a more intense coppery colour, hence it being called red.
Here, it pairs well with the CVD (chemical vapour deposition) brown dial that was first introduced on the standard Opus Dakar model. Together, the gold and brown really do create the impression of the sun going down on the dusty landscape. Of course, through the skeletonised portions of the dial you can see the inner workings of the watch which are anything but dusty, instead crafted in pristine condition with a combination of brushed and perlage finishes. The calibre itself is the C.741S automatic with 46-hour power reserve.
The addition of gold to the design of the Chronoswiss Opus Dakar Sundown gives it a price of £28,000. More than £10,000 higher than the standard titanium model at around £15,000, which is a stark reflection of the state of the gold market at the moment.
Price and Specs:
Chronoswiss Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold
Second is the Chronoswiss Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold, which takes no half measures and presents its 41mm diameter x 13mm thickness case in full gold. It’s actually a reverse salmon design where a silver-tone dial is paired with a coppery-gold case, a twist on the classic formula.
Chronoswiss have also used this opportunity to introduce a new style of finishing to their guilloché dials with this model, called Frost Guilloché. After the dial is carefully engraved, it is sand-blasted with equal precision to give it a slightly grainy, blasted appearance that diffuses the light that bounces off of it instead of creating hard reflections. It’s not pure matte but it’s a bit darker and less severe.
Beneath the dial is the calibre C. 6002 automatic with 55-hour power reserve. It’s fitted with central minutes and seconds with a 12-hour counter at 3 o’clock and a 24-hour counter at 9 o’clock for the two time zones. The movement is visible through the exhibition caseback where you can admire its radial Côtes de Genève finishing through the skeletonised rotor.
For pricing, it’s even more exclusive than the Opus Dakar Sundown with the full gold design taking it to £44,500 in combination with the new dial finish. This time that’s more than double the price of the titanium-cased standard Guilloché variant, which is around £18,000.
Price and Specs:
More details at Chronoswiss.
