Farer Introduce Chronograph Sport Titanium in Alpine Racing Colours

I’m always conscious of sounding like a broken record when I talk about Farer because without fail, I mention how they are the masters of bold colours. I could realistically point to any of their new watches from across the last two years and they’d be fun, fresh and colourful. The reason I say two years is important because if we do look back that far, we find the launch of the updated Chronograph Sport, a range which is being expanded today with the release of the new Farer Chronograph Sport Titanium.

Titanium has been seeing increasing use in watchmaking in the years following the pandemic. We could speculate on the reasons for that, such as the potential disruption of supply lines meaning steel isn’t as easy to get a hold of, which was a topic of debate back in early 2021, but ultimately all that matters is that there are now a whole host of titanium watches from Rolex to RZE (a microbrand specialising in the material). It was only a matter of time until Farer’s sportiest collection took the titanium plunge.

The new case is specifically made from grade 2 titanium and measures 41mm in diameter with a thickness of 12.9mm. It has a sweeping curved shape from lug to lug, which is enhanced by the brushed finishing that draws the eye along its contours. At 3 o’clock is a titanium crown inset with a bronze cap engraved with the Farer logo and flanked by a pair of chronograph pushers. Completing the design is a bezel on top of the case with a smooth edge and a ceramic tachymeter scale. It makes for a really sporty watch that’s 20% lighter than its steel counterparts, as well as more scratch and corrosion resistant.

We then get to the dials and this is where all that colour I was talking about comes into play. There are two different colourways, although describing them as simple colourways of each other might not be accurate since, in typical Farer styel, each version also has different scales and hour markers. However, they do have the same tricompax chronograph display with small seconds, 12-hour timer and 30-minute timer.

The first of the two designs is the Carnegie Chronograph Sport Titanium. This one has a beau blue tachymeter that pairs with a sunray brushed, bronze colour dial, white subdials and a white minute scale at the periphery. It’s a really interesting combination of colours very different from any other watch that comes to mind. The Carnegie features baton indexes with SuperLuminova for low light legibility.

Second up is the Bernina Chronograph Sport Titanium, a colourway inspired by iconic rally races in the Alpine valleys around St. Moritz.  It’s actually a colourway Farer have returned to several times, which is rare for them. The signature colour combination here is white and red with a combination of various white and off-whites across the bezel, dial and subdials providing subtle contrasts. There’s also a hint of sky blue on the small seconds, telemeter scale (unique to the Bernina model) and tachymeter. Additionally, this version has Arabic numerals rather than lumed indexes.

Housed inside both versions and visible through the exhibition caseback is the Sellita SW510M BH Elaboré movement, a manual wind calibre with a 63-hour power reserve. It looks fabulous with the signature Farer finishing on the back. It’s a fairly unusual movement for a relatively accessible and genuinely sporty chronograph, you almost expect it to have a Sellita workhorse piece rather than a manual Elaboré. However, as it’s the same movement as used in the previous Chronograph Sport models, its use here isn’t a total surprise.

As for that relative accessibility, the Chronograph Sport Titanium is £1,775. I wouldn’t describe it as cheap but when you factor in the titanium case, the ceramic bezel, the fun design and the great movement, you can see that it is actually solid value. All that’s left to decide is whether you’re a Carnegie or Bernina fan. I can see the arguments for liking either of them but with a gun against my head, I’d pick the Carnegie.