While we know Timex as one of the masters of accessible horology, they’ve recently taken the plunge in more luxury waters with the advent of their Atelier series. Essentially a new top-end bracket for the brand where they can stretch their design skills a little further than your normal budget tool watch. Last year saw them create the Atelier Marine dive watch and now they’ve introduced the first chronograph to the range with the launch of the Timex Atelier Chronograph Automatic M1a Ti (and Quartz M1q).
It measures 42mm diameter x 15.75mm thickness, making it quite chunky on the wrist and leaning into that bold tool watch heritage. However, even at that size it appears quite handsome with brushed lugs and recessed flanks that house the rectangular chronograph pushers and 3 o’clock crown. It’s made from titanium, which helps offset the size somewhat thanks to its lightweight properties while also providing a cool, dark grey colour to the metal.
Around the outside of the double-domed sapphire crystal is a flat bezel with tachymeter scale that allows the user to calculate their speed over a known distance. Useful if you’re trying to improve your lap times at the local track day. Beneath the sapphire crystal is a very minimalist chronograph display that looks great. It’s bicompax with a reverse panda colour scheme, meaning it has white subdials and a matte black base.
The markings on the dial are very subtle. The hour scale consists of a silver ring with 12 grooves for the hours and then beyond that is the minutes and chronograph seconds scale in white on black. The hands themselves are also super clean with Dauphine style hours and minutes and a baton chronograph seconds. The subdials are similar with pointed batons for the running seconds and 30-minute timer.
Powering the Atelier Chronograph Automatic M1a Ti is the Swiss Landeron L72 automatic movement with 43-hour power reserve and 4 Hz frequency. It has a daily accuracy of +10/-18 seconds per day, which is perfectly reasonable for a non-chronometer calibre. You can view it through the exhibition caseback with its wedge-shaped rotor.
There is actually a second quartz model if the romance of a mechanical movement isn’t important to you. Without the need for a bulky rotor, it does make the watch more streamlined at 40mm x 12.7mm in steel, so wearability and comfort are a genuine consideration. But it also adds a hobnail pattern to the display that isn’t as nice as the smooth dial of the automatic and a date window interrupts it as well.
Price might also be a consideration because the Atelier Chronograph Quartz M1q is £650 while the mechanical Atelier Chronograph Automatic M1a Ti is £1,850 (or slightly less on rubber strap). That’s a significant jump reflecting the difference in case material and movements. While the watch is lovely, it still begs the question, would you spend that type of money on a Timex?
Give a dog a bad name and it sticks. Just like the old jokes about Skoda cars, but now totally transformed. If I were looking to change my car at the moment, I would definitely consider a Skoda, similarly, if I were looking for a tool watch with chrono features, I would consider one the atelier versions from Timex, they are both beautiful watches, that from an attractiveness viewpoint, punch above their weight, and for me, are much nicer than many other similar watches that seem to get better comments on this forum.
I am a little disappointed at Michael’s final comment where he effectively dismisses Timex watches, most unlike Michael.
Hi Dezza,
Thanks for your comment. To add some clarity, I ultimately agree that it’s a lovely watch and I in no way intended to dismiss the brand. I probably didn’t express myself clearly enough but I was coming from a perspective of seeing lots of brands that were once considered the mainstays and staples of accessible watchmaking moving into a more expensive price range. Seiko, Timex and Christopher Ward come to mind as brands that are starting to compete with established mid-range luxury brands like Oris or even Tag Heuer. It’s part of what I see as a polarisation of the watch industry that encourages either very cheap watches or very expensive watches, which can have a negative impact on consumers. So my comments are more derived from the state of the market and watch industry rather than specifically targeted at the quality of an individual brand or release.
Best,
Michael
I have to concur with Dezza. With all due respect, I think you should delete the decidedly negative slant of “While the watch is lovely, it still begs the question, would you spend that type of money on a Timex?” and replace with something more upbeat, such as, “That’s a significant jump reflecting the difference in case material and movements, but still well within the range of similar watches in this category.” Or, you could split the difference with a comment like, “”That’s a significant jump reflecting the difference in case material and movements, but this is not your father’s Timex.”