Albishorn Launches the Thundergraph, its Imaginary Chronograph for Exploration

Born lower than a 12 months in the past, Albishorn is already launching its third watch… However what’s Albishorn? It’s a somewhat cool idea model that goals at creating vintage-inspired watches. Nothing actually totally different from the gang, however Albishorn and its founder Chaulmontet had an thought: imaginary classic. And by that, he designs from scratch, collectively along with his accomplice in crime Fabien Collioud, classic watches that by no means existed however might have been made on the time. One way or the other, the lacking hyperlinks within the historical past of watchmaking. Hypothetical fashions, retro-styled however modernly constructed. I do know, there’s numerous fancy discuss in that, however the outcomes, exemplified by the Maxigraph and the Sort 10 Chronograph, are characterful and convincing. And right here is the third mannequin, the Albishorn Thundergraph, which is described because the chronograph that might have been made for alpine exploration within the early Fifties, a watch that might have been designed for the Swiss expedition to Mount Everest in 1952. 

Albishorn is a small, indie model based by Sebastien Chaulmontet, ex-La Joux-Perret, answerable for the revival of Arnold & Son and Angelus, and now serving because the Head of Innovation and Advertising at Sellita Watch Co SA and Manufacture AMT. And whereas this place stays his principal occupation, Chaulmontet, who has a sheer ardour for chronographs and a deep historic data within the subject, created Albishorn as a facet venture. The thought was to be inventive and but classic, designing retro-inspired watches based mostly on ideas which have by no means existed however that might have, hypothetically, been made previously. The primary mannequin, launched along with Massena LAB, circled across the thought of an imaginary classic chronograph hypothetically commissioned for the primary version of the esteemed regatta race on Lake Geneva, Le Bol d’Or, in 1939. This regatta chronograph, the Maxigraph, was adopted by the Sort 10 Chronograph, Chaulmontet’s imaginative and prescient of what might have been the ancestor of the Sort 20 from the French Military, and will have been commissioned by it in 1948 as its first official chronograph.

So, now Albishorn treats us with its third creation, the Thundergraph. After all a chronograph, after all a vintage-inspired watch, after all a watch that comes straight out of the creativeness of Sebastien Chaulmontet and Fabien Collioud, after all one thing that has by no means existed and is a pure design train. And after taking a look at regatta and pilot watches, the duo now tackles the concept of the exploration watch. With what…? A hypothetical watch that might have been designed to observe the Swiss expedition to Mount Everest in 1952, a chronograph made for alpine exploration. The story of the primary males to climb Mount Everest is well-known. On Could 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest (with Smith and Rolex concerned). However the Swiss have been the primary to set their sights on this aim. In 1952, the Swiss Basis for Alpine Analysis organized two expeditions to Mount Everest, led by Dr. Edouard Wyss-Dunant. The Spring Expedition was notably important. Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay (him once more…) reached an altitude of 8,595 meters, the best ever achieved by people on the time, simply 250 meters in need of the summit, however have been compelled to show again because of lack of oxygen and exhaustion.

“Albishorn got down to think about the final word tool-watch that might have been conceived particularly for this expedition,” explains the model. A chronograph designed particularly for Himalayan exploration, a device to assist climbers monitor time and handle their ascent in unforgiving situations. Proper… Sufficient candy discuss, let’s take a look at the watch. So what are we really encountering right here? A retro-style chronograph with a particular look, a transparent instrument-like focus, a somewhat uncommon show and, total, a watch with once more nice character and allure. The Albishorn Thundergraph depends on the identical technical base because the Maxigraph and Sort 10, utilizing an similar case center and base motion. This implies a central metal case that measures 39mm x 12mm, with a size of 47.7mm. The profile is properly curved with a big polished chamfer contrasting with the brushed surfaces.

As with the 2 earlier fashions, there’s a box-shaped sapphire crystal to imitate the look of outdated plexiglass crystals, and a screwed again providing a snug 100m water-resistance. One other design component that’s carried over the earlier fashions is the place of the crown at 10 o’clock (right here made in bronze), and the pink anodized aluminum monopusher for the chronograph on the left facet – defined by the best way the motion is positioned contained in the case, but additionally making using the pusher fairly ergonomic, as you’ll press it along with your thumb. The principle distinction on this Thundergraph relating to the case is the bezel – outsized (42.7mm diameter), bowl-shaped, bidirectional and with an engraved 60-minute scale over a brushed metal floor.

Whereas the dial’s structure seems acquainted (similar to the Sort 10), the type is new and once more somewhat interesting. The bottom has a petroleum blue brushed tone and boasts massive, legible and luminous Roman numerals and triangular indexes. Not like a conventional California dial, the place one half options Roman numerals and the opposite half Arabic numerals, the “California ghost dial” (as Albishorn calls it) omits the Arabic numerals completely. The higher half has outsized, utilized gilt Roman numerals, whereas the decrease half solely carries a triangular marker and the 2 chronograph sub-dials. The pencil palms are additionally gold-toned and brushed, with a good quantity of classic beige Tremendous-LumiNova.

Now, relating to the place of the sub-dials, you can think about that the motion is somewhat particular. Nicely, it comes with its distinctive options but it surely’s principally a intelligent trick from Chaulmontet. Rotating the 7750-derived calibre by 135 levels to the left permits not solely having the monopusher underneath the thumb but additionally having these two sub-counters positioned properly within the decrease half of the dial. The show right here consists of central hours and minutes, a small seconds at 4:30 and a chronograph with central seconds and a 30-minute counter at 7:30.

Below the caseback adorned with a Swiss cross and a rope, impressed by the logo of the Basis for Alpine Analysis on the time, is the calibre ALB03 M. This proprietary hand-wound, monopusher chronograph is constructed on a modified 7750 structure, and to be exact depends on the bottom of a Sellita SW510M Mp. Licensed chronometer by the COSC, it has additionally been reworked to be thinner, because the work performed on the plates and the size of the pivots makes it 5.70mm in thickness versus 7mm for the traditional Sellita base. This cam-lever chronograph runs at 4Hz and advantages from a beneficiant energy reserve of 65 hours.

Delivered with a petroleum blue grained leather-based strap and a matte beige leather-based strap, the Albishorn Thundergraph is out there completely on-line at albishorn-watches.ch. It’s a restricted version of 99 items (unnumbered), produced over a interval of three years, and is priced at CHF 3,650 (excl. taxes).