My favorite $2k Chronographs

Love that early 20th century design

The only fault that I can find with the video (who am I to say which watch you should like more) is your History category on the Crunch Score. I just can't see how Hamilton ranks lower than Junghans.

Hamilton was making watches decades earlier than Junghans, although Junghans was the older company. Hamilton was instrumental in the development of battery powered watches. Their designs were every bit as iconic as anything produced by Junghans (Ventura anyone?). Further, they produced elegant mid-century three handers that spoke the same "form follows function" language that Gropius made famous (that Louis Sullivan may have coined decades earlier):

(Photo from The Hamilton Chronicles, a 1954 Parker.)

Max Bill's most famous design was actually a kitchen clock that he created in 1956. There was something in the air.

The American version of Hamilton certainly and the Swiss version arguably are more important in the history of watches than Junghans. I therefore dissent.

Thanks, Max. Learned a lot. And thanks for setting up the Portland meetup. It was fun and good to meet you there.

Of these two, I prefer the Hamilton's classic style.

Love Hamilton but their American lineage ended decades ago.

Great to meet ya!

It's not like they went dark. They purchased Buren in the early 60's and then moved operations to Buren's factory in 1969. There is a continuous line, if you want to follow it.

That's why I generously gave them an 8.5/10 😉

I'm going to get absolutely slaughtered for this but I stand by it: The Junghans is a snoozefest "for me". I cant spend a penny over $500 on a watch with (basically) a printed dial. I'm not a Hamilton fanboy but at least its got applied indices, a splash of color & some character.

...Reaches for my butcher knife

I'm planningto purchase this:

Limes

Pharo Chronograph Vollkalender (full Kalendar).

Limes is a small german brand located in watch and gems industry city of Pforzheim and belongs to the Ickler company. An important manufacturer of watch parts. They using the Caliber ETA 7551. Same as the Longines in their Master Chronograph Calendar.

Almost everything else is inhouse manufactured. From the bracelet and case to the thermal blued hands.

For less than 3K with a better spezification and more detailed work on the case, dial, hands and bracelet. It's a wonderfull high quality crafted watch and can't wait for.

By the way.

I love the Junghans Chronoscope too.

But I would also love to see more than only the Max Bill line. Junghans has much more to offer.

Cheers

I think I would (and hopefully will) go with the Longines Record Chronograph.

Wow that's some great finishing for 3k !

Bauhaus, for the win. I like the style so much I've incorporated it into my home and office. And yes I own a Chronoscope as well. 😜

To answer which is my favorite everyday Chrono is simple enough for me. It's this one; 😀

But if I could choose one of those two from Max video it would be no doubt the Hamilton. I was actually thinking to purchase one for it's very nice design and specifications.

my favourite everyday chrono

I have the Hamilton Intra-Matic on my list to acquire this year.

This handsome citizen eco drive is my daily chrono. It’s a strap beast and while it does not feature any lume, the mirror polishing on the hands and indices makes it easy to read the time with the smallest amount of light. Also when outside the way the light plays off it makes it look stunning in almost any environment.

Great choice!

Here's my original example from the 1960s

Don't forget vintage Seiko Chronographs, they are still great value!

My daily chrono is a Speedy Auto 3523.80. Goes with a t-shirt and tats or a tux, solid movement, beautiful and you can pick up a clean example for right around 2k. Added perks: day, date, month and am/pm indicator. 39mm but wears a little small IMO. 7.5” wrist for scale.

What is this watch, please?

I built it myself almost a year ago with some help from local watchmaker (he helped me with shorten the date hand with that red halfround end because it was too long so he cut it and weld the red piece back) and also with goldsmith ( he made that white gold ring between blue bezel and the dial plus he made that engraving) It's based on ETA VALJOUX 7751 movement with all the parts purchased from Switzerland on ebay. This watch doesn't have a name but I was thinking to engrave "Isabel" on it because it was the name of the first customer I had when this watch was finished. And I don't know if it was a coincidence or fate but that lady Isabel from Belgium have had same blue eyes as the hands on the watch. Should I engrave that name on it? What's your opinion? 😀🍻

I get a Lange vibe from it. Very very nice. Isabel is a fine name. One should always obey the flow. Great work!

I've owned a reverse blue panda Hamilton chronograph. Really enjoyed they one ... Maybe I'll buy it back again someday? And, I've owned a Junghans Meister Telemeter Chronograph, the one with the silver dial and tachymeter and the telemeter scales around the primer. It certainly wore more compact and thinner than specs may suggest.

These days, I have 3 mechanical chronographs. They could all be daily drivers imho.

Under $2k.. I believe it still is if they still make them is a Farer Bernina Chronograph Sport. Excellent manual wound movement with 100m of WR.

The other two are over $2k.

I have a Sinn 103 Klassik 12. Super capable with screwdown pushers and crown with 200m of WR and likely negative pressure resistance as it's also considered a pilot chronograph and should handle rapid decompression.

Lastly, I have a Seiko Prospex SBEC005 which has a very good column wheel chronograph and also 100m WR.

The Farer is the thinnest at or under 13mm. Thank the manual wound Sellita chronograph movement which has been more prevalent in a number of relatively recent releases from Nivada Grenchen, Excelsior Park, Baltic and Nezumi to name some off the top of my head.

The Sinn and Seiko are the thickest at 17mm and 16mm respectively. But, they really don't wear that big on wrist and never had any weight or dexterity issues. Quite comfortable in fact and both use case sculpting tricks to make them wear more compact and lower profile when on wrist.

There are no shortage of pretty nice mechanical chronographs that range from mid-$1k to roughly $3k one can look at and choose from these days.

I agree. Then again, it’s not really fair to score on history, especially post 1980s. These are modern watches that are essentially reissues or re-imaginings of the models they reference, so it’s effectively moot. I might as well score you on how much you resemble your grandfather.

Bauhaus is technically nothing to do with watches either, Bauhaus is a German artistic movement which lasted from 1919-1933; Junghans were around long before the Bauhaus was founded. Max Bill was not even approached by Junghans until the 1950s, and it was effectively trying to capitalise on Max Bill himself rather than the Bauhaus. It’s the Junghans Max Bill, not the Junghans Bauhaus.

You could argue he isn’t even one of the most famous proponents of the movement, he studied under Josef Albers, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer – some of the most respected designers of the 1920s and 1930s, although he would go on to be much better known than many of his tutors it wouldn’t be for the work he did for the Bauhaus movement because he didn’t technically contribute to it, he was a student of it, unless you want to rewrite history.

You could even go further and suggest that Bill, despite studying at the Bauhaus isn’t technically “Bauhaus”, he is more known for his development of Concrete Art. There are clear links, but it is his interpretation and development of those teachings that resulted in the what one would say is the style and ethos of a Max Bill design; he was not a one-trick pony. What we call “Bauhaus” watches are effectively modern, and are merely clones of Bill’s clocks and watches designed for Junghans over a short period in the 1950s. Nomos, Sternglass… modern, not Bauhaus. Form and function is fine, but simple design with a font with a rounded corner does not automatically equal strict “Bauhaus” philosophy, that’s just lazy by association. He was definitely moulded by his time there, taking a lot of the concepts forward, but Max Bill is Max Bill. One could argue that Timex watches from the 60s and 70s are much more “Bauhaus” because they were able to be produced en masse cheaply with a clear distinctive and simple style… so you could say that Timex “attempted to unify individual artistic vision with the principles of mass production and emphasis on function”. Ooh er… put that pin-pallet Marlin down, it’s far too fancy for mere mortals now, it’s a cultural icon.

Oh man this is the eternal question for me. For a while I was leaning sinn 144 (a bit above the 2k range though), but more recently I started hunting for something with a reverse panda design. My preference is racing inspired over flight inspired. That said, that junghans 👌👌👌 everytime I see a picture I just stare at it...but would it look right on the wrist at a track day? 🤔

Agreed. And that Farer is beautiful.

My daily chronograph is an Oris TT3.

I guess im partial to chronos, i got one each from IWC, Breitling, TW steel and of course, casio, timex and seiko....very nearly pulled another on a moonwatch as well...