Porsche Design Monobloc Actuator Chrono

[Tricolore66]

Porsche Design has been marching to their own beat since they debuted their first wristwatch in 1972, an iconic watch designed by none other than Ferdinand Alexander Porsche himself. It was groundbreaking for it's minimalist design, which was clearly inspired by the incredibly legible instruments in the Porsche 911, and particularly for its use of a black PVD case. PD created the first "black watch", which changed the direction of sport watches and launched an entirely new design language which is now offered by virtually every major Swiss watchmaker. These watches used both the legendary Lemania 5100 movement, as well as the Valjoux 7750, depending upon production year. Tom Cruise wore one in the original Top Gun movie, and actually wore the same exact watch in the sequel! Popular on the wrists of Formula 1 drivers of the era, and in the pages of car magazines in the 70's and 80's, when this now-58 year old lusted for one!

PD has always been far more than a branded wristwatch, and have paired with Orfina, and later IWC, until eventually making their watches in-house, abeit sourcing movements and modifying them to suit their purpose, and likely using outside vendors to manufacture cases, bracelets, etc.

During the IWC partnership, PD created the first watch using a case/bracelet entirely made of titanium. Later, the PD-IWC "Titan" concealed the chrono pushers into the case itself, and mint examples of this model are getting very hard to find and commanding strong prices.

I've never owned a PD watch, but have had the pleasure of owning and driving dozens of their sports cars through the years, and have a deep appreciation for Porsche design, engineering and motorsports success. This review started with my Chrono24 search for a vintage PD01 Chrono, the watch that started it all. Not having much luck finding "the" watch, I opened up my search to the PD-IWC Titan, which led to me discovering the subject of this review, the Porsche Design Monobloc Actuator Chrono; yes it's a mouthful!

On paper, this is a massive watch, at 45.5mm, and 15.5mm thick, but the titanium case and bracelet, which integrates into the case (which has been a hallmark character of PD watches) makes it wear much smaller, though the height is something that you tend to notice. In addition to the chronograph, it also has GMT and Date complications. The dial is a deep blue sapphire with a subtle radial sunburst character, slighly sunken subdials, a neatly countersunk "PD" logo, and small date window at the 4'oclock position. The dial and hands are nicely lumed, and the tachymetre dial is on the outer edge of the dial, with the GMT time cut into the case itself. It has very interesting, dramatic angles, with a three-dimensional stepped quality to the case and dial. The seconds display is unlike anything I've seen, with a window at the 9 o'clock position that shows the seconds moving and letting you know the watch is running. The modified Valjoux 7750 is nicely finished with blued screws and visible through a dark tinted rear sapphire crystal display back.

The design feature that links this piece to the original Titan chrono, taking it a step further, is the chrono pusher, neatly integrated into the case itself, and pivoting on a precision bearing. Going from pushers that are disguised into the case Porsche design says this design takes engineering inspiration from their 911 RSR LeMans racers valvetrain. In practice, it's nothing short of very cool! The chrono starts, stops and resets with a precise click, and seeing the pusher sliding over the sapphire crystal has a satisfying mechanical precision to it that makes you want to use it often! I'm not sure you'd ever need it, but the chrono can actually be used underwater, a rarity and testament to the engineering work PD put into this watch, which is waterproof to 100m. The design gives the case a subtle yet quirky asymmetrical quality that will have you looking at it again and again.

The bracelet is enormous, and it took taking out five links to get a proper fit on my average-ish sized wrists. The quality of the case and bracelet are unbelievable, much more along the lines of watches costing double the MSRP of this one (which btw is around $7k, but more on that later). You can tell a lot about how a bracelet is made by taking it apart and removing links, and this one is just beautifully made. An added bonus was discovering a micro-adjustment that allows you to change the length of the bracelet by nearly 2 link lengths, and very beautifully engineered with a precision feel that punches way above it's price class.

My thoughts are based on about six hours on the wrist, but here are a few impressions:

1. The quality of the bead-blasted titanium case and bracelet are tremendous; easily the equal of anything from Omega or Tudor. I was expecting something more along the lines of Sinn quality quite honestly, so this watch has far exceeded my expectation for case and bracelet.

2. It would be nice if the indices on the dial were a little bit larger every 5 minute mark. It's actually kind of hard to set the watch on the exact minute.

3. The date window is pretty small and hard to read with my 58 year old eyes.

4. The winding feel is excellent, and the watch has been spot on in timekeeping since I first set it around ten hours ago.

5. The printing on the dial and the lume application isn't what you would get on an Omega or Tudor, and probably more along the lines of a Sinn. I'd like to look at an IWC Pilot with a loupe for comparison though.

6. I could live without the "Porsche Design" etched into the bracelet.

7. The chrono is more fun to use than any watch I've owned!

Now to price. List price on this piece was right around $7k. I don't think I'd own it for $7k, but not because I don't feel it's a $7k watch, but because it's more of a novelty in my collection and something to wear on a PCA drive or track day than what I'd typically buy and wear often. It scratched an itch for me, and will probably have me scouring Chrono24 for other interesting PD watches. Apparently not many people thought it was a $7k watch, because there are lots of NOS pieces available for 50% of that figure, or less. I made an offer on this one, which was still 100% NOS in the orignal wrapper, and got it for well under $3k. For that price, it's one of my more thrilling watch purchases and it practically feels like I stole it. It's not for everyone, but if you're a Porsche enthusiast and like innovative design and outstanding execution, this is a watch worthy of consideration.

They also make it with an integrated rubber strap, and in black PVD, which really invokes the design of the original PD chrono. Those are selling for approximately $1k more, and I can see myself adding that in the near future.

Here are a few quick pics I took today:

[1William]

Interesting watch. Congratulations.