Porsche Design’s Latest Chronograph Pays Homage To 1970s Timepiece

The new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Utility is made from titanium carbide and costs $13,000

Porsche Design has just unveiled its latest timepieces but this one is a little different than most new ones introduced by the brand. In fact, it has been created as a homage to the original ‘Military Chronograph’ that Porsche Design offered in the 1970s.

This new watch, known as the Chronograph 1 Utility is made from titanium carbide that isn’t just light but offers great scratch resistance and is hypoallergenic. It is also Porsche Design’s first chronograph to use this material that’s not affiliated with a specific Porsche sports car. Paying tribute to the watch that inspired it is a matte black dial.

The German firm’s latest creation uses its in-house WERK 01.240 chronograph caliber with COSC certification and a flyback function that allows for quick starting, stopping, and resetting, meaning it is excellent “for outdoor and winter sports as well as racing activities,” or so Porsche Design says. The Chronograph 1 Utility also incorporates a screaming marmot on its dial as a homage to the tiger’s head that was found in the timepiece from the 1970s. Sitting above this element is text reading ‘Mankei’, the colloquial name for marmots in Pingzau, Austria.

Porsche Design’s Latest Chronograph Pays Homage To 1970s Timepiece — Original Porsche Design Military Chronography (left), Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Utility (right)

A number of other elements pay tribute to the original Military Chronograph. These include a TiC logo between the 1 and 2 o’clock dials that references the use of titanium carbide and sits in place of the 3H symbol of the original watch to signify its use of hydrogen isotope tritum. The new watch also includes Super-LumaNova material which glows a bright shade of blue in the dark.

Read: Porsche’s New $13,500 Watch Celebrates Limited-Run 911 S/T

Porsche Design will offer the new chronograph with either a leather strap, similar to the one of the original, or should buyers prefer, a slate-grey strap made of calfskin. Each timepiece also comes with an extra white textile strap with a badge complete with the coordinates of the F.A.T. ICE Race in Zell am See, Austria.

Just 250 examples of the new Chronograph 1 Utility will be manufactured, each priced from $13,000. Pre-orders opened on October 10.