The Hanhart 417 TI Desert Pilot Flyback, The First 417 Titanium Model

Founded in 1882 in Switzerland before relocating to Germany in 1902, Hanhart gained fame as a producer of stopwatches in the early 1920s, followed by Flieger chronographs for pilots in the late 1930s. The Hanhart 417 was introduced in the 1950s as a pilot’s chronograph for the German armed forces and re-edited in 2020. While the original matte black dial is featured extensively throughout the collection, Hanhart has toyed with white and even brown dials. Inspired by the contemporary Primus Desert Pilot chronograph, the 417 TI Desert Pilot features a sand-coloured dial and replaces the classic “ES” stainless steel case with a “TI” titanium case. 

Marking a first for the 417 Pilot’s collection, the TI version flaunts a Grade 5 titanium case, underscoring the watch’s instrumental character and giving it a modern, more technical look. Like the sandblasted steel case of the military-inspired Primus, the titanium is also sandblasted, producing a stealth, matte effect. Both the 39 and 42mm cases share a thickness of 13.6mm (11.55mm without the domed sapphire crystal) and are water-resistant to 100 metres.

Capturing the retro design language of the 1950s model, the distinctive fluted bezel, now in titanium, rotates in both directions and features the hallmark red marking; the chronograph pushers are piston style, and a highly domed sapphire crystal sits over the dial. The sand-coloured dial preserves the bi-compax layout with syringe-style hands, Arabic numerals and Hanhart’s historical logo. As the brand explains, although the hands and numerals are treated with Super-LumiNova, the luminescence is weak due to the black colour of the numerals and the sand colour of the hands.

Like the sporty Primus, the 417 TI is paired with a matching sand-coloured rubber strap with a woven texture and a titanium pin buckle.

The new 417 TI Desert Pilot is powered by the Sellita AMT5100 M manual-winding column-wheel flyback chronograph movement based on the SW510. Beating at 28,800 vibrations/hour and offering a power reserve of at least 58 hours, it features hacking seconds. Each movement is regulated in-house at Hanhart’s Gütenbach manufacture to strict tolerances of 0 to +8 seconds per day. A soft-iron inner case protects the movement against magnetic fields up to 16,000 A/m.

As mentioned, both sizes are limited editions of 200 and share a retail price of EUR 2,990 (incl. 19% VAT). More information at hanhart.com.