The Chronoswiss Delphis Firestarter, with a World-First Material

Chronoswiss, founded by Gerd R. Lang in 1983, gained a reputation for its classical regulator-style displays and was one of the first brands to manufacture this distinctive dial arrangement in a wristwatch. In the hands of the Ebstein family since 2012, Chronoswiss has maintained the regulator and other traditional displays but injected new life into its collections by using old-school decorative techniques in contemporary ways. Pushing the envelope on the material front, Chronoswiss unveils the Delphis Firestarter with a world-first Titanium Core Nano Shell case in a fiery red colour.

Flaunting jumping hours, a retrograde minutes display and a small seconds counter, the Delphis family was unveiled in 2023. Faithful to Lang’s signature drum-shaped cases with knurled details, straight lugs and large onion crowns, the Delphis references are decorated with handmade guilloché and vibrantly coloured Grand Feu enamel.

While former references have relied on enamel for their colour boost, the Delphis Firestarter ups the voltage with a bright red case made from Titanium Core Nano Shell. As the brand explains, the shiny red colour is not a coating but a high-performance composite with a grade 5 titanium core. Through an active and permanent bonding process, the titanium core fuses with the 0.4mm fiery red ultra-lightweight yet resilient composite shell. Measuring 42.6mm cross with a height of 14.5mm, the case is carved out of a solid block of the composite and then polished by hand. With a double anti-reflective sapphire crystal over the dial and a sapphire crystal on the caseback, the case is water resistant to 100 metres.

Matching the flaming red case is the impressive hand-guilloché section of the dial enhanced with red enamel, home to the jumping hours window. Shaped like a fan, the wavy guilloché is applied to a curved white gold base and then treated to five layers of red Grand Feu enamel. A peripheral semicircular minutes track with white numerals and red ceramic dots at 10-minute intervals is indicated by the skeletonised central pointer hand that performs a retrograde motion from 60 to zero.

The lower part of the dial features blackened, double-arched bridges rising above the grainy background. The lower bridge supports the rotating small seconds counter that also has an external galvanic black guilloché area surrounding the central triangular red and aluminium wedges. Last but not least, the fiery red colour scheme is echoed by the red rubber strap.

The sapphire crystal reveals the contemporary automatic calibre C. 6004 developed by La Joux-Perret. It has an openworked tungsten rotor (shaped like the bridges on the dial) and ruthenium-plated components. The movement beats at 28,800vph and has an autonomy of 55 hours. The Chronoswiss Delphis Firestarter is a limited edition of 50 pieces and retails for EUR 41,800. More information at Chronoswiss.com.