The Kiel.2 Chronograph By Laco, A Robust Pilot’s Chronograph

Coming up for almost a century of business, German watchmaking company Laco is primarily known for its aviation-themed watches. While that’s far from all it does, as evidenced by the recent Scorpion in 39mm or the Edition 96 dive watch, most of the brand’s portfolio is focused on historically inspired pilot watches. Previously we saw watches like the München Erbstück Chronograph or the fully customisable Flieger PRO, but there’s now a new pair of very classically styled pilot chronographs available. This new Laco Kiel.2 Chronograph comes with an all-black or white dial and solid specifications to back it up.

The design of the Kiel.2 Chronograph by Laco is unmistakably a pilot’s chronograph. These instrument-like watches have always relied on simple, legible designs, and the design still holds up today. Laco presents a pair of models that follow the codes of a Flieger chronograph pretty much to the letter, which is far from a bad thing. Coming in a 43mm wide and 14mm thick stainless steel case, it’s a rather large watch, but that is to be expected, really. The case is brushed throughout to emphasise its tool-ish properties. A sapphire crystal on top, and a second one around the back, protect both movement and dial. The diamond-shaped crown is flanked by a pair of simple yet effective pump-style pushers.

Laco decided to present both a black and white dial for the Kiel.2 Chronograph, sort of like a pilot’s Yin and Yang. Both have the same overall design, and the differences are limited to the colour of the dial and hands. The white dial Kiel.2 has a full set of heat-blued hands, whereas the black dial only has blued hour and minute hands. The rest is finished in black, with Super-LumiNova tips. The needle-like chronograph hand runs along the printed minute track with Arabic numerals for the hours. The subdials are for the small seconds, chronograph 30-minutes and 12-hour totalisers, with the day/date display positioned at 3 o’clock.

Power comes from the Laco 500, which is a Sellita SW 500 (which is a Valjoux 7750 clone, of course). This automatic chronograph runs at a rate of 28,800vph, uses 25 jewels and provides a total running time of 56 hours. The large winding rotor can be seen whizzing around through the caseback and is finished with Côtes de Genève and the Laco signature.

The Laco Kiel.2 Chronograph comes on a riveted black calfskin leather strap with a stainless steel buckle. Both are part of the permanent collection and will retail for EUR 2,190, which sounds very reasonable to me. You can’t really go wrong with this design and the movement, plus the added provenance of a name like Laco.

Sponsored post: This article is sponsored by Laco. However, it reflects the writer’s opinion and has been written according to MONOCHROME’s editorial policy.