Ornatus-Mundi
[Zenith]
7136
Baselworld 2013: The Martial Arts of Hanhart
The title might trigger the imagination of wildest (horological) beasts - but rest assured, this is not the case! Its more like this, and the martial part is under the hood, or better: in the hood:
Hanhart is one of those mid-range manufacturers that are clearly defined in their product range. The company is well known for its racing/dashboard timers and pilots watches, all with more than a faint cue from the past:
Of course, such watches and timekeepers do not exactly constitute a strong unique selling point, and Hanhart found itself struggling to distinguish the brand from competitors like Tutima, Junghans or Mühle/Glashütte. A recent effort to rejuvenate the collection with modernist technical watches did not exactly resonate with the clientele. The lack of proprietary movements did not help either.
The company went through difficult times and had a bumpy ride in the recent past. Now in the portfolio of Swiss billionaire Philippe Gaydoul (Mr Gaydoul inherited his wealth from his grandfather Karl Schwieri, founder of the Swiss discounter Denner, the first discounter ever to operate in Switzerland. He eventually sold the Denner retail chain and subsequently acquired a portfolio of fashion/luxury brands including Navyboot, Fogal and Hanhart), Hanhart went through a change of management with the ousting of short-term CEO Thomas Morf (ex-CEO Carl F. Bucherer) as the most prominent incident. Rumours about irregularities were floating around...
Just before BaselWorld 2013, Mr Gaydoul drew a line and changed the management. New CEO is Mr Jan Edöcs, confidant to Mr Gaydoul, who has more than 20 years of experience in the watch industry (Omega, Swatch Ltd., Versace, Milus International SA).
The first decisions made so far are promising: Hanhart is going to stay true to its rich heritage, the modernised watches will be axed and the company's base in Gütenbach/Germany expanded (Hanhart has operation in both Germany and Switzerland). The range of watches will concentrate on a market niche below the 'deadly segment' (i.e. below Omega ;-)). And, most importantly and the main focus of this report, Hanhart will continue to invest in materials which reinforce the manufacturer's position in the tool watch market.
There we are: compare left to right - note the difference?
The two metal specimens represent the advances Hanhart has made in respect to metallurgy. Left you find conventional 316L stainless steel used for a myriad of steel watches, on the right Hanhart's own HDSpro steel. HDS stands for heavy duty steel: HDSpro steel is claimed to have to following unique advantages with play particularly well in watchmaking:
"An innovative finishing process gives the watch case a surface structure that is at least three times tougher than before. Compared to the varieties of stainless steel previously used, this results in a more than 100-fold, and thus more than 10,000%, improvement in scratch resistance. This means that watches that are put under a lot of stress will look as good as new even after years of wear!
Aside from its exceptional scratch resistance, this processed steel is also distinguished by its outstanding resistance to corrosion, which is comparable with any of the highest quality stainless steels available. Since the steel is not coated during the finishing process, the authentic look and feel of the material is retained and, moreover, there is no risk of chipping any layers of coating that have been applied.
Last but not least, this steel does not contain any nickel, so watch cases made from this material do not pose any known allergy risk." [Press Kit]
In terms of watches: would you dare to try this with your current timepiece?
Quite reassuring if you have to subject your timepiece to heavy use!
Hanhart got HDSpro steel ready for production and introduced a collection of new chronographs called PIONEER Racemaster:
The 45mm case is known from their PIONEER collection and sports the typical asymmetric pusher location (tilted towards the 12 o'clock position; one of them in ceramic (?) red), the movements are reworked Valjoux movements with Hanhart's own modification. The most striking of them and universally applied is the relocation of the subdials toward the outer boundaries of the dial.
The design of dials and hands is new to Hanhart and successfully - in my view - catapults the pilot/racing themed watches into a new, contemporary era. Its inspired by race car dashboard of the 1960s/70s. On an anthracite background highly contrasting red time hands and colourised dial rings in orange, blue or white, respectively, depending on model:
Let's start with the most complicated of them and iteratively move down the complication range from there: The PIONEER Racemaster GTF. The watch sports a Flyback function that allows instant reset/restart of the chronograph without interim stop. Its easily recognisable thanks to its orange dial ring:
The printing quality is quite remarkable, and thus the contrast of the dial is accentuated. One characteristic feature of the modification Hanhart applies to the base movement is the concentric location of permanent seconds and chronograph hour hands in the left subdial:
The case itself is a no-frills, straightforward construction with a most welcome flat profile (particularly since the Valjoux movement is not exactly flat to start with...):
The printing quality is quite remarkable, and thus the contrast of the dial is accentuated. One characteristic feature of the modification Hanhart applies to the base movement is the concentric location of permanent seconds and chronograph hour hands in the left subdial:
The case itself is a no-frills, straightforward construction with a most welcome flat profile (particularly since the Valjoux movement is not exactly flat to start with...):
Red return-to-zero pusher and massive Hanhart crown:
The caseback is solid and provides you with the essential information on the watch. Better here than on the dial, don't you agree?
I really like the presence of the watch on my wrist. It has a good size (for a tool watch), and the out-side subdials give it even more substance than the specs promise, without making it appear humongous. Well done!
Note its lack of thickness:
The caseback is solid and provides you with the essential information on the watch. Better here than on the dial, don't you agree?
I really like the presence of the watch on my wrist. It has a good size (for a tool watch), and the out-side subdials give it even more substance than the specs promise, without making it appear humongous. Well done!
Note its lack of thickness:
Next in line we have the PIONEER Racemaster GTM, the monopusher variant of the line. Its distinctive features are only one pusher (who would guess this?) that controls the entire chronograph and the light blue dial ring. This is probably my favourite colour combination of the collection:
The case is identical to the one of the GTF save for the missing pusher:
I don't know why but this one looks adventurous to me. Like a whispered invitation to break - err: stretch! - the rules...
Finally, the last one in this collection is the PIONEER Racemaster GT. In contrast to the GTF it lacks the Flyback function and has a white dial ring. In terms of colours the most restrained one, but this may for quite a few people the specific appeal (not for me, though ;-):
The case is identical to the one of the GTF save for the missing pusher:
I don't know why but this one looks adventurous to me. Like a whispered invitation to break - err: stretch! - the rules...
Finally, the last one in this collection is the PIONEER Racemaster GT. In contrast to the GTF it lacks the Flyback function and has a white dial ring. In terms of colours the most restrained one, but this may for quite a few people the specific appeal (not for me, though ;-):
To sum upo, I think Hanhart presented a winner here: Innovation that really makes sense, which brings real value to the customer without inventing the wheel de novo. Furthermore, the HDSpro cases command only a reasonable premium of 10-15% compared to the non-HDSpro line of watches (starting price: € 5350).
I sincerely hope Hanhart will gain ground with these novelties. We will follow the story and promise more on these watches later this year!
Thanks for reading,
Magnus
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2013-06-22 09:13:27
Baselworld 2013: The Martial Arts of Hanhart
The title might trigger the imagination of wildest (horological) beasts - but rest assured, this is not the case! Its more like this, and the martial part is under the hood, or better: in the hood: Hanhart is one of those mid-range manufacturers that are ...
Pushing the subdials further out is a good move...
Makes better use of the dial real estate. Too many 7750 chronos wind up with a cross-eyed look when put in a 45 mm case. Interesting color combinations. Not my style (nor size) of watch, but these offer something different at the sub-Omega price point. Ni...