fredpara1980
8
The Exact GO Chronometer I Was Looking For
I’m lucky that I can wear most watches. I like having an 8-inch wrist, because a 42mm watch with a 47mm lug-to-lug looks medium on me, or just right. I’m about 6’1 and 210 pounds. The case is only 112 grams, but the large, discontinued 42-gram Brogioli clasp brings it to 154 grams. It’s a mechanical masterpiece. The closer you look, the more I’m amazed, and I finally own one.
This was the lucky part: big wooden box, loupe, all papers, timing card signed by Günter Wiegand, President of GO at the time, original AD receipt, fully serviced 2025. I bought it from a collector with 30+ serious watches. This was his tuxedo watch, and he clearly rarely wore it.
At 12mm thick, this beauty still slips under a cuff, but for now it is my daily watch and I’m not taking it off. As a daily wear watch, it is running under one second fast per day. After six days, checking it every evening against the atomic clock app, it is still less than two seconds fast. That amazes me because there are no silicon parts. It is old-school watchmaking, based on the marine chronometer idea.
The details are addictive, the dial is like the perfect chicken egg. Im not the best writer but lets start with the railroad minute track, every five-second marker, the full logo, and the Roman numerals. They are not just printed on the dial. They are laser-etched into the fine sandpaper like texture and then filled. With a loop, you’re in a time capsule to London in 1885. The center pin for the hands has a black polish cap that fits within 0.0001 mm, it's a perfect circle, and the hands are beyond perfect. This kind of watch could never go out of style.
I have sat for two hours with a loop, and it felt like 10 minutes. The planetary gears are unbelievably small, often mistaken for some kind of torque-converting balance system, but they’re strictly for the power reserve hand at 12. The first barrel is beautifully solarized, like a tiny tornado, and it connects to the second barrel, which is just below the planetary gears.
The balance wheel has 9 screws on each side, for a total of 18 balancing screws. Very old-school watchmaking. For a three-hand watch, 58 jewels is a serious attempt to reduce friction, with 90% hidden under the German striped ¾ plate. Even the keyless works are jeweled. There are three gold chatons, a black-polished plate holding the pallet fork, and hand engraving so tiny that a loop is a must.
I specifically wanted this model of the GO Senator Chronometer 58-01-01-01-04. The “04” stands for that overengineered 42-gram Brogioli clasp, which I love. That heavy clasp balances the 112-gram watch case and helps the watch stay planted on the wrist. Ceramic ball bearings on one side and a two-sided locking mechanism on the other. Looks like GO stopped making this oversized clasp maybe around 2014-2015. But the math is nice, 42g of 18k=31g of 24k, and that adds up to an expensive clasp that I appreciated more than the seller.
I love tool watches, and I love the DNA connecting this watch to the old Glashütte German marine chronometers. Those instruments were built for a real purpose, helping ships navigate and avoid disaster. My Senator Chronometer feels like that same idea brought down to the wrist. I grew up in the 1970s, when you picked up a phone without knowing who was calling, and if you missed a call, you didnt know they ever called you. Now we have too much information, but I’m happy with this one old idea. This is a watch built to keep serious time.
The Exact GO Chronometer I Was Looking For
