Horological Meandering

SJX
[Purist]
8540

• Show profile
• Show other posts

A review of the outrageous Graham Chronofighter Oversize Diver

There are three watches sitting on my desk now: the Chopard LUC Tech Fleurier, a Panerai Luminor GMT 10 Days and also a Graham Chronofighter Oversize.

I like each of them for different reasons. The Chopard has a brilliantly finished and conceived movement; truly top quality. On the other hand the Panerai has an in-house and fairly industrial calibre, but one that is eminently practical with zero reset hack seconds, second time zone and 10 day power reserve. And I love the beautifully machined ceramic case of the Panerai, which is more complex than other ceramic cases on the market. And then there is the Graham, which I love for the way it looks and the reactions it elicits from others.

The Graham Chronofighter Oversize Diver 

The Chronofighter has long been a favourite of mine, precisely because of the lever. Shortly after it was introduced in 2003 I purchased one, before trading it for another watch, as is symptomatic when ambition exceeds income. Regret soon set in and I bought another one, but the needs of a growing collection required me to sell it – regret set in again.

My original Chronofighter 

So I was mighty pleased when several months ago Graham loaned me one of the upsized Chronofighter watches, known aptly as the Chronofigher Oversize. The model provided was the Deep Seal, a Chronofighter rated to 300 m, ostensibly for diving – an incongruous idea indeed. This is probably the biggest and heaviest Chronofighter there is, and I have relished wearing it.

The Chronofigther is all about the chronograph lever. It is a preposterous, massive and aggressive contraption that erupts from the side of the case. Wars have been won with less equipment. Wear this through airport security and the dogs will be let loose. Children point and stare while adults avert their gaze.

The contraption in question starts and stops the chronograph, while reset is performed by the button (helpfully labelled “RESET”. Both comical and heroic in its proportions, the lever is inspired by the ‘ritorno’ stopwatches, which according to military watch expert and author Konrad Knirim, were used by bombardiers of European airforces in the 20s and 30s. These could count forwards and backwards and were fitted with levers to enable ease of use while wearing flight gloves.

Graham is named after George Graham, a noted English horologist of the 18^th century. Along with two other storied English names, Arnold & Son and Tompion, Graham was revived in 1995 as part of Les Monts SA by Eric Loth and Pierre-Andre Finazzi. Mr Finazzi was the one who conceived the Chronofighter after the ritorno stopwatches, though he later left the company, by then renamed The British Masters. Interestingly Mr Finazzi then started another brand with an English heritage, Ellicot.

Despite having a brand name of such gravitas, the Chronofighter belongs to the Lady Gaga school of watch design. The governing mantra of that school is to be as over the top as possible. Incidentally I think Lady Gaga is a very talented musician with brilliant branding achieved by purposefully appalling dress sense.

Graham was not always like this. In its initial years Graham practiced a more sedate form of watchmaking. Just compare this Chronofighter with the original.

Obviously this watch garners plenty of attention and comments. It certainly is not a watch for a meek – but with a watch like that even the meek would inherit the earth.

The Chronofighter is defined by the lever. But the lever has a practical function. Activating the chronograph is easy with or without flight gloves, but surprisingly it is also satisfying, without the stiffness that is characteristic of the 7750. This is thanks to lever acting as a fulcrum. Resetting the chronograph on the other hand feels like a regular 7750.

The 7750 inside is from La Joux-Perret, the movement specialist formerly known as Jaquet-Baume after its founder Jean-Pierre Jaquet, which makes several interesting 7750 variants including a foudroyante, one with a column wheel instead of cam and another with a tourbillon. The 7750 in here is of standard construction but finish with requisite decoration for this type of movement, blue screws and Cotes de Geneve.

One of the early partners in The British Masters was Jean-Pierre Jaquet, nicknamed the Pharoah. Incidentally another early investor in The British Masters was Ernst Thomke, one of the key men behind the Swatch watch. Jaquet-Baume became La Joux-Perret as a consequence of Mr Jaquet selling the company after he was sent to jail in the aftermath of a notorious scandal involving robbery and counterfeiting, amongst other things. Today Graham continues to rely heavily on La Joux-Perret for movements and the two still share the same building in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Functionally the rest of the watch is also performs well. Legibility is excellent, both for the time and stopwatch. But because the date is set somewhat deep in the dial casts a shadow on the date disc on occasion.

With its serrated edge the bezel is easy to grip and turn though why anyone would actually use this to dive is beyond me. That being said the thick and sharp bezel certainly adds to the aggressive look of the watch.

Much as I enjoy the look and how it feels on the wrist – for a large timepiece with a sharp object embedded in its side the watch sits comfortably – there are several aspects that could do with improvement, especially since the watch is not low priced.

The biggest and easiest improvement of all is the strap. The original rubber strap supplied is awful for several reasons. “GRAHAM” emblazoned on both sides making it ugly. From a 24 mm lug width it tapers to a 20 mm buckle leaving it looking unbalanced. And the strap is integrated stiffly into the case which makes it uncomfortable. Notably the rubber strap is secured by a simplistic friction fit bar inside a metal tube inserted into the strap instead of the spring bar or screw.

So I had a custom strap made in black cowhide with orange stitching and curved lug ends, as in the pictures. This should be how the watch is delivered from the factory in the first place. It improves the look by leaps and bounds.

Though the lever is big and sharply machined, the rest of the case is simple in construction and finish. Because most of the case is polished, the coating shows fingerprints and lint obviously. And because of the polished finished at certain angles in some lighting the finish is a dark charcoal, rather than flat black. This is evident in some of the photos – the watch in the photos looks as it would when worn. I would have preferred a sandblasted finish which not only resists fingerprints but suits the styling of the watch better.

And in a world where watchmakers are doing their best to use coatings with mysterious abbreviations, the coating on this which Graham describes as PVD (which is a process rather than a coating) does not seem particularly special. Though it holds up to daily wear well, a sharp knock from something hard, like another watch for instance, will cause it to delaminate.

The dial and hands are adequate in form though I would have preferred thicker hands with more depth. Because of their width, the flatness is accentuated, especially for the chronograph hands.

While the over finish of the watch is adequate, I can’t help feel that it could be just a bit better. The execution could be a little better, if Graham tried to do less instead of spreading itself so thin. But importantly, even though the watch is flawed, I thoroughly enjoy wearing it.

When the Chronofighter was first introduced it was an intriguing watch, even serious minded collectors were intrigued. But Graham has lost some steam since its revival in 1995. In response the brand has put its products on a crash course of steroids. Everything is now bigger and bolder. And there is an alarming proliferation of models in assorted colours. And because the Chronofighter is a flagship product there are a mindboggling number of Chronofighter editions in various rainbow colours.

A key reason for the lost momentum is the fact that Graham has not had a new hit model since the goggle-eyed Swordfish. So it is essentially a two product brand – the Chronofighter and Swordfish.

The same watch sans PVD coating on Tom Cruise 

The Chronofighter, as well as the Swordfish, have the potential to become widely recognisable products because of their design. It is a product with a lot of potential. I love the Chronofighter and hope Graham will do better with it.

- SJX

Site Info.