Albishorn is one of the most expressive and vibrant new brands operating at the moment thanks to a highly developed sense of personality that includes more than a whiff of levity. The brand has developed an ‘imaginary timeline’ against which they draw inspiration for period style pieces that draw on many of the tropes of classic genres (i.e. earth, air, and water) in exaggerated ways. The results are interesting, a little out there, and just plain fun. The brand’s newest watch is set within the water collection, and it dates to 1958 in brand lore. It’s called the Marinagraph, and it’s a spin on the always fun yacht timer. As we’ve seen with their previous releases, there’s big colors, shapes, and personality on display here.
According to Albishorn, yacht racing went through something of a renaissance in the late ‘50s, which is a timeline that nicely coincides with the rising popularity of mechanical chronographs from all manner of brands. Yacht racing involves a carefully choreographed starting procedure that involves a ten and a five minute countdown, and thus, mechanical timers used for this purpose would pay special attention to highlighting this specific set of numbers. Here’s a stopwatch version from the ‘60s from our friends at Analog:Shift. Brands from Seiko to Heuer made variations on this theme, and these days their use has been relegated to interesting design features more than practical must-have.
While I don’t have a habit of following yacht racing, or indeed any real interest in the world of yachts in general, I’ve always found the complication itself endlessly charming. Albishorn has captured this charm with great effect here thanks to a graphic dial that includes a variety of shapes, and incorporates a sweeping ten minute countdown arc at seven o’clock. The chronograph actually stops timing after this ten minute countdown, where it will need to be rest using the red button below the crown.
Diamond-like hour markers sit at the cardinal positions with a shape that’s followed through on the tips of the hour and minute hands. These shapes are the only details that I might consider slightly distracting from the rest of the watch, which already has enough going on. The dial also hosts an aperture that displays the running seconds (more of a proof of life indication), and the bezel gets a full high tide/low tide display that feels wonderfully intuitive. It’s all good stuff, and the diamonds don’t really bring anything to the party that’s not already being covered elsewhere.
The Marinagraph is being introduced in two colorways, each limited to 99 pieces. The first is the Classic Racing, which gets a black dial with teal, blue, and red accents; the second is the Paraíba Racing, which gets a full teal dial with sunburst texture and red accents. The watches can be had on either black or white rubber tropic style straps. The steel case measures 39mm at the case wall, and 42.7mm at the edge of the flared bezel assembly. The movement is a patented proprietary chronograph caliber ALB01 A, which uses a monopusher design. Total thickness is 13mm including the sapphire crystal. The price is set at CHF 3,950 with availability beginning August 29 from Albishorn.
