The Porsche Club of America (PCA) is celebrating its 70th year this summer, and they’re doing so with the help of both Porsche themselves, and Porsche Design. Porsche is honoring America’s OG enthusiast group with a 911 Club Coupe (complete with wooden shift knob) limited to just 70 units, and alongside it, Porsche Design is releasing a special Chronograph 1 bearing the symbol of the group. It’s a good year to be among the 167,000 members of the PCA (especially if you’ve got a few extra bucks burning a hole in your pocket). The Chronograph 1 is a legendary watch that carried Ferdinand Porsche’s ethos into a new product category, and in some ways, the result helped shape the modern sport chronograph as we know it.
The original Chronograph 1 came in 1972, right in the thick of the automatic chronograph revolution. The Porsche Design stood apart thanks to its PVD black case and bracelet, a rather exotic treatment of the era which was employed in an effort to push all focus to the instrumentation within the dial. As Porsche Design was not a watchmaker, they partnered with Swiss brand Orfina to produce the watch. While original examples used a Lemania based movement, by 1974 it had transitioned to the ubiquitous Valjoux 7750. Production would end in 1978, when Porsche Design began a new collaborative relationship with IWC (resulting in some pretty epic chronographs as well).
In 2022, Porsche Design reissued the original Chronograph 1 design, capturing the magic of the original in a new titanium guise that kept the black on black aesthetic. It looked every bit the part of the original, but with modern materials and a new COSC certified WERK 01.140 automatic movement. It was one of those watches that just hit the spot, and got all the little details right. In the years since, Porsche Design has released a variety of iterations, but has kept the core design unchanged. It’s the same story with this PCA variation, which welcomes the PCA logo to the dial and the caseback.
One one hand, an evolution of this design would be welcome, and help ensure a long future for the collection as a whole. However, this is a design worth preserving as is. Ideally, it would spawn a modern variation that could set a new design direction for the rest of the Porsche Design stable of watches (something sorely needed, if we’re being honest). As it is, the Chronograph 1 stands distinctly apart from their other modern watches. That said, this design is perfectly suited to this project, and feels thematically apt to the PCA’s history.
PCA members that purchase the watch will have the option of having their region name engraved to the caseback around the PCA 70Y anniversary mark should they desire. The watch is restricted to PCA members only, and you will need to verify prior to placing an order. That should keep these examples rather collectible in the long run, even though no official production numbers are listed. Porsche Design will no doubt accommodate all members who decide to order one. The price is set at $9,650, and the watch will come with the titanium bracelet, as well as two exclusive straps bearing the PCA logo. Porsche Design
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