HABRING²
I then headed back into Hall 2.0 to meet up with my good friends and watchmaking husband & wife team, Maria Kristina and Richard that make HABRING².
I have known these two for almost 8 years now and have seen their business expand and blossom in terms of the watches they offer. They now have developed their own caliber and are manufacturing many of the components themselves or having specialists make other parts to their design for them. Last year was a watershed one, initially with the 20 year old design for a split seconds chrono that Richard designed for IWC, coming off patent, then winning the prize in the Sports Watch category at the Grand Prix de Haute Horology in Geneva towards the end of the year. The initial series of 20 Doppel 2.0 split seconds chronograph watches was sold out very quickly by September and I managed to get 6 of them for my clients, I could have sold more, but they had to be spread around the other dealers. Once the story got picked up about the GPHG win by Forbes magazine and they ran the story with pictures, I've had almost 10 phone calls since January asking to buy a blue dialed Doppel 2.0! Bad news for these poor folk, who weren't connected to the right sources. Anyway, since that success, Maria & Richard have decided to evolve the model and have created the Doppel 3.0, which differs in that it is now a mono pusher for the standard chrono operations of start-stop-reset with a pusher at 2 o'clock and the split seconds pusher at 10 o'clock.
Note a fun touch, the sides of the strap are bright red! Love it.
These will be made in a non limited edition of up to 20 pieces per year. It is somewhat reminiscent of the stop watches of the 1960's. Gone is the orange split second hand and stitching in the strap, in favor of red. The dials offered are different too, preserving the original limited edition of 20. This time a black, a dark grey and silver are the order of the day.
The dark grey dialed piece was with them when I met at the Sattler clock stand. As they make the regulator wrist watches for Sattler under contract, they get to show their wares in the Sattler stand.
The stealth chrono as I like to call it...
Other new pieces I hadn't seen prior to this trip, were the COS ZM which I called the "Stealth Chrono" as it has no chrono pushers or a running sub seconds. The central 60 minute counter and chrono seconds are all that reveal it does more than just tell one the time!
A new piece, the 36mm Monopusher Chrono with central 60 min counter.
Also new this year...
The pilots watch, that features a jumping seconds within a 42mm Titanium case and the more bold 3,6,9 & 12 markers.
On the wrist, it is sharp piece!
I discussed a possible visit to Southern California in the fall and ideas for the future, and am looking forward to hosting this great couple in Solana Beach later this year. Saying farewell, I headed back to meet up with Stepan Sarpaneva and see what creative juices have been flowing in Helsinki since last year.