Habring2 Doppel-Felix Split-Seconds Chronograph

Maria Kristina and Richard Habring surprised me at Salon QP with their  new model, the Habring2 Doppel-Felix, which (i) unsurprisingly is a split seconds chronograph, and (ii) aptly demonstrates the future proof construction of their in-house calbre A11:



Building on the success of their (almost) entirely Austrian-made Felix watch (see here; and its jumping seconds brother Erwin, here) and the aesthetics of the latter, the new Habring2 Doppel-Felix comes at what I think is the most admirable instance of Habring2's recently rejuvenated offerings, available in a dark and a bright silver dial, and with either a telemeter scale (left) or a (pointer) date indication (right):



Both watches share the same 42mm stainless steel case, the same brushed/circular grained dial plate and the same base calibre (more on this later). For simple aesthetic preference, I chose the dark version with telemeter scale for my shooting:



The dial plate made of silver galvanised metal features three different finishes: circular brushing at the outer bezel, printed with either the telemeter or with a date scale, the central part with a vertical brushing, and finally the sunken registers with circular finish. The hour markers are plated in rose gold as are the polished hands:



The dial design is dangerously attractive; and just to mention one nifty and superbly executed detail, please take a close look at minute and the telemeter scales, and the groove which separates the two. That makes me almost overlook the fact that the colour combination of the hands is not consistent: the split seconds hand comes in the same colour as the hours hands, whereas otherwise time and timing functions are strictly separated. That's a small issue that will bother only a tiny minority amongst the interested buyers, and one that is also easily address (heat blued hand, anyone?).

The surface treatment, in other words the finishing of the dial elements, creates lots of visual interest and permutation, such that the watch might appear as its own negative, just with a tiny bit of different light:





It wears also superbly on the wrist, with a good size for the complication. It looks sophisticated, with the right mix of complicated and simple, juicy but not exuberant.



It is a watch for many occasions, which makes it even more attractive, one which I could very, very well see on my own wrist.



Finally, you might be surprised why I did not include a movement shot. Well, I don't want at this time... (here as base calibre for their 5-minute repeater watch):



I mentioned the follwoing in my inaugural article on the Felix watch (see link further above):

"Maria and Richard decided to design their (A11) movement such that the existing functional modules, e.g. the jumping seconds, the foudroyante, the split-seconds chronograph etc. can still be used without further modification. This requires that the dimensions as well as the interfaces are identical to the Valjoux movement."

Dang! There you have it. I don't think its necessary to spell out the obvious, its clear what will be shown soon... just one thing: patience is a virtue, and spring is a lovely time to look forward to... ;-)



Congratulations and well done, Maria Kristina and Richard!

Cheers,
Magnus