The rose gold Graham Chronofighter Trigger Tourbillograph replica watch doesn’t make an impression of a terribly elegant timekeeper, but it surely as easily recognizable as German luxury cars.
Graham-London, the brand of British origin that -together with Arnold and Son, another resurrected British trademark resurrected by Swiss investors- belongs to the Swiss-owned The British Masters SA group, has recently revealed the new member of its Chronofighter collection.
Regardless of generation, you can always say which one is a Mercedes and which one is a Bimmer thanks to their signature corporate grilles that evolved through decades while maintaining their core DNA. The design element from Graham is, of course, not as old, but something tells me that this controversial (putting it mildly) trigger-shaped chronograph activator will haunt us for years to come.
I must admit from the very start that I don’t really like when fine Graham Chronofighter Trigger copy wristwatches get their push-pieces stylized as gas pedals, safety control levers and, most of all, triggers.
Called the Graham Chronofighter Trigger Tourbillograph, the model features their trademark trigger-style button on the left side of the case, as well as a transparent tourbillon escapement carriage and, of course, the chronograph itself: the now-omnipresent complication that was originally created by the brand’s founding father George Graham in the beginning of XVIII century. So, the name basically says it all.
Well, I equally hate the canteen-style military watches: the attempt at making a ‘recognizable’ design just looks to obvious, too straightforward. From timekeepers that usually cost such a heavy chunk of cash I expect something more subtle, something that requires a group of industrial designers to scratch their heads for months in order to create a masterpiece that will instantly become a living legends and spur a whole stream of ‘homages’ from those less talented. Well, not in this case.
Yet, I understand that in today’s world, when even the expensive timepieces are sometimes produced in hundreds of thousands of units, the young brands are desperate to construct and learn their own design language, even if sometimes it sounds like a barbaric gibberish.
The design is so ‘bold’ that it actually ruins the otherwise beautiful timepiece making it look like a remote control unit for a toy car.
This is especially lamentable considering the fact that the Tourbillograph comes equipped with a new Calibre G1780 automatic movement with an eccentric tourbillon complication developed and manufactured by La Joux-Perret.
Beating at a pace of 28,800 vph, the self-winding caliber features a double bridge construction with an 18-carat red gold upper deck.
The whole assembly is placed in a rather large red gold case 46 millimeters in diameter.
Unfortunately, the new Graham Chronofighter Trigger Tourbillograph watch belongs to the latter group.
Its trigger-shaped push-piece that controls the foudroyante (split-seconds) chronograph complication looks almost as appropriate in a luxury fake Graham tourbillon watch as a king size waterbed in a church.