If You Don’t Own a Porsche, This Watch Is the Next Best Thing

Porsche Design’s latest Chronograph 1 takes some inspiration from vintage 911s.

Published July 15, 2024

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There are only a handful of chronograph watches that can truly be considered iconic. There’s the Omega Speedmaster and Rolex Daytona, of course. Heuer’s Monaco and Carrera are both deserving of the label. And then, right on the cusp, you have the Porsche Design Chronograph 1.

Designed by the mastermind behind the Porsche 911, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the Chronograph 1 debuted in 1972 as the world’s first blacked-out watch. The chronograph was also the original release from Porsche Design, bringing Porsche’s beloved design DNA to a wide range of non-automotive products for the first time.

two black porsche design chronograph 1 watches — The original Porsche Design Chronograph 1, left, next to the 2022 titanium re-issue.

The Chronograph 1’s popularity has ebbed and flowed over the years. It enjoyed a burst of fame in 1986 thanks to its appearance on Tom Cruise’s wrist in the blockbuster movie Top Gun. It then gained renewed interest in 2022 when Porsche Design created a 50th-anniversary version of the watch … and when the original again appeared on Cruise’s wrist in the Top Gun smash hit sequel, Maverick.

Now, the Chronograph 1 is back in perhaps its most appealing form yet, thanks to a new Hodinkee and Porsche Design collab that takes some inspiration from vintage 911s.

Porsche Design Chronograph 1 for Hodinkee

$9,650 at Hodinkee

A Vintage Porsche for Your Wrist

The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Limited Edition For Hodinkee does not look demonstrably different from the original watch, or the 2022 redux. As Hodinkee states on the watch’s product page, “it’s hard to improve on an icon.”

But that doesn’t mean this is exactly the same watch we’ve seen before. Look a little closer, and some clever design touches will come into focus.

First, there’s the lume. Rather than the stark-white lume we’ve seen before, the Hodinkee version is coated with Super-LumiNova in a “fauxtina” color that’s designed to look pre-aged. This type of lume treatment is pretty controversial in watch circles, but I think the creamy tones suit the black watch nicely.

Plus, Hodinkee’s stated reasoning for going to fauxtina route was to mimic the popular trend of “backdated” 911s among Porsche collectors, which I appreciate.

two porsche design watches in a drawer next to car keys and a cassette tape — The new Hodinkee version, right, is even more evocative of vintage Chronograph 1 examples thanks to its smart use of color.

The inner tachymeter bezel is now formulated for miles instead of kilometers, a tribute to Hodinkee’s home base of the U.S.A., while a separate international call-out appears on the day-date window.

Somewhat curiously, Hodinkee has opted for a kanji day wheel that allows you to choose between English or Japanese words for the day of the week. It certainly looks cool, but Hodinkee’s reasoning that it was done as a tribute to Hodinkee and Porsche Design enthusiasts in Japan seems like a stretch. I think German text would’ve made more sense, but that’s been done before on the model, and I’m guessing Hodinkee just wanted to do something different.

One more Easter egg on the watch can be found at six o’clock, where you’ll see a small “H” in red. The “H” naturally stands for Hodinkee, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The color used for the letter is Porsche Design Red from 1972, and it’s the same shade that was used to label the “3H” versions of the Chronograph 1 that were issued to the German military in the ’80s.

a porsche design watch next to a porsche car key — The tiny red “H” at six o’clock is a subtle reference to vintage military-issued versions of the watch.

Otherwise, this watch shares a lot in common with Porsche Design’s 2022 re-release. It uses the same case diameter of 40.8mm rather than the 38mm size of the ’70s watch. It also features the same original old-school Porsche Design logo on the dial. And, like the watch from two years ago, it’s fashioned from titanium carbide-coated titanium rather than PVD-treated stainless steel.

Finally, like the 50th-anniversary watch, Hodinkee’s limited edition is a chronometer powered by the COSC-certified Porsche Design Calibre WERK 01.140 automatic chronograph movement, making this watch considerably more precise than vintage examples.

Pricing and Availability

Hodinkee and Porsche Design are producing just 350 examples of this special Chronograph 1, with the first 100 being sold exclusively through Hodinkee’s online shop.

While not a cheap watch by any stretch at $9,650, I do appreciate the fact that Hodinkee didn’t inflate the price based on its own involvement. Shockingly, the SRP is exactly the same as the price of the 50th-anniversary Chronograph 1 that launched two years ago.