Right On Track
It’s not weird if I say that the Singer Track1 chronograph is going to change the way we use chronographs, is it? Because I genuinely think it will. People don’t really use the chronograph function on their watches very much, because it’s kind of a pain in the ass.
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I used my chronograph. They’re hard to read, as a rule. The indications are small and they’re all over the place. You get the chronograph seconds from the centre. You get the chronograph minutes from some other counter, and it’s either a 60-minute counter that seriously does a number on your eyes, or it’s a 30-minute counter and you have to look at the hour totaliser to work out whether you’re in the first or second half of the elapsed hour. And sometimes there isn’t an hour totaliser at all. A bit too much hard work, this.
Do not get me wrong. I love chronographs. I adore them. Chronographs to me are like Victoria’s Secret Angels to Taylor Swift. Can’t stay away from them. My point is, up until now, the pleasure of watching a chronograph work has vastly outweighed its day-to-day utility for me.
That’s not the case with the Singer Track1 chronograph.
By reorienting the chronograph display so that it can be read as intuitively as the time, the Track1 makes the chronograph more than useful. It makes it usable, something that previous chronographs are somewhat deficient in (as beautiful as they are).
This is the first watch to come from Singer, best known elsewhere for their spectacular work in restoring and modifying Porsche 911s, and marks the beginning of a timepiece collection created with the same principles that drove the automotive side of things. These principles — focus on detail, perfectionism, reimagining classics — are clearly delineated in the Track1 chronograph.