I spotted this prototype Carl F. Bucherer watch recently and was immediately taken by it. It combines a sense of retro-sport fashion and the function-mind execution that I have come to expect from the brand. I believe the official name for the watch is the Carl F. Bucherer Manero CentralChrono.
In a Manero case, the watch is larger on the wrist being about 44-45mm wide (I would guess) and in steel. You can tell that it is available with an almost slate colored dial or a silvered one. The chunky style case is thick and brushed all around. There are polished elements on the dial for a nice contrast. That includes the nice looking applied arrow-head hour indicators and dauphine hands. Thankfully it is a sport watch so there are lume dots for the hours and lume on the hands. I also need to mention that the hands could be a bit longer – but it isn’t bad.
In 2008 Carl. F Bucherer released their first in-house motion with the caliber A1000 (debuted on aBlogtoWatch here). Since then the A1000 (with its cool peripheral automatic rotor) and its derivatives are the cornerstone of many Patravi collection timepieces. Though, not in this one. That is because the first Patravi TravelTec GMT watch premiered in 2006, and afterwards within this “FourX” variant. Even though it doesn’t strictly have an in-house motion, it will specially modify the foundation ETA, offering something unique.To be honest, when I first noticed that the Patravi TravelTec GMT FourX that I was not in enjoy it with. I felt that the layout was somewhat all over the place and the dial was overly difficult to read. This was at first glance and after wearing the watch for a great long time that I’ve come to quite enjoy it. It is not a timepiece with no quirks, but it suits in a lot of departments, and that I surprisingly didn’t find it that hard to read.It is true that in a glance the hands are difficult to put on the dial if you’re only taking a look at the dial generally. Though for me I went to examine the dial in order to browse the time I never had much trouble. It is similar to the dial of many Breitling timepieces because they are rather active compared to other watches, but there is a method to their madness. If you fancy that the TravelTec GMT FourX in most respects other than the dial, then it is possible to elect for the non-FourX edition that doesn’t have a skeletonized dial. The FourX version is considerably more expensive but in may ways creates the piece far more interesting than the sum of its parts.
Aside from a few in-house movements based on the caliber A1000 base, Carl F. Bucherer often builds on ETA bases. I am not sure what the automatic movement in this Manero (CentralChrono) Chronograph GMT is, but it looks like a base ETA with a custom automatic rotor and a module. The magic is all in the module that cleverly gives this watch a bi-compax display with two distinct functions aside from the time.
Those functions are a 60 minute chronograph and a subsidiary GMT time dial… and the date. Basically the chronograph uses two large centrally placed hands that are centrally aligned – for the chronograph seconds and minutes. The is sometimes called “central chronograph.” The left subsidiary dial is for indicating the GMT time, and the right subsidiary dial is for the the time seconds. Aside from a GMT time that is a bit hard to read, the overall design is very logical and easy to use.
While Carl F. Bucherer History Replica isn’t normally known for their symmetrical dials, this one is a lesson is good looking function symmetry. Good job CFB. I think that Carl F. Bucherer should focus most of their efforts on modern pieces, if you do want to invest in one of their more traditional looking designs, a piece like this with a neat movement would be the one I would look at.
