From The Community
From The Community: The Endurance By Habring² For CronotempVs
Brand novelties deliver just as reliably as the change of seasons. But when the initiative comes from collectors, it’s always a surprise. Here’s a first look at a new project by our friend, CronotempVs’ @Scaramanga and Habring².
By Marco Gabella
Chairman & Executive Publisher
CronotempVs is a private watch collector/enthusiast club created in Madrid, Spain, in 2009. From the beginning, the purpose was to connect watch enthusiasts with no publicity of the activities nor revealing the members’ identities.
Over more than a decade, CronotempVs has created several watches for club members only, collaborating with brands like IWC, RESSENCE, Habring², L.U.Chopard, Speake-Marin, Montblanc and more.
But as time passed, the private club wanted to become more inclusive of non-member collectors and enthusiasts without compromising the privacy of its members. To that end, CronotempVs has introduced a public portal where non-members can not only access information about the club’s novelties but also to order special watches co-designed by CronotempVs, such as the URWERK UR105-CC and the Angelo del Mare Royal Officer.
Today, CronotempVs introduced its latest collaboration, The Endurance by Habring², available to all via CronotempVs website.
Endurance in Extreme Conditions
A few months ago, when CronotempVs co-founder @Scaramanga made contact with Richard Habring to start a new project, he wanted to pay tribute to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1914.
For those who do not know the harrowing tale, the mission of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition was to complete the first land crossing of Antarctica. But when Shackleton's ship, christened the Endurance, got stuck in pack ice and became unable to move, the crew was forced to survive the Antarctic winter of 1915. After the ship sank, the expedition members became stranded on the inhospitable and uninhabited Elephant Island.
However, the Endurance crew lived up to their ship's name and eventually reached South Georgia Island, over 800 miles from Elephant Island. The Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition achieved the impossible by enduring not only 22 months of the most extreme conditions on Earth but did so without losing a single life.
Built to Survive
The Endurance by Habring² was built to be a companion for the polar expeditions of yesteryear while offering an innovative vision of a modern polar capable timepiece. Designed for use in extreme conditions, the Endurance by Habring² For CronotempVs is also a tribute to exploration and survival in watch form.
Firstly, to protect the movement from extreme cold, which will affect its accuracy, the watch is treated with oils that protect the movement from temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius. Also, to protect the movement from the strong magnetic forces surrounding us every day, The Endurance by Habring² is equipped with the Habring Magnetic Shielding (HMS) system. Focused on the most vulnerable part of the watch, the HMS protects the hairspring from magnetism more effectively than a traditional soft-iron shield and also reduces its overall weight, cost, and thickness.
Additionally, the movement’s power reserve is displayed on the dial at 3 o’clock, a crucial indicator for any explorer in the wilderness.
From Endless Day to Endless Night
Knowing whether it’s day or night sounds easy enough, but on the poles, knowing the difference is a trickier proposition. In the summer, the midnight sun never falls below the horizon, and in winter, polar night can last for months.
In tribute to the polar explorers who endured the psychological strain caused by endless days and nights, The Endurance by Habring² has a day/night indicator at 12 o’clock instead of a GMT, which would be less useful under these conditions.
Every Second Counts
Finally, in probably the coolest touch of watch-geekiness, The Endurance by Habring² has a top second indicator located in the minute counter at 9 o’clock. This top second indicator uses a rotating disc under the counter to flash red through an aperture at 12 o'clock every five seconds to signal the watch is still functioning properly.
Introduced by Mondia Switzerland in the late 60s, top second indicators were all but forgotten until today. True, the second hand can give you the same information, but in the middle of a blizzard, the appearance of a red dot will be definitely easier to read.
How to Buy
Available directly from the CronotempVs website, The Endurance by Habring² is limited to 33 pieces which are priced at 6,500 Euro (VAT excl.) Once again, CronotempVs reminds us how cool a watch can be when it’s imagined by collectors, for collectors.
(Images provided by Habring²/CronotempVs )
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