Stopwatch and Chronograph Pioneer and Specialist Hanhart recently announced the PRIMUS Nautic Pilot Bronze watch in a limited edition of 300 pieces. This bold watch combines Hanhart tradition with contemporary colors and design. The Bronze coating with its 1.300 Vickers makes the watch highly resistant to scratches. In this article we will share our initial thoughts about this new watch of the Black Forest Watch Company. As soon as we have seen and felt the watch in real, we will publish an elaborate review.
Hanhart PRIMUS Nautic Pilot Bronze
German watchmaking stands for functionality, robustness, timing accuracy and high quality manufacturing and assembly. Hanhart is no exception. The company exists since 1882 (more on that in a follow-up article) and survived every crisis by its focus on high-quality stopwatches and chronographs. The Hanhart collection consists of three model lines: The Pioneer, The Racemaster and the PRIMUS. While the Pioneer line shows Hanhart’s classic pilot watches roots, the Racemaster and PRIMUS lines offer a contemporary interpretation of pilot and race driver watches. All share that single Hanhart characteristic: the “red button” referring to the romantic story of the Pilot’s wife who used her red nail polish to paint a button of her husband’s watch before a mission. A true story or not, it gives the watch a nice touch.
I admit that the PRIMUS line initially puzzled me…until I started to look more closely. Then I started to appreciate the resemblance to a cockpit instrument, the clear legibility, and a surprising balance in size and shape of the markers, hands, screws and lines as well as the positioning of the (embossed) sub-dials. Its size of 44/45 mm obviously helps in achieving such a balanced look but nevertheless it is well executed. From a design perspective the only negative I can come up with is the date display. Yes, you have to look carefully but there is actually a date display. It would have been nice to have a larger display with a font similar to the one used in the sub-dials.
The Hanhart PRIMUS Nautic Pilot Bronze has great looks. It combines the Air and Water themes of the brand. The company writes “the royal blue dial color and the bronze case reflect the element water, while the clear dial design, the skeletonized hands and the canvas strap with leather inlay reflect the element air”. The ‘Royal Blue’ coloured dial and strap combines well with the bronze case and the red button gives a nice contrast. The dial is easily readable when you are flying or driving. Even underwater the legibility would be superb and probably better than the PRIMUS diver watch. The Nautic Pilot Bronze looks like a well built, sturdy and functional tool watch that you can use for travel, yachting, swimming, flying, drinking, relaxing, waving, and other things you do in life. The watch is water resistant up to 10ATM or 100m, so more than enough for swimming and snorkeling. Diving will be trickier since 10 ATM only translates to 100m if you do not move your hand.
The Nautic Pilot Bronze follows the proven bicompax design with its counters a 3 and 9 o’clock. The watch houses a Sellita SW510 movement, modified to accommodate the bicompax design. The Sellita SW510 is a Valjoux 7750 clone and should be as accurate and reliable. It is definitely not a bad thing that Hanhart uses a mass-produced movement. Although I like manufacture movements, the mass made movements often show great reliability and accuracy
No comments can be made yet about the watch’s operations, e.g. how smooth the buttons work. Given the proven record of the Valjoux caliber, accuracy and reliability of its clone, the Sellita SW500, should not be an issue.
The limited edition watch will be available in October 2019 and will cost 2.950 euros including VAT which is competitive given the build quality and the modifications made. There are brands who charge much higher prices for similar quality watches. Well done, Hanhart!
We will be getting a loaner watch for a full detailed review in the coming weeks. Watch this space for more!
Hanhart PRIMUS Nautic Pilot Bronze Specifications:
Movement:
Mechanical Chronograph movement Sellita SW510, modified to accommodate the bicompax design.
28.800 bph, 4Hz, 27 jewels.
Power reserve: minimum 48 hours
Automatic winding
Functions:
Start/Stop and reset of seconds and minute counter
30-minute at 3 o’clock and the seconds counter at 9 o’clock.
Date
Case:
Diameter 44mm
Height 15mm
Steel case with Bronze coating with a hardness of 1.300 Vickers (Hv). Typical steel cases measure around 220Hv, so this case is approximately 5 times harder which makes it highly resistant. According to Hanhart the case will not age and will not show copper rust.
Flexible lugs
Fluted non-rotatable bezel with red index and red pusher of anodized aluminium.
Convex, one-sided mirrored sapphire glass with antireflective coating
Screwed-in back with sapphire glass, showing the movement with Hanhart rotor.
Water resistant up to 10ATM (DIN 8310)
Dial:
Color: Royal Blue
Super-Luminova ® numerals, hands and indices to ensure legibility during evening and night.
Strap:
Textile blue with leather inlay.
Folding clasp made of steel with Bronze PVD coating
Price:
Available at authorized dealers and at www.hanhart.com
Limited edition of 300 pieces
Price 2.950 euro including VAT.
Delivery starts in October.
For more information see: https://www.hanhart.com/produkt/primus-nautic-pilot-bronze/
MP4: PRIMUS Nautic Pilot Bronze HD.mp4
