Graham is best know for their Swordfish and Chronofighter line of watches. Each are based on either diving or flying, with significant size and aggressive looks. They are known for high quality, English taste (Graham is of course British), and a catering to nostalgia.

The two above mentioned watch lines are not their sole offerings, as two other lovely watches from Graham are the Oxford and Chrono Sprint. These immaculately styled watches have what I like to think of as an “old world charm.” The art deco styling is subtle, quite conservative actually. You see it most in the square bezel and Arabic numeral “12” and “6.” The Chrono Sprint version has a small subsidiary seconds dial. Here the art deco influence is a bit more pronounced with its instrument panel type look.

The number indexes are thick dagger-like settings that really pop out at you. This is a truly three-dimensional watch. Which is good, as I bore easily of watches with too little depth to the face. The case is what I call an “opposite tonneau,” but there is likely to be a more specific name out there. perhaps I am just drawing a blank. Instead of the middle of the watch protruding, the edges of the watch flare. In my opinion, this “girdle wearing” look is more attractive looking when it is actually sitting on a wrist versus a tonneau shaped watch.

In addition to the standard automatic movement three-hand Oxford watch, the Chrono Sprint is an interesting manually wound model with a modified chronograph movement. This is a very rare type of movement. It is essentially a chronograph movement, made to be a standard looking watch, without a stop watch. Why? For precision setting. Just as the name describes, pushing the lower pusher resets the seconds hand to 0, “sprinting” it ahead. This way you can ensure accurate synchronization all the time. It is actually pretty cool, and few people know about it.

Being a long and thin watch, the Graham Oxford and Chrono Sprint watches are 25-30mm wide and 46.5mm long. Even though they have a thick curved sapphire crystal, the watches are only 10mm thick. Eight screws hold the back of the watches in place, and most versions came with an alligator strap.

Overall the Graham Oxford and Chrono Sprint collections are nice watches to know about. The special shape of the case is used by other great watch makers such as Piaget on their Emperador line of watches. It truly represents a classic look that will never succumb to temporary trend or style. Available both in steel and gold, the basic models of the Graham Oxford line retail for about $3,000, while pre-owned Oxford watches can be found for much cheaper in the sub $1,500 range. The Chrono Sprint a bit more, but not too much.

See Graham watches on eBay here.

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