If you like well-made yet very interesting Italian watches, then I have a feeling you’ll be wanting to spend a lot more time following what Visconti is doing. Traditionally a pen maker, Visconti began to tease their watches last year in 2014, and for 2015, they are finally starting to deliver those watches as well as introducing more. aBlogtoWatch will spend some time over the next few months discussing the various new stuff from the brand, but today, we are going to talk about the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph watch collection.
Last year, we got really excited when going hands-on with the Visconti Abyssus Pro-Dive 3000M watch. Would you believe that for 2015, Visconti now has four different collections of dive watches – each with their own models. The Abyssus Pro-Dive 3000M is at the top of the ladder, but each has its own special appeal. Anyhow, while the dive watches are part of Visconti’s “Water” family of watches, the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph is part of their “Earth” family. So I suppose it goes without saying that before long, Visconti will have full Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air watch families.
The “Chrono W105” watches exist in the Earth collection because they are in their own way racing inspired (as most chronographs are) and because cars race on the earth. Yes, that is a bit of a thematic stretch, but go with it because at least the water and fire family watches make a bit more sense as connected to their respective element. The watches are also part of Visconti’s 25th anniversary of being in business.
If you are looking for a traditional or classic watch, then I suggest you take a look at a lot of other brands that offer timepieces which fulfill those needs. Visconti is really aiming for the niche enthusiast audience with bold, intricate designs that you’ll either love or hate. In the scheme of weird, though, the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph watches are a bit closer to the “standard” end of the spectrum, even though there aren’t watches around with the same cases or dials. Speaking of the case, they are actually a toned down version of some other Vicsonti cases which are inspired by a bridge in Italy. On those watches the lugs connect to the lugs on the opposite side of the case with segments that literally go right through the watch.
The Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph watches have a more traditional round dial with an interesting but more mainstream case. Offered in steel or black PVD-coated steel, the W105 case is 42mm wide, 55.4mm tall, and 17.1mm thick. The watch is water resistant to 100 meters and has a sapphire crystal over the dial as well as movement.
There are lots of interesting elements on the case, such as the screws, chronograph pushers, as well as the plates on the sides for the serial number or the limited edition number. Of course, the overall case itself is quite interesting (sorry for fabric filaments on the cases in some of the pictures). Perhaps the most unique element of the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph series is the dial. Designed with multiple layers and some light openwork views of the movement, the face has a 12-hour chronograph as well as the time and date.
The Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph dial certainly isn’t for everyone, but there are four varieties to choose from for this year’s limited edition set. I will also note that despite the avant-garde dial design, Visconti has certainly considered legibility with easy-to-see hour markers and hands. There is even lume applied at each of the hour markers. The chronograph minutes subdial is, however, a bit more difficult to read, as it does not have markers between the five minute segments. Though the display on stencil-style discs versus a hand on the dial (as is used for the chronograph hour counter) does look neat.
Inside of the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph watch is what they call their caliber VI-AC304-03 which is a base Swiss ETA chronograph, I believe. The automatic movement operates at 4Hz and has about 40 hours of power reserve. It looks a lot like an ETA 2894-2 chronograph, and according to Visconti, the movements in these watches are all COSC Chronometer certified.
Additional nice elements on the watch include the various strap options. Visconti does straps rather nicely, and I like the available sharkskin strap which comes standard on the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph “Silver Shadow” model. This latter ref. W105-03-124-0612 model has a black and white dial with a brushed case and is probably my favorite among the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph limited edition collection.
Also in the collection is the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph Speedboat ref. 105-03-144 in blue and white, the Roadster ref. 105-03-145 in black and yellow, and the Monza 105-03-146 in black and red. Each of the versions are limited to 250 pieces each, and prices for the Visconti W105 2Squared Chronograph limited edition watch is $5,750 in steel and $5,950 in PVD-coated black steel. visconti.it
