BUCHERER Vintage Chronograph, cal. Lemania 1340 (Omega 1040)

— A minute counter that runs from the centre —

An unusual construction. The 60-minute counter is mounted coaxially with the chronograph hand, so that after starting and stopping with the pushers you can pull the crown out one notch and set the minute hand and the counter together. Recording time is only part of it; where the hands sit, and how you operate them, were designed as freely as the timing itself.

A 42mm cushion case from Bucherer, strong in outline but never heavy-handed, wrapped around a chronograph that answers demands racers actually had.

— Built for professional racing —

The layout is made for managing laps and sessions. Time each session or lap on the counter, then use that figure to set the watch afterwards, and the start of the next session can be fixed exactly. In endurance racing and multi-heat events this mattered.

— The Lemania 1340 line —

Calibre Lemania 1340 is the predecessor of the later 5100, and the base of the calibre 1045 used in Omega's Ref.ST376.0822 — the source of the movement collectors call the holy grail. Lemania also built the core calibres of the Speedmaster, and that lineage is quietly present here.

— The weight of the form —

A 42mm cushion case that manages to be both powerful and soft-edged. The outline is smooth, yet the watch announces itself the moment it is in the hand.

— A different conversation with time —

The handling of the counter, the pedigree of the movement, the shape of the case: separate decisions, resolved into one watch, and a genuinely different way of reading elapsed time.