Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Staudt Praeludium Chronograph – Dutch Elegance
True to the design introduced 2 years ago, now with a chronograph movement.
2 years ago, a young Dutchman named Yvo Staud jumped into a watchmaking adventure – even though he had a completely different career before that. The first watch he designed and created was named the Praeludium Hand-Wound, an elegant, “Portuguese-like” time-only timepiece, which name refers to classical music (you’ll understand why later). After this inaugural piece and its automatic variant, its now time for Staud to look at another type of function, yet true to the original design of the brand, with the new Staudt Praeludium Chronograph.
Background
As said, there was no indication that one day this 1991-born Dutch musician would one day become the owner of a watchmaking company. Yvo Staud started his life as an accordionist, mainly playing classical music. Yet, Yvo had a sheer interest in watches and he visualized his first timepiece during his study at the Conservatoire in Pescara, Italy, without being able to find the watch to suit his needs. with the well-known motto “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself“ in mind, he decided to start his own watch company: Staud Watches.
His first creation was named after a musical term, the Praeludium or Prelude (in English). The Staudt Praeludium Hand-Wound (reviewed here) was inspired by nautical elements, ships and marine chronometers, resulting in a classical, elegant but still rather casual watch – with clear “Portuguese” design elements, yet with a rather affordable price and an overall excellent quality. After several iterations of this inaugural piece, followed by a simple automatic version, this model today receives a new movement and becomes a classy chronograph.
The Staudt Praeludium Chronograph
The new Staudt Praeludium Chronograph doesn’t reinvent the concept created two years ago and is perfectly in line with the previous watches in the collection. Not truly a new watch but a new version with different movement, what we see is, however, a well-thought, rational and desirable luxury watch with an interesting quality-price ratio.
The case of the new Staudt Praeludium Chronograph is basically the same as the previous hand-wound version, slightly modified to integrate a larger and thicker movement – the hand-wound version features a largely modified Unitas calibre. At 41mm in diameter and 13.6mm in height, the stainless steel case of this new version is very decently sized, at the same modern and elegant. Polished flat surfaces, brushed casebands, large dial opening with a thin bezel and simple mushroom pushers offer a restrained, timeless style.
Just like the hand-wound model, the Staudt Praeludium Chronograph has a clean, legible and well-proportioned dial. The two-tone style – grained on the periphery, opaline in the centre – is here combined with large sub-counters for the chronograph. The thin tracks, the elegant leaf-shaped hands and the absence of useless literature and of a date window are nice touches. Available in black, ivory or dark blue, the dial is balanced and refined.
Inside the case of the Staudt Praeludium Chronograph is a proven automatic chronograph movement, based on the Valjoux 7753 – here modified with no date complication and only two sub-counters at 3 and 9 o’clock, for the small second and the 30-minute register. The opened caseback reveal a nicely decorated movement, with perlage, blued screws and a specific rotor with Geneva stripes and rose gold plating.
The Staudt Praeludium Chronograph is available on a choice of alligator leather straps (blue, black or brown) with folding clasp or a new Milanese steel bracelet. It will retail at EUR 2,989 (leather) or EUR 3,129 (Milanese). More details on staudtwatches.com.
