Junghans Meister Chronoscope Terrassenbau Limited Edition

It’s not often that a watch brand can celebrate the centenary of a milestone in their history, but Junghans is doing just that with a pair of watches that commemorate a nine-stepped terrace building in Schramberg, Germany. This industrial building by Philipp Jakob Manz, considered to be an architectural masterpiece, was the centrepiece of the Junghans factory for decades. Junghans was the largest clock manufacturer in the world at the start of the 20^thcentury and the terrace building was erected out of necessity to increase factory space in the crowded valley of Schramberg. Built directly on a slope and resembling a staircase, the building provided direct daylight into the windows of each ascending floor, with the top floor reserved for the painstaking assembly and regulation of chronometers. Today we have two limited edition Meister Chronoscope Terrassenbau timepieces to pay homage to Junghans’ renowned structure.

Presented in either 18K rose gold or stainless steel, the watches are inspired by various elements of the original terrace building. The domed, champagne-coloured dial on the rose gold model with three matte silver totalisers was inspired by the building’s stairways, which were beige and white. The dial features a 30-minute counter at twelve o’clock and 12-hour counter at six o’clock and a smaller sub-dial for seconds at nine o’clock. A day-date complication is positioned at three o’clock in a split window. Junghans’ name and logo are printed above the window with “CHRONOSCOPE” printed below.

The gold hour and minute hands on the rose gold model have thin lines of Super-Luminova, while the gold central stop second hand goes without lume. The stainless-steel model has a matte silver-plated dial with silver hands and incorporates the same features as its gold counterpart. The minute track of both dials was modelled after the meandering design of wall decorations in the terrace building.

The case is 40.7mm in diameter with a height of 13.9mm and is water resistant to 30 meters (3ATM). The 5-times screwed case back has a detailed laser engraving of the terrace building. The steel version has a classic domed sapphire crystal. However, for the gold model, the crystal is a hardened Plexiglas (with Sicralan coating) and Junghans is known to use acrylic crystals instead of sapphire on certain models, but it has a character (and mild distortion) that some prefer over sapphire. It could be considered a bit polarizing. The knurled crown has Junghans’ logo at the end and is flanked by two polished chronograph pushers.

The beating heart of both models is the Junghans calibre J880.1, which is based on the ETA 7750. This 25-jewel automatic movement beats at 28,800vph (4Hz), has a 48-hour power reserve, day-date complication, hours, minutes and small seconds, stop second function, and 30-minute and 12-hour counters. The 7750 is a real workhorse in the industry with origins dating back to the 1970’s.

The terrace building theme continues with the dark green alligator-patterned leather strap, which is the colour of the wall tiles in the building’s stairways. The buckle is either 18K rose gold or stainless steel depending on the model.

Both models are limited editions with only 100 pieces for the rose gold and 1,000 pieces for the stainless steel. The steel model is priced at CHF 2,140 and the rose gold model at CHF 7,950. More details on www.junghans.de.