The Perrelet Turbine Chrono Sport is one of the few new chronographs to have a layout differing to the usual two or three subdials. The brand’s hallmark is the turbine on the dial, in this piece with a honeycomb texture (based on the segments of a soccer ball), which rotates with every movement of the wrist and adds some movement to the watch. Below the ten turbine blades is a subdial printed with the same hexagonal motif, only larger. In order not to disturb the turbine, the Perrelet designers have created a minutes chronograph counter in the form of a sapphire disc.

Football match inspiration

When you start the chronograph, the red seconds hand starts operating, read off the external graduated ring. I would have preferred to see a complete ring with all the quarter-second markings; in actual fact, in six positions, the scale is interrupted by the minutes figures. The central sapphire disc for chronograph minutes is marked with a red sector for the first 15 minutes, corresponding to the half-time interval of a football match. The red numerals, 00, 15, 30, 45, are also linked to football (each half lasts 45 minutes). You read off the minutes against the red “start” arrow.

Large case, nylon strap

It’s a rugged watch with a smooth appearance provided by the flat sapphire watchglass and the black PVD case. The bezel is engraved with a tachymetric scale, and below this there are a series of rectangular fluting depressions on the caseband. The case is large at 47 mm diameter, 16 mm thick, with a water resistance of 5 atm. The strap is in black nylon with canvas-type texture, exposed stitching and a folding black PVD-coated steel buckle. The date window is nicely incorporated into the design, with a frame that follows the geometry of the turbine blades.

In-house movement

The watch is powered by the self-winding P-361 in-house movement, 41 jewels, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hertz) and providing a power reserve of 42 hours. The sapphire caseback provides a view of the skeletonized oscillating weight with the Perrelet turbine motif at the centre.

Price and references

The Perrelet Turbine Chrono Sport is a limited edition, 77 pieces of each of the two colour variants. The number recalls the company’s year of foundation, 1777. The watch will be in boutiques from June 2017, and the price is €6,480. The two references are A1709/3 for the version with red highlights, and A1709/2 for the version with grey highlights (shown below).