Interesting developments at Laco, German watchmaking brand based in Pforzheim. The German company has presented the Laco München pilot chronograph, with a great slogan – “Laco München, only flying is better” – some original features, and excellent online marketing. It is a 200-piece limited edition, price €1,990.
Pilot chronograph
The Laco München combines the Type A B-Uhr layout with the tricompax chronograph format, with continuous seconds at 9 o’clock, 30 minutes at 12 o’clock, and hours at 6 o’clock. Laco are using all the functions provided by the Laco 50 calibre, based on the Elaboré version of the ETA Valjoux 7750, and so date and day of the week (in German – English day display is available for an extra €70) are shown at 3 o’clock. A nice touch is that while the time indications are in bold white, all the other indications are in a grey colour that makes the time immediately visible and reinforces the watch’s pilot’s watch identity.
Glowing credentials
Another exceptional feature is the use of SuperLumiNova. In this watch, the entire minutes track is coated in luminescent paint, in addition to the numerals and hands.
A tough case
The stainless steel case has a brushed finish that reinforces the tough appearance. The watch’s everyday durability is ensured by the 10 bar, 100-metre water resistance. Extra pilot’s watch character is provided by the distinctive, large, fluted crown, and the leather strap with double riveting. The timepiece is 42.3 mm in diameter and 14.75 mm thick.
Size guide
When you’re about to spend almost €2,000 on a watch and you’re buying it online, without the chance to try it on, you want to be sure that the size will suit your wrist. For this reason, Laco have thoughtfully provided a watch size guide on their website. A series of full-size pdf illustrations can be downloaded, cut out, and tried for size. A brief digression: Laco is one of the very few companies making pilot’s watches with a 55 mm diameter – corresponding to wartime precedents – and they say that a watch of this type “is best shown off when worn over a jacket”. (Of course, this is not the case for the Laco München pilot chronograph, which is a more moderate 42.3 mm). Personally I think that this way of wearing a watch could become something of a trend, particularly now that sports-level water resistance (100 metres) seems to be on the way to becoming the new standard, in place of the so-called 30 metres that meant resistant to nothing more than drops of rain or occasional splashes.
Price of the Laco München pilot chronograph
You can order the Laco München pilot chronograph online at the Laco website. They also provide a hotline phone number for help in ordering. The price of €1,990 is inclusive of 16% VAT, exclusive of shipping. This means €1,715.52 for countries where VAT is not applicable, plus about €15 shipping (in Europe).
