Zero hour

“I always wanted to create a watch to match the car.”

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche

Styling the world’s most recognisable sportscar might be enough for some, but not Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. As a grandson of company founder Ferdinand, expectations were high for the former Porsche design director known as “Butzi”, but few could have predicted his towering achievements.

The magnitude of F. A. Porsche’s creative legacy is difficult to express. As the designer who styled the Porsche 911, his landmark work still dominates the industrial design world. But Butzi Porsche did not confine his creative powers to cars. He also reset the design rules of other products, including wristwatches.

In 1972, Butzi Porsche founded Studio F. A. Porsche, an independent design agency that brought about the exclusive Porsche Design lifestyle brand. Established in Stuttgart but later moved to Zell am See in Austria, the studio sought to expand the design principles of Porsche beyond the automotive world. Its doctrine was simple: extraordinary precision and performance at a high technological level. It gave rise to its first creation that same year: the Chronograph 1.

This wristwatch was a revelation. It was the first timepiece born from automotive design principles and it established the purist style of Porsche Design. It also changed the watch world. At a time when precious metals signalled a watch’s status and technical value, this was the first all-black chronograph. “F. A.” took inspiration from the dark-coloured, light-absorbing gauges and cockpits used in racing cars and aircraft. The red stopwatch second hand was taken from the instrument needles used in the Porsche 911. Luminescent hour markers and high-quality anti-glare crystal glass optimised readability in all conditions. The all-black design of the Chronograph 1 coincided with another key styling change at Porsche, as explained by Roland Heiler, the former head of Porsche Design.

“After 1972,” he said, “the trim and window surrounds in the Porsche 911 were no longer in chrome, but painted matt black. And Ferdinand A. Porsche, as head designer, initiated that idea himself.”

The automatic day-date Chronograph 1 wasn’t all about looks. In conjunction with Orfina, it was originally powered by a Valjoux 7750 movement and then later a Lemania 5100. The 40-millimetre-diameter case used a screw-down case back and was given its groundbreaking black finish using physical vapour deposition (PVD), a process that bound vaporised metals to the watch case.

Many famous names have strapped a Chronograph 1 to their wrists, including racing legend Mario Andretti, who wore one throughout his championship-winning F1 season in 1978. The Chronograph 1 has even appeared in film. Dustin Hoffman wore one in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and it’s the famous black watch Tom Cruise used in Top Gun (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer reportedly locked Cruise’s Chronograph 1 in a safe for more than 30 years after wrapping production on the first movie, removing it only for the sequel’s start of production.

The Chronograph 1 was originally intended to be a premium-quality gift for esteemed Porsche employees and select customers, but it became a bestseller from the outset. It still is today.

This watch is important. Not only was it the first item designed by Studio F. A. Porsche but it cemented the standards and design principles Butzi Porsche aimed for with this independent venture. Porsche Design celebrated this in 2022 when the Chronograph 1 turned 50, releasing the “Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition”. Styled according to the 1972 original, it features a COSC-certified Porsche Design Chronograph Calibre WERK 01.140 movement, titanium construction and sapphire crystal with sevenfold anti-glare properties on both sides of the case.

Butzi Porsche reset the sportscar world when he created the Porsche 911, a car that led to the Chronograph 1, which reset the watch world. One creative legacy crafted by two masterpieces: not bad for someone who simply said, “I always wanted to create a watch to match the car.”