The regulator dial is one of those niche styles in the wristwatch world. It never really had a ?moment? but it?s been around for quite a while, and many watch brands have, over the years, added at least one to their portfolios in the interests of broadening their appeal. However, none have embraced the regulator style more than Chronoswiss, the boutique brand founded by German watchmaker Gerd-Rüdiger Lang in Munich in 1983 and currently owned and operated by Swiss entrepreneurs Oliver and Eva Ebstein. Now relocated to Lucerne, Switzerland, Chronoswiss, which had perhaps grown a bit too large and too diverse in its offerings in the several years prior, has put a renewed emphasis on the style that it introduced to the watch world when it launched the very regulator-dial wristwatch in 1987.
To many, the regulator is at the very least an acquired taste, like caviar, maduro cigars, or Islay Scotch whisky; those encountering one for the first time tend to find it difficult to approach, perhaps a bit confused at first as to how to read the time on that one large central hand and two stacked subdials. As someone who loves all three of those aforementioned treats, however, perhaps I was destined to take to the regulator almost immediately. A favorite piece in my own modest collection is a regulator (not one from Chronoswiss… yet) that I trot out for many formal events calling for a dress watch ? that is, when I don?t currently have a loaner watch on my wrist for reviewing pu...