In 1972, Professor Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, the visionary behind the legendary Porsche 911, established his own design studio separate from the family carmaking business founded by his grandfather, intending to apply his signature design language to products beyond automobiles. The first and most iconic product to emerge from that studio was a wristwatch, simply called the Chronograph 1, which would prove both influential and enduringly popular and serve as the precursor to other stylish items under the Porsche Design brand, including sunglasses, pens, and mobile devices. This year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of both the Porsche Design Studio and the Chronograph 1, the company has unveiled a limited-edition timepiece that channels the trendsetting look of the 1927 original, alongside a restored Porsche 911 S 2.4 Targa automobile from the same year that takes aesthetic cues from the watch.
The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition is a nearly pitch-perfect replica of the historical model ? which is probably best known these days as the watch Tom Cruise sported in the 1986 blockbuster film Top Gun ? albeit sacrificing historical verisimilitude for high-tech modernity in several important aspects. Like the original Chronograph 1, which brought elements of car dashboard design to a watch dial in a way that hadn’t been done before and also brought the now-ubiquitous “all black” aesthetic into mainstream watc...