The First German Pilot's Chronograph
The Hanhart 417 ES Chronograph is one of the most legendary watches produced in the history of Hanhart, and was the very first pilot's chronograph made for the German armed forces. It featured the Hanhart Caliber 42, a manually wound column wheel chronograph movement.
The Hanhart Caliber 42 was released in the 1950s, evolving from Hanhart's earlier designs released a decade earlier - the Caliber 40 and Caliber 41.
The "ES" in the title of this watch refers to the German word Edelstahl, which translates to stainless steel.
Although Calibers 40, 41 and 42 are no longer in production, Hanhart has chosen the bi-compax SW510 M manually wound chronograph caliber to power this watch.
This watch features a highly domed sapphire crystal, but Hanhart was able to keep the overall height of this watch to only 13.3 mm by using a special case design and a manually wound chronograph movement.
The Return of a Legend
The Hanhart 417 ES Chronograph is a combination of vintage inspiration and modern technology.
While the watch looks and feels historic, this recreation benefits from state of the art watchmaking and 21st century materials. It is even more durable and dependable than its trusty predecessor.
The original Hanhart 417 ES Chronograph featured domed Plexiglas, as was common for the era. This watch has been upgraded to a domed sapphire crystal with interior anti-reflective coating.
This watch is water resistant to 100 meters.
Historic Design
The historic bi-compax chronograph layout of the Hanhart 417 ES Chronograph features a 30 minute register at 3 and small seconds at 9.
In keeping with the original design of this historic watch, Hanhart has chosen to use the vintage Hanhart logo on the dial, crown and buckle, as well as the "shockproof" designation on the dial.
If you look closely, you may notice that the tips of the hands are actually bent to reduce the parallax effect.
The case is in stainless steel, and is fitted with a fluted bi-directional rotating bezel with a red indicator. The bezel is a friction fit, as was the bezel on the original Hanhart 417 ES Chronograph.
Important features of this watch include:
- Domed sapphire crystal with interior AR coating
- Screw down case back
- Matte black dial with C3 SuperLuminova
- Power reserve of 58 hours
- Bi-compax design
- Manually winding chronograph movement
- Water resistant to 100 meters
A Special Strap
We also love that Hanhart went all out on the strap.
Made by a leading German strap maker, this black calf leather strap is actually lined with Italian Alcantara, a very soft suede material that provides an extremely comfortable fit and protection from perspiration.
Alcantara is the same material used for the interiors in most German cars, and the company counts Porsche as one of their largest customers.
The strap is completed with an engraved tang buckle with the historic Hanhart logo and leather underlay (bund pad). This bund pad may be easily removed (simply slide it off) for those who prefer the look of a traditional strap.