Introducing The Singer Heritage V72 Chronograph, With Restored Valjoux 72 Calibers

If you’re interested in movements at all, chances are you already know about the Valjoux 72 caliber. This is one of the most famous, classic, column wheel and lateral clutch chronograph movements ever made, and it has been used by a who’s who of watchmaking brands, including Rolex, TAG Heuer, Universal Genève, and Breitling. Singer has announced the production of a new, limited series of chronographs using new old stock Valjoux 72 chronograph movements, which give enthusiasts the chance to experience one of the high points of 20th century watchmaking, but with the advantages of modern case construction and with freshly restored movements.

Valjoux, the company, was founded by John and Charles Reymond, in 1901. The company was originally located in the town of Les Bioux, which is on the south shore of the Lac de Joux, in an area that’s also the home of Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre, Breguet, and other well known Swiss luxury watch makers; the company became Valjoux SA – a portmanteau of “Vallée de Joux” – in 1929. Valjoux joined the consortium Ebauches SA (ESA) in 1944, and in 1983, ESA’s parent company, ASUAG, merged with SSIH, forming a new company which would become Swatch Group. The Group would eventually fully absorb the manufacturing capabilities of Valjoux and other movement makers in the 1980s.

The Valjoux 72 is descended from the Valjoux 23 two register chronograph caliber, which was introduced in 1916. The Valjoux 23 was used as a standalone chronograph movement, but was also the basis for complications. In 1938, the basic two register configuration of the Valjoux 23 was updated to a three register design: the Valjoux 72, which was produced for almost 30 years (until 1974). The Valjoux 72 likewise became the basis for complications (including the somewhat rare, Valjoux 88 triple calendar with moonphase).

The Singer Heritage V72 is part of Singer’s Heritage Collection, which right now is fairly small, at five models; two V72s, and three additional watches with two register Valjoux 23 movements. The movements were disassembled and inspected as part of the restoration process, and then hand finished, with a frosted finish on the bridges, polished anglage, rhodium plating, and a blue ALD finish on the chronograph switching lever. ALD stands for Atomic Layer Deposition – it’s a gas deposition process which allows you to build up layers, one layer of atoms at a time; it’s favored in situations where you need precise control of the physical dimensions of functional components.

The frosted finishing and relatively restrained anglage feels rooted in the history of the Valjoux 72 as a functionally excellent movement, which could give many different impressions depending on the level of finish and general execution preferred by the brand using it (it’s an obvious point, but Valjoux was strictly a supplier, and never sold a watch branded under its own name).

In this particular case, the choices made by Singer in finishing the movement, are certainly less expensive than a full-on exercise in traditional Genevan fine hand finishing, but at the same time the work overall is neatly done, with polished countersinks and straight-grained steelwork. This approach may not have the razzle dazzle of a Valjoux chronograph movement as they were finished by, say, Patek Philippe, but it feels true to the fact that the Vajoux 72 was less intended as an haute horlogerie movement specifically, and more as a versatile workhorse ébauche, and it was in that role that it was used by companies like Rolex, UG, and Enicar.

The Singer Reimagined watch brand is a sister brand, as readers will probably know, with Singer Vehicle Design. The latter was founded in 2009 by Rob Dickinson, the former frontman for the British alt-rock band The Catherine Wheel, and they’re known for their “restomod” (restored and modified) versions of classic, manual gearbox, air-cooled Porsche 911s, usually starting with a 964 chassis.

Singer Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet

You could make an argument that the Valjoux 72 is a bit of a watch-industry version of an air-cooled, rear-wheel drive, manual gearbox 911 – a piece of no-nonsense, performance oriented engineering which has stood the test of time (albeit the Valjoux 72 has not, alas, enjoyed the production lifespan and constant updating and upgrading process of the 911, which was introduced back in 1964, and which is of course, still rolling out of Stuttgart today).

Singer’s design for the watch overall manages to be contemporary, but without introducing any aggressively modern design cues which might obscure the fundamentally pragmatic nature of the movement. The watch is available in either yellow gold or steel, with 38.8mm x 13.25mm cases and glass-box sapphire crystals. The dials are either black (for the gold model) or stone-grey (for the steel model) and the hour, minute, and chronograph center seconds hands are a warm orange-red, which gives you something of the character of aged tritium without being too literal about it. One interesting note is the toothed outer flange – like the orange lume, this connects the Singer V72 to vintage watch design, providing additional depth and texture, but without dominating the design overall.

Singer, I think, did a fine job in expressing the practical nature and solid engineering of the Valjoux 72, in a design that avoids a too-obvious use of vintage watch design elements and manages to feel original without any striving for novelty. Chronographs are often characterized by that one extra element that need not have been there; the Heritage V72 is a great example of just how much of an art form it can be, to know when to stop.

The Singer Heritage V72: cases, stainless steel or yellow gold, 38.8mm x 13.25mm, 50 meter water resistance, with glass box sapphire crystal and sapphire caseback. Dials, matte stone grey with oyster colored counters, or black with champagne counters; applied faceted markers with orange Super-LumiNova. Movement, restored NOS Valjoux 72, hand-wound, column wheel lateral clutch chronograph, running at 18,000 vph, with 48 hour power reserve. Prices are CHF 23,000 in steel and CHF 45,000 in gold. For more on current pricing and availability, visit the Singer Reimagined Heritage Collection at SingerReimagined.com.