Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed Chronograph: Shot Across Hublot’s “Porthole”

This 44mm stainless steel Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed chronograph is an “Indie” shot across the bows of luxury sector titans Audemars Piguet and Hublot. In the oversized sports watch segment, Linde Werdelin’s progressive design, clever features, and unrivaled exclusivity are making a name for the Swiss-Scandinavian upstart.

Although Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore and Hublot’s Big Bang/King Power tandem rule the dealer floorspace, Linde Werdelin is proving that sheer charisma and smart design can upstage the establishment. With the SpidoSpeed, Linde Werdelin’s design visionary Morten Linde recaptures the energy and blue-sky imagination that made the first 1993 AP Royal Oak Offshore and 2005 Hublot Big Bang instant sensations.

But Linde Werdelin’s brand patron, jeweler and financier Jorn Werdelin, wanted a watch that did more than revisit past success. His brief to Linde is embodied in the SpidoSpeed; create a new kind of sports watch. Use advanced assembly and finish. Implement options for customization. Finally, restore the sporting utility of the moribund “sports watch” segment. Mission accomplished.

Linde designed the SpidoSpeed’s twin-element case to draw inspiration from high performance automobiles, especially Formula One racecars. The inner steel “tub” carries and protects the movement (100-meter water resistant). Each SpidoSpeed features a machine-skeletonized and hand-finished outer “space frame” that interfaces with the strap and acts as a protective structure for the chronograph pushers and crown. The skeletonized outer case ensures that each SpidoSpeed packs the strength of steel but the apparent mass of exotic materials like titanium.

And the SpidoSpeed’s unique “exoskeleton” has a secondary function; it docks with modern technology. Linde Werdelin’s mission to enhance the capability of luxury “sports” watches. Unlike many pretenders, the SpidoSpeed lives up to the name thanks to a pair of computers: the Reef, and the Rock. The Reef offers all of the functionality of a state-of-the-art dive computer; the Rock offers every function that a mountaineer or skier could desire. Both units are available from Linde Werdelin, are built in Denmark, and dock with the SpidoSpeed Chronograph.

Additional elements of modularity enhance the versatility and customization potential of the Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed. Thanks to a convenient hex-key bolt system and a huge array of online options at Linde Werdelin’s website, it is possible to transform the look and feel of each SpidoSpeed Chronograph. Rubber, colored textile, leather, and multi-material straps are available in abundance, and a multiplicity of pin buckle and deployant clasps can be had in several different metals.

Within the exotic spaceframe, Linde Werdelin equips each SpidoSpeed chronograph with a custom-designed LW03 automatic caliber built for Linde Werdelin by movement specialist Concepto of La-Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland. With hacking (stop) seconds, a modern 4hz beat rate, and the legendary durability of the Valjoux 7750 chronograph that inspired its architecture, the LW03 is an ideal match for the rugged Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed.

See this progressive and dynamic Linde Werdelin SpidoSpeed chronograph in high-resolution images on www.watchuwant.com.