Porsche Design invites customers to set up chronographs according to their own wishes. We did exactly that to match the fastest and most expensive Porsche, the new 911 Turbo S. And we conquered the highest Alpine passions with the roadster, the watch and their special engines.
It’s mid-July, but the weather forecast for Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps calls for a downpour and does not sound very inviting. Fortunately, the predictions turn out to be somewhat worse than the reality. One hairpin after another we turn up to 9,045 feet above sea level on our way to the second highest pass of the Alps. On the short straight when the Porsche 911 Turbo S jumps forward, we can see each of the 650 horsepower in the six-cylinder boxer engine lurking behind. Light rain comes in every now and then, and we leave the 911’s red convertible sheet on for the time being. Everything feels very cozy inside, where our comfortable 18-way adjustable seats are, and surrounded by luxurious two-tone leather in Bordeaux red and black with contrasting red stitching. We have set the color scheme of the Porsche Design watch we wear to match this roadster.
Porsche Design’s Custom-Built program enables buyers to customize chronographs online to match Porsche sports cars. There are two options. You can design your watch with a ring, band and contrasting stitching in any color combination you want, and you can also choose between other options. There are no less than 1.5 million different ways to turn your ideas into stylish realities. The other option is to set up a Porsche 911, click on “further offers” and have the software suggest that a wristwatch is designed to look like a thumbnail version of your sports car. The program automatically selects a tire in the same color as the inside of your car and with a self-winding rotor to match the wheel fields, even if you select it in the color of your car. This allows you to take your Porsche where lack of space would make it impossible – to your favorite bar, on board a plane or to the office.
As with a personalized sports car, the configurator creates a code that you can use to order your custom watch with custom engraving at a Porsche Center. A few weeks later the watch and, if ordered, the car was built according to your wishes, and you can pick it up.
Arriving at the top of the pass, the cloud cover finally breaks open and the sun peeks through. We park and enjoy the scenery. The panoramic view reveals remnants of snow on rocky rock walls. Pieces of clouds hover past the Ortler crest. The road clings to the mountain slope as it ascends against numerous snakes through the steep slope. After sipping a cappuccino at the Hotel Passo Stelvio, we climb back into our ultra-911.
An instrument for the wrist
We note that the design of the watch’s main button and elapsed counters is based on the rev counter of the car, which is the only analog instrument in the 911. These indicators have a throat with built-in light indices that reach to the end of the oblique angle. thin lines between each pair of wider indices and a grooved texture. Red zero indices on the chronograph’s counters of minute and elapsed hours refer to the red zone of the rev counter, which is marked with a red index and starts with 7,000 revs on the Turbo S. Porsche Design repeated it in great detail. Careful craftsmanship is also evident from the built-in and polished Porsche Design logo.
We fly through the hairpin turns on our way down the slope and only occasionally brake for an oncoming bus or truck. The Turbo S is pretty wide on this narrow road; its rear is 4 inches wider than its predecessor, which also has distinctive air inlets for the twin turbos. On the other hand, this extra width keeps the motor very stable in the curves at high speeds. The 315 mm rear wheels remain firmly glued to the pavement. Along with the rear-heavy design, four-wheel drive helps us accelerate out of curves. The position of the engine behind the rear axle (as in all 911 models) adds enough weight and ensures good traction for the rear tires.
The newly developed 3.8-liter engine is a six-cylinder boxer. It has been redesigned with a low profile to keep the center of gravity of the car as low as possible. The two turbochargers with variable turbine geometry are larger than in the predecessor. They now turn in opposite directions and contribute their fair share to the 650 horsepower of the engine.
As for engines: the Porsche Design Chronograph also has a new car. Caliber 01.200, developed in collaboration with Swiss motion specialist Concepto Watch Factory, started in 2017 in the 1919 Chronotimer Flyback. Caliber 01.100 follows this year without the flyback function, so a clock that encloses it cannot start with a new elapsed time measurement. until the previous one is terminated. This camshaft control chronograph borrows constructive details from the tried and tested Caliber 7750 from ETA / Valjoux, but it has significantly different optics. The base plate, several bridges and the balance cock are covered with matte black PVD. Porsche Design’s logo appears as a beautiful engraving. The bridge above the automatic wind mechanism provides a glimpse of the gears performing this important task. In general, however, relatively little of the movement can be seen because it is hidden under the attractive wheel rim-like rotor.
Miniature artist
The rotor is a scaled-down version of 1 to 22 of the centrally closing two-tone rim skin on our Turbo S. The rotor is manufactured to a tolerance of 5 / 1,000th of a millimeter. The colorful Porsche emblem on the rotor is only 3.3 mm wide, but it accurately reflects all the details, some of which can only be seen using a magnifying glass. Porsche Design has created a miniature artwork with this wheeled rotor, which enhances the feeling of wearing your own Porsche Roadster on your wrist.
The road becomes less winding as we get near the valley. This gives us the opportunity to test the acceleration with Launch-Control. It is as follows: select the “Sport Plus” program via the rotary knob on the steering wheel, place your left foot on the brake pedal and your right foot fully on the accelerator pedal, let the system adjust the engine speed and then lift your foot off the brake. The Turbo S zooms forward and the backs of our heads tap against the headrests. We reach 100 km / h exactly 2.8 seconds later. This acceleration is absolutely incredible. It has all the adrenaline rush and addictive potential of a roller coaster. Not even a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ or a McLaren Senna can master it.
On the way to our test drive we drive along a stretch of German autobahn that is free of a speed limit. This provides a perfect opportunity for the Turbo S to prop up its stuff to the maximum. Even if you do 200 km / h, the acceleration still pushes you back into your seat when you step on the gas. We easily reached 330 km / h (205 km / h) before increasing traffic could prevent further high-speed driving. Thanks to its active aerodynamics with extensive front and rear spoilers, the Turbo S clings safely to the road, while the driver feels like Han Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon as he leaps through space, including tunnel vision with vague stars.
When applied to watches, performance primarily means precision. And Porsche Design’s caliber achieved the highest distinction here: a chronometer certificate from the COSC, the independent Swiss chronometer testing institute. Our test clock got on the pulse 4 seconds a day, it is within the tolerance range as specified by the chronometer standard. A stop-seconds function facilitates the setting of the second time. Porsche Design displays the small seconds on a disc with 11 slim strokes and one longer, wider line. Two sidebars divide this window into twin arches, making it easy to see when the long line is at the top. Otherwise, light and clearly defined hands and indices ensure a very good readability of the day and night.
Porsche’s instrument panel instruments are also clearly defined or digitally displayed very sharply. But the outer two of the five circular instruments, which display the less important information, are hidden by the steering wheel for the driver. This is also where you can find shift paddles, which are very nice to use on this country road here in South Tyrol. When we reach the outskirts of the village of Prad, the automatic mechanism shifts so fast from eighth to second gear that we can hardly count the sequence.
Variable character
All the other functions are easy to operate with the help of attractive printers and a quick touch screen, but do a little searching through the menus to find some of them, for example the automatic start-stop function. The small gear selector lever may be a matter of taste, but the highlight is undoubtedly the control for the driving modes with the boost button. In villages or on highways, the 911 drives almost like a sedan in quiet “Normal” mode. You can enjoy the power and sound in “Sport” mode on winding roads, but the car still looks low for a vehicle in this performance class. And in ‘Sport Plus’, the Turbo S strikes almost painfully in gear and maintains a high engine speed with maximum downward force through the spoilers. This mode is best experienced on a racetrack.
The Porsche Design chronograph is also easy to use. The large crown is easy to grab and is easy to unscrew and pull out. The intruders demand a reasonable dose of force, as is usual for a chronograph with a cam shift mechanism, but their large size helps to hide this fact. The double folding closure with two safety presses, which is made like the case of titanium, can open without much pressure, hold securely and allow the wearer to easily adjust the length of the wrist strap via a pin. The fast change system is particularly convenient. His printers were hidden under the belt between the lugs. You can also order additional leather straps or a titanium bracelet when setting up your personal version.
A question about price
This pleasure, of course, has a price. The speedster, which includes some expensive extras, such as a Burmester sound system and a night vision assistant, will give you back more than a quarter of a million dollars. Without extra benefits, the base price is $ 203,500. It may sound like a lot of money, but it’s a reasonable price to pay for such an excellent sports car. The underrated exterior may not appeal to everyone: most people could barely tell the Turbo S from a regular 911, which costs only half as much and 265 horsepower less.
And the chronograph? It starts at $ 5,150 in basic setup. Just like the 911 speedster, it offers extra extra features. To create our test watch, we added $ 250 for the Bordeaux red ring around the slide and another $ 250 for the Bordeaux red leather strap. Then we put in $ 2,000 for the chic rotor, which is designed to match the centrally closing fields of the Turbo S and has a colorful Porsche logo. Picking up all the extras leads to a total price of $ 7,650. This is almost as much as you would expect for a manufacture chronograph like Breitling’s Navitimer or Zenith’s El Primero, but Porsche Design’s concept is unique – and uniquely successful. Furthermore, this chronograph can be customized to fulfill its future owner’s personal wishes – a luxury bonus that defines the contemporary concept of luxury. So if you are considering buying a Porsche 911, you should definitely take advantage of the ingenious option to spoil yourself with a matching chronograph as well. It’s like parking a Porsche 911 comfortably on your wrist. You can enjoy this watch with the car on mountain passes and highways. And the watch reminds you of your roadster when chilling in a hotel or restaurant.