Week on the wrist review: The Guinand Flieger Chrono Klassik, Ref 40.50.02, the Ultimate Watch for the Ultimate Road Trip.
Myron Erickson
A tool for a long road trip.
If you have more than one watch, I’m betting you have your basic categories covered — the diver for diving (or in my case just swimming and camping), the beater for yard work or wrenching on the car, the nice one for work, and something special for your nicer occasions. Well, lately I’ve been spending a lot of time daydreaming about the ultimate road trip I may take some day. I’d like to drive an Ineos Grenadier from my house in Michigan to my favorite pub, which is in Tully Cross, County Galway, Ireland. So I’ve been thinking, I’m probably not going to bother with taking more than one watch with me on a trip like this, and if I can only take one watch, what would it be?
The Ineos Grenadier. The ultimate vehicle for the ultimate road trip.
Just one watch.
Long time readers might remember the Rover Haven One Watch criteria. I used to judge every watch by this yardstick, but one day I looked at my watch drawer and thought to myself, “One watch? Who am I kidding?” So I stopped evaluating watches by the One Watch criteria. But for a trip like this, I think I would literally strap one watch to my wrist for the duration of the adventure, and leave it on for driving, sleeping, showering, camping, cooking, dining, swimming, and everything else-ing. Here are the One Watch criteria I’d apply, in no particular order and all of equal importance:
Water Resistance — At least 100 m.
Lume — The watch must be readable at night.
Elapsed time — A 12-hr chronograph movement, ideally with a timing bezel, too.
Date — A must, and date window placement mustn’t be sore-thumb-ugly.
Readability — The time has to be readable at a glance.
Wearability — No bigger than 40-42 mm, with 20 mm lug width, and wearable on a variety of straps in addition to its own bracelet.
Usability — No screw-down pushers, and no ugly day of the week indicator. I prefer a click bezel to a friction bezel, but the latter isn’t a deal killer. Case finish must be either brushed or blasted; no polished cases here.
Sapphire crystal — I like a sexy plexi as much as the next guy, but for this watch, the scratch-proof durability of sapphire is a must.
Affordability — For me, this is under $2K USD.
Bonus Points — Drilled lugs.
My favorite Quirky/Independent German Makers these days. The Guinand AS Flieger (UL), the Circula Heritage 1955 Handaufzug LE (R), and the Laco Stuttgart PRO (LL).
Breaking the No Repeats rule.
I’ve been in a Quirky/Independent German Maker watch mood lately, which rebooted itself about a year ago with the Circula Heritage 1955 and continued most recently with the brilliant Laco Stuttgart PRO. But probably my favorite Quirky/Independent German Maker is Guinand — I’ve owned a few of these amazing watches over the years, but had to make a Sophie’s Watch Choice back in March and sold my Model 361, meaning I was down to just my AS Flieger. What keeps me coming back to Guinand is the combination of reasonable price, superb production quality, outstanding design, and the priority placed on customer service; Guinand’s is simply unmatched in my experience.
Naturally then, when the Ultimate Road Trip One Watch challenge presented itself, a Guinand chronograph of some sort was probably already tee’d up in my mind. In doing some research for this article, I stumbled upon a very nice, barely used Model 361 for sale. I had sold mine only eight months prior, but the seller was a great guy and I truly missed the watch. So I broke my No Repeats rule and now have a Model 361 again. And you know what? No Repeats rule be damned; I love this watch.
The Guinand Model 361. I love this watch so much I bought it twice, a rare breach of the No Repeats rule for me.
Back to the Ultimate Road Trip One Watch challenge, then. Guinand’s new Flieger Chrono chronographs, part of their Series 40 family, had caught my eye when they were introduced almost exactly a year ago. It was in November, 2020, and I was under the spell of the Bremont Jaguar MkIII at the time (still am) so I didn’t buy one immediately. Now I’m glad I resisted, because Guinand’s November surprise this year was a new case design for their chronographs, which utilizes a better sealing system for the pushers and a new click-action bezel. I love Guinand’s friction bezels; they’re really the best in the business, but for this watch I wanted that certain definite action of a click bezel.
The Guinand Flieger Chrono Klassik has a funky but easily read typeface and coordinated white chronograph handset. Image compliments of Guinand Watches.
The Guinand Flieger Chrono vs. the Sinn 103.
The Guinand Flieger Chrono seemed to check all my boxes, but just to be sure I thought I should check in with Sinn, famed German maker of tool watches, and with a history intertwined with Guinand’s. Helmut Sinn started working with Guinand in 1953, before he was producing and selling wristwatches, and the company subsequently produced many models of Sinn watches through 1994. I’ve owned at least a dozen Sinn watches, including a few 103’s, my favorite being the long-discontinued 103 Ti Ar (which, by the way, was certainly made by Guinand). Surely there was a modern 103 or other chronograph that would meet my criteria?
Sinns of the past. My Sinn 103 Ti Ar, which I probably should’ve kept. Note the T SWISS MADE T.
Having lost track of the many 103 variants in Sinn’s current catalog, and wanting to make the best One Watch decision, I compared the Guinand Flieger Chrono and the Sinn 103 on paper. Although Sinn appears to make eight versions of the 103 right now, I used the base 103 for my comparison since the price gets too far away from $2,000 as soon as you start upgrading features.
Guinand Flieger Chrono Sinn 103 St Ac
Diameter, mm 40.6 41.0
Length, mm 48.4 47.5
Thickness, mm 15.2 15.5
Lug Width, mm 20 20
Water Resist, m 200 200
Case Finish Polished, Satin, or Matte Polished
Luminescence SuperLuminova C3 SuperLuminova C3
Crystal Sapphire Acrylic
Price, USD $1,857 $2,140
H-Link Bracelet, USD $190 $320
Available From The Guinand Factory A Single Retailer
Customizable? Yes No
Dial Layout 3-6-9 6-9-12
Factory Warranty 2 years 2 years
Fun Purchase Experience? :) :(
Even if money is no object, seeing all the numbers side by side makes a strong argument for the Guinand Flieger Chrono over the Sinn 103, especially given my particular One Watch criteria. A Sinn 206 would do the job nicely, but it’s nearly twice the price of the 103 and has screw-down pushers. (Incidentally, 206 / 103 = 2. Coincidence?)
In addition to comparable but slightly more wearable dimensions, the Guinand comes with a lovely tricompax dial layout with the date window placed very cleverly at 6 o’clock. The numeral typeface can be either a modern aircraft instrument font or a groovy sort of WWI trench watch-esque font that goes back to the earliest days of the Guinand-Sinn relationship.
The Guinand Flieger Chrono FR has a modern instrument typeface and red chrono hands. Image compliments of Guinand Watches.
Specifying the perfect Flieger Chrono.
In mulling over the possibilities, I decided only two details stood between me and my Ultimate Road Trip One Watch. First, I love the funky typeface and syringe hands of the Flieger Chrono Klassik, but I really like the Feuerwehrauto rot (fire engine red, or “FR”) chronograph handset from the Flieger Chrono FR. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could pick the unique dial and syringe hands of the Klassik and the fire engine red chrono hands of the FR? Yes, it would.
Guinand’s new chronograph case, bezel, and sealing system. Image compliments of Guinand Watches.
And second, I was fascinated with the new case style, with its improved sealing system and click-action bezel. The new case means an extra 0.4 millimeter of height and 0.3 mm of length (so, 15.6 x 48.7 compared to the 103’s 15.5 x 47.5) , but I was ok with that. So I dropped a line to the cheerfully helpful Petra Stegelmann, and, happily, Guinand was perfectly willing to build my Flieger Chrono with these two customizations.
Now this is “fire engine red.” A Rosenbauer ladder truck produced for the City of Frankfurt AM Main. Image (c) Rosenbauer.
The only thing left to decide was the finish on the case, satin or bead-blasted? After a few back and forth emails with Petra , I finally decided on the satin finish. The watch was cased up a couple weeks later, meticulously timed and adjusted, and shipped out. I love this company; there are no short cuts to quality at Guinand.
On the wrist.
My Flieger Chrono arrived a week or so after Guinand shipped it, just in time for my extended holiday break, and right out of the box it proved everything an Ultimate Road Trip One Watch wrist instrument should be. The German build quality, so typical of Guinand, and the action on the new DLC-coated 60-click bezel are truly delightful. I can wear the watch on its bracelet, and it does very well on nylon NATO straps as well. Although Guinand’s factory-supplied straps are lovely, perhaps my favorite combination is wearing the watch on a strap of my own making, a Rover Haven Arts & Crafts in Horween’s Color No. 8 shell cordovan.
Running holiday errands with the Guinand Flieger Chrono Klassik. Strap is Horween Natural shell cordovan.
A subtle detail that must be seen to be appreciated is the soft sheen on the new stainless steel bezel. Guinand says this component is a solid piece of stainless steel with an anthracite-black DLC coating, rather than an aluminum insert. The underlying soft reflection coming from it is lovely, and a perfect match to the case’s satin finish.
A quiet evening at home during the holiday week. The new Guinand looks great on Horween’s Color No. 8.
The luminescent application is the brightest grade (X1) of the brightest flavor (C3) of SuperLuminova, and it shows. The large Arabic numerals are super easy to read at a glance and I never once caught the watch in some awkward time setting where it was unreadable, like some reverse panda dials can be.
Long-lasting legibility at night comes from the Flieger Chrono Klassik’s SuperLuminova C3 X1.
The case design on the Flieger Chrono Klassik puts the strap bars down low and gives ample clearance between the strap bar and the case, making it a pleasure to wear on a variety of straps. I love it on nylon one-piecers as much as my own shell cordovan two-piece straps. The bracelet that came with my watch is robust and handsome, and not too heavy or bulky. The Flieger Chrono Klassik’s slightly greater length is a wearability advantage, acting to even out its 15+ mm height.
Flieger Chrono Klassik wears well on nylon pull-through straps and does well under a normal shirt cuff.
The satinized finish on the Guinand’s German-made case is a very fine grade, and beautifully applied. Turning the watch over reveals the see-through caseback and the Selitta SW200-1 movement inside. This is my second such movement from Guinand, and I have to say I like using them. The chronograph action is noticeably smoother than on the countless Valjoux 7750 variants I’ve had. The push pieces themselves have protective collars, and the signed screw-down crown is well protected by shoulders. The overall feel of this tool watch is of solid quality from start to finish.
The satinized finish of the Flieger Chrono Klassik.
The new Guinand incorporated itself into my life in a seamless way, proving the perfect companion for a couple weeks of holiday merrymaking and general home-bodying. It effortlessly went from useful kitchen timing instrument, to cocktail hour watch, to road trip timer. Although we’ve never met, the good people at Guinand would recognize my name as a customer; I can’t say this about any of the other brands I own (with the possible exception of Circula, whose owner was very amiable when I reviewed my Circula watch).
Flieger and Bourbon. This watch wore well on every strap I put it on.
My hope now is that Guinand continues to grow and thrive without losing the essential qualities that make it so great: a customer-based focus, continuous improvement, and that certain quirky independence that makes wearing a Guinand watch such a special and unique experience.
Trio of Guinand.
When I take my ultimate road trip, you can bet that I’ll be doing a series of articles on the adventure and how the perfect watch supports and enhances it. Until then, I look forward to the preparation and details, knowing that at least I have the ultimate wrist tool covered. Now if only securing an Ineos Grenadier were so easy…
This concludes my Christmas week-on-the-wrist review of the Guinand Flieger Chrono. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and as always, I welcome your comments and factual corrections.