The CronotempVs by Habring2 COSZM is the 2nd collaboration between the Club and Maria and Richard Habring following the highly successful and warm reception to the CronotempVs 6 Deadbeat Seconds complication. For this limited edition Club watch, the focus is on something that has technical and historical significance to the only true independent watchmakers from Austria.
The COS (Crown Operating System) is the first chronograph in the world that works without the standard pushers, providing a simple yet innovative solution to problems associated with pushers. The chronograph is operated by turning the crown, a more natural thing to do as far as the Habrings are concerned. Having no standard pushers also eliminate the need to drill more holes in the case, significantly reducing the risk of leakage as each hole require seals for water tightness.
Reliability and keeping things as simple as possible are important values to Habring2, subscribing to the Japanese credo that each part saved (reduced) is a part which can’t break.
The ZM (“Zentraler Minutenzähler” or central minute counter in English) complication is a 60 minute counter with the minutes hand centrally mounted, providing enhanced functionality versus more common 30 minute counters on the subdial. Interestingly, a majority of collectors choose the 30 minute counter despite the technical advantage of the 60 minute counter.
When the crown is not activated, the minute hand is directly underneath the seconds hand at 12 o’clock, appearing to to be a regular time only watch. The tachymeter and telemeter functions prove otherwise.
TACHYMETER function:
Activating the crown enables one to measure not only the speed between points or to extrapolate the frequency of an event in one hour. In the case of the Habring2 COSZM the tachymetric scale has been moved to the central minute hand in order to measure an average walking pace of an individual and not the speed of a fast moving vehicle.
TELEMETER function:
The telemeter function measures distance by calculating the time elapsed between one event and the sound reaching the user. Telemeters are commonly used to calculate the distance of a storm or explosion. In case of a storm the distance is calculated by activating the chronograph function when you see the lightning and stopping the chronograph function when you hear the thunder. The time elapsed during these two events will tell you the distance of the lightning strike on the outer telemeter scale.
The formula used to calculate the speed of sound takes into account temperature, relative air humidity and elevation. In this Habring2 COSZM CronotempVs opted for conditions similar to hiking when the knowledge of the distance of a storm is more critical.
The COS and ZM are among the oldest inventions of Maria and Richard Habring, very untypical of the way things are generally done today. They maintain these as a reminder to show that there’s so much space besides the watch industry’s mainstream.
This special piece is enhanced by other technical features, like being waterproof up to 100 meters, shockproof (DIN and NIHS) and their first watch to have the HMS (Habring Magnetic Shield).
