Vintage Cool And The Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1

An all-black vintage chronograph with the design chops of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche makes for an intriguing vintage option. Today, we’re looking at the Valjoux 7750-powered Porsche Design Chronograph 1 by Orfina.

I love blacked-out watches. There is something particularly cool about them. The IWC RAAF with its black ceramic case has been a personal favorite recently. Today, though, I’ll highlight one of the first blacked-out watches. This Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 watch is not only an attractive and sturdy chronograph from the 1970s but also an important piece of industrial design history. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a vintage example and wanted to share my impressions. Read on.

Porsche Design

The history of Porsche Design begins in 1972. That year, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche founded the Porsche Design Studio in Stuttgart, Germany. F.A. Porsche had been responsible for design in his family’s car company for a decade. His most well-known design was the Porsche 911, which debuted in 1964. The Porsche 911 is one of the most iconic car designs ever. That’s not bad for a relatively young designer (at the time). When the owners of Porsche decided to remove any family members from management positions at the company, F.A. needed a new role. This was when he founded a design company of his own, which became known as Porsche Design.

Now, I have written about Porsche Design watches before — specifically, the IWC Porsche Design 2000 watch issued to the German military. That watch saw active use in difficult training conditions with elite German frogmen. Admittedly, though, I was less familiar with the subject of today’s article, the Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1.

The Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1

One of the first projects of Porsche Design Studio was a watch. It was the Chronograph 1, which was launched in 1972 and entered the market in 1973. It was the first watch with a black PVD-coated case and bracelet. According to this feature on Fratello, Mr. Porsche went for this all-black design to reduce reflections off the watch. The dial layout was focused on legibility, with the black sub-dials offset by a red chronograph hand aiding in this. Powering the first editions of this watch was the Valjoux 7750 chronograph caliber. This would later become the ETA 7750.

In 1975, Porsche Design would opt for a Lemania 5100 caliber when Valjoux halted production of the 7750. Among the changes introduced with this caliber was the fact that the Lemania 5100 had a central minute counter. Today, though, we’re looking at a Valjoux 7750-powered version. Porsche Design opted for the watch manufacturer Orfina in the Swiss town of Grenchen to make the brand’s first watches. Orfina was founded in Grenchen in 1922.

A groundbreaking design

As mentioned, Mr. Porsche wanted the exterior of his new watch design to be all black, utilizing physical vapor deposition, better known as PVD. This was groundbreaking for the time. The chronograph’s matte black dial features white markings on black registers, creating the impression of a speedometer and tachometer found in the Porsche 911 dashboard. The flat crystal and oversized tachymeter scale helped overall readability as well. On the dial, we find a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock and a 12-hour totalizer at 6. This latter feature was a particularly useful one for endurance racing during that era. The sub-seconds register sits at 9 o’clock, and the day and date display at 3 o’clock matches the dial with printed white numerals and letters on black discs.

Production of the Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 lasted from 1972 until 1978. By 1978, Porsche Design shifted its watch production over to IWC Schaffhausen, which would lead to a host of interesting and groundbreaking designs, not least of which were the compass watch and the Ocean 2000.

Handling the Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1

When an opportunity to go hands-on with a vintage example of a Valjoux-powered Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 presented itself, I jumped at the chance. My friend, a fellow watch enthusiast, had bought one from an overseas contact. As the PVD coating is not particularly resistant to marks and bumps, it’s quite normal for the Orfina watches of this era to be quite scratched up. Though opinions differ on this, I love this look because it creates the impression of a watch that has experienced adventure. I like this concept as a watch enthusiast who likes to wear his watches.

What also makes this watch particularly cool is the connection to Top Gun, the 1986 film starring Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise. There is something particularly cool about a watch designed for maximum legibility being in a film about fighter pilots. The watch can be clearly seen in multiple scenes during the film.

The Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 on the F1 race track 

Even cooler, though, is the connection the watch has to the race track rather than the silver screen. Real-world use is the ultimate litmus test for a tool watch’s design. Mario Andretti, one of the racing greats, owned and wore an Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 throughout the 1978 racing season. According to features written about this particular watch in publications like Revolution, the watch was stolen while Andretti slept on Ipanema Beach in Brazil.

Andretti had been in Brazil for the Brazilian Grand Prix. As the story goes, when F.A. Porsche heard the news, he sent a replacement watch that Andretti would go on to wear for five first-place finishes. The watch was on Andretti’s wrist when he became the F1 champion at Monza. Not only was this a stroke of marketing genius by F.A. Porsche, but it also showed that the design was appreciated even in the top tier of the racing community.

Concluding thoughts 

Spending time with the Orfina Porsche Design Chronograph 1 has been a breath of fresh air for me. You see, the design, even today, looks remarkably modern. The feel of the watch is reassuring; it has a weight and a heft to it. This watch is certainly on my radar now. The mix of design chops, history, and capability makes for a very compelling vintage piece. For those who prefer modern watches, Porsche Design still offers this chronograph with updated specifications. However, the prices of these modern watches exceed the cost of finding one of these vintage options.

Then, some brands provide a certain flavor of these original Porsche Design watches, like Autodromo. German watchmaker Sinn also makes a couple of options that provide a similar flavor. But what do you think, Fratelli? What Porsche Design watch would you go for? I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts in the comments.