If you know iconic chronographs such as the Rolex Daytona and the TAG Heuer Monaco, they’re usually associated with motorsports. However, Singer Reimagined (the same folks responsible for the beautiful Singer 911 restomods) combines the love of horology and coffee with its Flytrack Barista Edition. Just as how every second counts on the track, espresso brewing is also a high-precision art that makes the chronograph a useful tool for baristas.
The case is made of stainless steel, hand-finished with circular brushing and polished edges. It has a diameter of 43mm and a height of 15mm, making it a rather substantial watch. The dial is matte brown featuring a one-minute coffee brewing scale in beige to provide contrast. The golden rehaut is marked with second indicators in black.
After the rehaut is a black ceramic hour ring with luminescent markings. It rotates with an orange hour indicator at the six o’clock position. Going with the coffee theme, the watch is held by a dark-brown calf leather strap with brown stitching and a stainless-steel buckle.
For those who aren’t coffee aficionados, here’s a simple breakdown to help. Espresso refers to both the drink and the method of running hot water (90-95°C) through very fine coffee grounds at high pressure (9atm) for a short amount of time (25-30 seconds). The machine used for this is known as an espresso machine.
The first five to seven seconds when brewing (shown by the orange area on the dial scale) represents the infusion of the water into the grounds. Then the coffee begins to drip with the crema resting at the top. The amount of extraction time will affect such qualities as taste, strength, density, acidity and fragrance. What differentiates these drinks is the ratio between coffee and water.
A standard espresso shot consists of 6g to 8g of coffee with 25g to 30g of water. Halving the amount of water results in a more concentrated shot known as ristretto. Doubling the water dilutes the flavor resulting in a lungo. At the very end of the scale, an Americano is an espresso shot mixed with hot water. There’s a lot more that can be said, but it’s best if you taste it yourself.
At the heart of this timepiece is the Singer Flytrack movement, the AG6364. Beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour, this movement is manual wind and made of 314 components with 49 jewels and two barrels for a 60-hour power reserve.
Developed with Agenhor, the Flytrack mechanism allows the sweeping seconds hand to be reset with a touch of the pusher. As long as it’s pressed down, the seconds hand stays still until it is released. This allows for consecutive measurements of short intervals of time (60 seconds). The hacking mechanism also allows the watch to be synchronized with another timekeeper.
Thanks to Orologeria Concato in Verona, Singer Reimagined was able to enter the Italian market with the watchmaker designing the Flytrack Barista to celebrate this. Marco Borraccino of Singer Reimagined is both a watch designer and a coffee aficionado, so this model allowed him to express his love for these two passions. If you want this watch, only 30 pieces will be made at 25,500CHF (P1,393,000) each without tax.
We don’t know about you, but we’ll be happy with a nice cup of coffee.
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