Ferdinand Alexander Porsche is mostly remembered as the designer behind the now legendary 911. And while that’s a pretty good thing to be remembered for, his contributions to the world of design go well beyond simply the automotive.
The co-founder, along with his brother Hans-Peter, of Porsche Design, he is also responsible for a much subtler innovation. That story goes back to the founding of the brothers’ company in 1972 and their first commission, which came from the Porsche motorcar company.
The young company was tasked with designing a highly limited watch for some of the sports car manufacturer’s employees. More interested in creating high-precision instruments than decorative accessories, though, the young designer set out to create a watch that would be easy to read at all times of day, and that led to an unusual choice.
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F.A. Porsche chose a matte black dial, instead of the white that was much more popular at the time. He reasoned that in combination with high-contrast white numbers, yellow minute and hour hands, and a red second hand, the watch would be easy to read no matter the lighting.
Today, black dials are common in the world of watchmaking, but at the time, it was a much more unusual choice. And it proved to be a hit. The watch that resulted from that original commission, the Chronograph I, was so popular among employees that Porsche decided to start offering it at dealerships. There, it became popular with Porsche’s clientele, actors and racecar drivers, which helped turn the watch into an icon of design.
Today, the Chronograph I is popular with collectors, and Porsche decided to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a reissue of the watch. Porsche Design says that the only improvement they could make after all that time was to replace the steel with lighter, more corrosion resistant titanium.