Description
Angelus has followed last year's Chronographe Télémètre with the Chronographe Tachymètre, a trio of compact monopusher chronographs that swap the telemeter track for a tachymeter calibrated to a base of 1,000 and starting at 500 km/h. Same 37 mm case, same hand-wound A5000 calibre, different purpose — distance becomes speed.
Three references launch together: an 18k yellow-gold model limited to 15 pieces at CHF 34,600, and two stainless-steel versions at CHF 18,500 each, limited to 30 pieces (salmon-pink dial) and 50 pieces (pearl-grey dial with petrol-blue subdials). All prices include VAT.
These are small watches by modern chronograph standards, and deliberately so. At 37 mm across and 9.25 mm thick, the Chronographe Tachymètre is one of the most compact mechanical chronographs in current production — a direct consequence of Angelus building the La Fabrique collection around watches from the 1930s to the 1950s rather than around today's proportions.
Design
The case is brushed and polished, with a curved caseband running lug to lug and lugs that sweep downward then twist around the sides — a distinctly pre-war profile. A box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both faces sits over the dial, and a flat sapphire caseback shows the movement. There is no chronograph pusher on the flank: the single start-stop-reset pusher is built into the fluted crown at 3 o'clock.
Each dial shares a grained central section, a satin-finished flange carrying the tachymeter scale, and snailed subdials — a 30-minute counter at 3 and small seconds at 9. The gold reference pairs a golden dial with what Angelus calls British racing-green accents; the steel pair comes in salmon-pink with steel-grey, or pearl-grey with petrol-blue. Applied Arabic numerals and markers are gold-toned on the gold model and black-rhodium-plated on the steel ones, and all three use rhodium-plated syringe hands with Super-LumiNova. Straps are colour-matched calfskin — sage green, sepia grey or steel blue — on pin buckles in the matching metal.
Specifications
- References: 0CHCQ.H01A.V1168Q (18k yellow gold), 0CHCS.P02A.V1156S (steel, salmon-pink dial), 0CHCS.U01A.V1155S (steel, grey dial)
- Case diameter: 37 mm
- Case thickness: 9.25 mm
- Case material: 18k yellow gold or stainless steel, brushed and polished
- Crystal: box-shaped sapphire, anti-reflective on both sides
- Caseback: flat sapphire with anti-reflective coating
- Water resistance: 30 m
- Dial: grained centre, satin flange, tachymeter scale base 1,000 starting at 500 km/h; applied numerals; syringe hands with Super-LumiNova
- Movement: Angelus calibre A5000, manual-winding monopusher chronograph, made by sister company La Joux-Perret
- Chronograph architecture: column wheel, horizontal clutch, oscillating pinion
- Movement dimensions: 24 mm x 4.2 mm, 23 jewels
- Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
- Power reserve: 42 hours
- Finishing: 3N gold-finished mainplate and bridges, Geneva stripes, circular graining, rhodium-plated steel chronograph parts
- Strap: sage green, sepia grey or steel-blue calfskin with matching pin buckle
- Limited edition: 15 pieces (gold), 30 pieces (steel/salmon), 50 pieces (steel/grey)
- Price: CHF 34,600 incl. VAT (gold); CHF 18,500 incl. VAT (steel)
- Availability: through the Angelus dealer network
What's Exciting
The A5000 is the reason to care. It descends from the THA calibre developed in the late 1980s — the movement later known as the Cartier 045MC and used in the 1999 Tortue Monopoussoir, one of the most quietly revered monopusher chronographs of the modern era. Getting a column-wheel, oscillating-pinion monopusher with that lineage in a 37 mm case for CHF 18,500 is a serious proposition, and it is a long way from the generic modular chronographs that dominate this price band.
The restraint is the other pleasure. Angelus could have made this 41 mm and sold more of them. Instead the case stays at 37 mm x 9.25 mm with a box crystal and twisted lugs, and the only concession to the present is the choice of dial colours. A tachymeter also simply makes more sense on a chronograph than a telemeter does — most buyers will never range a thunderstorm, but the scale that measures speed at least belongs to the instrument's original job.
History
Angelus was founded in Le Locle in 1891 by the Stolz brothers and built its name on complicated watchmaking — repeaters, alarm watches and chronographs, including the Chronodato and the eight-day Angelus clocks fitted to aircraft and cars. The modern Angelus, part of the same group as La Joux-Perret, has split its output between skeletonised contemporary pieces and the La Fabrique line, which reinterprets the brand's own 1930s-to-1950s designs with current materials and construction.
The Chronographe Tachymètre follows the Chronographe Télémètre of 2025 and the Tinkler 1958 Quarter Repeater in that programme, and it shares its basic idea with the Montre de Souscription 5 collaboration launched earlier in 2026 — though the collection version uses its own dial design and colour combinations.
