The German watch maker: Junghans revived the Meister Collection after the Schramberg based entrepreneur Steim family take over from Egana Gropius HK based. The company survived through WWI, WWII, Post War East German government, never cease their production until today, a solid heritage of 153 years. After the successful re-issue of the Max Bill watches, they are now focusing on ressurecting their Meister Collection which was introduced during year 1936. There's a YG plated version of Meister Chronoscope produced limited to 1500 pieces during year 2011 during their 150 years anniversary, which is having the identical design with the RG plated piece in this review.
The 027/7323.00 is a German classic watch, at 40.4mm with a height of 13.9mm, it wear larger on the wrist due to the almost invisible bezel, I could not say this is a thin watch but the 13.9mm height actually makes the watch stand out like a "bubble" due to the domed plexiglass which I would cover later part. The face would be very familiar to all the watch collectors: the 7750 lay out, featuring 3 bowl shaped counter for the: sub-second, Chrono minute and Chrono Hour. Of course with the two aperture for Day and Date in German (SAM is saturday in German). The sword hands are paying tribute to the original Meister created during 1930's~1950's.
"Made in Germany" instead of "swiss made" is printed on the silver plated dial, rather than having regulation like swiss where 60% of the manufacturing cost must be swiss origin, [copy from junghans.de]the quote "Made in Germany" label not simply as a declaration of the watch’s origin but also as a commitment. Accordingly, the conception, design, engineering and quality control as well as the assembly of every watch takes place here in-house. A “Junghans” is thus not only “Made in Germany” but also imbued with the characteristics of the Schramberg business location.[copy from junghans.de]
The domed shaped plexiglass is the signature for Junghans Meister and Max Bill range of watches, Junghans plexiglass is coated with the "SICRALAN" coating (used in the automobile field) which is exclusive to them, the coating increased the scratch resistance and UV resistance to the plexi, however that doesn't increase the hardness to the level of a sapphire crytal. The plexiglass complimented the watch dial with a warmer look and the contrast between the domed crystal and the bowl shaped sub dial is very nice. The watch would wear taller on wrist as the domed shaped crystal contributed a significant of height.
The Meister Chronoscope is a very elegant classic watch, the case is fully polished but not too striking as the bezel is thin and the view of the watch is mostly make up by the dial. It is a two piece case instead of three piece, the curvature of the case continues and followed by the lugs, the lugs are curved with a pointy edge. The crown is signed with the Junghans 8 pointed star and is easy to pull out for setting the day date and timing, the pusher are as well highly polished with polished rounded edges. The respond from the pusher is standard for the 7750 operated with cam and lever.The Meister Chronoscope comes with a Aligator Strap and RG plated Junghans signed tang buckle
Junghans replaced the datewheel to German language of a elabore grade Valjoux 7750 where it is adjusted in 3 position (face up, 6h 9h). One glance over the see through back case, the cotes de Geneva, perlage, blue screws and smaller Junghans signed rotor is visible.
The Meister Collection will always be the signature of Junghans, the finer details on the dial, hands, buckles, crown are differentiating Mesiter range from the Max Bill. In particular I think the bowl shaped dial is very well executed and added a lot of depth and texture to the dial complimenting the domed shaped of the glass. After the Chronoscope, Junghans has come out model like: Full Calendar, Week of the year with Power Reserve Indicator,Telemeter and we would see more to come.
Currently the brand itself is lacking of awareness and we shall see more marketing on it. Without spending a fortune you could actually own a German brand with true heritage.
