Introducing: The Albishorn Thundergraph, An Imaginary Take On A 1952 Mountaineer's Watch

March 14, 2025

In 1952, the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research organized two expeditions to Mount Everest, led by Dr. Edouard Wyss-Dunant. At the time, Nepal had just opened its borders to foreign climbers, and the Swiss were among the first granted permission to attempt to summit Mount Everest. They came up just 250 meters short of the summit, the closest anyone had made it along the Southeast Ridge route. Albishorn is honoring that achievement by imagining a vintage tool watch chronograph from 1952 C?granted, one made with some more modern technology. In many ways, this is the spiritual successor from the 1930s and 1940s Rolex Zerographe. It has an oversized bi-directional bezel (with black and red lacquer), a big (bronze) crown at 10:30, and large red monopusher at 9:30, all of which can be operated while wearing gloves.The large half-California or "California ghost" dial (as Albishorn calls it) with gilt and Super-LumiNova-filled roman numerals pops against a sunburst petroleum-blue dial. And despite the big look, the watch measures a reasonable 39mm by 12mm, with a lug-to-lug of 47.7mm. Inside the case is the ALB03 M manually-wound chronograph movement. The monopusher chronograph has a running seconds and 30-minute totalizer in subdials at the bottom of the dial, stop seconds, ticks at 4Hz, and offers 65 hours of power reserve. It's also a COSC-certified movement. There will be 99 of these new Albishorn Thundergraphs produced and delivered over the course of the next three years, each with a price tag of CHF 3,650. What We Think When I first saw Albishorn's Maxigraph collaboration with Massena LAB last year, I didn't quite get it. The watch looked big, complicated, and C at first C a bit confusing. TanTan did a great job covering that release in January, and somewhere along the way, the entire concept clicked. I've written before about the struggles of imagining how a watch (or brand) would have evolved over the 40, 50, or even 60 years since it was put to rest. Sbastien Chalmountet, the founder of Albishorn, has done a really good job by not jumping that far into the future but, in this case, imagining a watch from 1952 based on the evolution of the 1930s Zerographe. From the bezel to the "California ghost" dial, the watch has a great blend of vintage and modern. I appreciate that Chaulmontet has gone the extra mile in all his watches through a proprietary movement, in this case, the ALB03 M. I've not seen a chronograph with this layout before Albishorn, but if you rotate the watch so that the crown is back at 3 o'clock, you can see the two subdials line up where you'd find them on a 7750 (so I'm guessing this is based on heavily modified 7750 architecture like the ALB02 M). It's a creative reinterpretation of the movement that speaks to his passion for chronographs. After becoming friends with Chaulmontet, I've learned that he has... well... let's say, quite a few unusual chronographs. Only someone like him could make something like this. The bezel makes the watch look larger than it is, but the measurements look very wearable. The movement has been kept relatively thin (5.7mm) to allow for vintage sizing, and the COSC certification is a nice added value. And despite not fully getting the mountaineering tie-in, the final touch that puts it over the top for me is the engraving on the back C the logo for the old Foundation for Alpine Research C which had (for some time) been a mystery on the back of a number of Daytonas. It's a nice nod for vintage lovers. The Basics Brand: AlbishornModel: ThundergraphDiameter: 39mmThickness: 12mmCase Material: 316 L stainless steel case with polished and satin finished surfaces and with chamfered and polished edgesDial Color: Sunburst petroleum blue dialIndexes: Golden applied indexes filledLume: Beige Super-LumiNovaWater Resistance: 100mStrap/Bracelet: Petroleum leather strap with Albishorn buckle; Beige Leather strap with Albishorn buckle The Movement Caliber: Proprietary chronograph caliber ALB03 MFunctions: Hours, minutes, running seconds, stop-second mechanism, chronograph with 30-minute totalizerDiameter: 30mmThickness: 5.7mmPower Reserve: 65 hoursWinding: ManualFrequency: 28'800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz)Jewels: 21Chronometer Certified: Yes, COSC-Certified Pricing & Availability Price: CHF 3,650Availability: Immediately only on www.albishorn-watches.chLimited Edition: Yes, only 99 pieces to be produced over three yearsFor more, click here.