Home » Only Watch » Only Watch Review – Chronoswiss Three Apes One-Of-a-Kind Watch
Showing the image of three wise monkeys from an interesting perspective, this one-of-a-kind watch presents the impressive creativity of the brand’s skilful craftsmen, but also it transmits the beautiful Buddhist idea of detachment from evil. Chronoswiss Three Apes (Ref. CH-6721R-OW2013) is an exceptional artistic timepiece that will surly be highly sought after among those who do not consider the watch solely as the timekeeping device. It will be a part of the September’s Only Watch charity auction to help the Duchenne muscular dystrophy research.
Chronoswiss Three Apes watch is a refined model, with an 18 karat pink gold case whose large diameter of 44 mm and tiny polished bezel provide enough space for the outstanding creation on its dial. Thus, its thickness of 11.1 mm ensures that it nicely matches even a smaller man’s wrist. Nicely fluted side of the case, the distinctive, onion-shaped crown and prominent lugs are details that will probably impress you if you manage to look away for a moment from the hypnotizing dial.
Protected by anti-reflective sapphire crystal, it reveals three wise monkeys – Mizaru who covers his eyes, Kikazaru who covers his ears and Iwazaru who covers his mouth. They symbolize the old Buddhist principle of not seeing, not hearing and not speaking of evil. The dial is executed by using the extremely rare techniques, such as labor-intensive hand-guilloche and fire enameling. The combination of colors is really great and the skillful use of different shades and finishes on the transparent enamel almost revive these winsome creatures. There are no indices on the dial and the time is displayed by two tiny central hands in 18 karat pink gold. This is completely understandable, since the main intention of the Swiss watchmaker was to exhibit its artistic dial in all its beauty.
This does not mean that it did not take care about inner parts. On the contrary, revealed through a sapphire crystal case-back, an ETA 6498 hand-winding mechanism that powers the watch is beautifully decorated and skeletonized by hand. It beats on the low frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour and provides the standard power-reserve of up to 40 hours. The unique Three Apes watch that is specially produced for the 2013 Only Watch, comes with an elegant brown leather strap with a buckle in 18 karat pink gold.