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Praesidus Type H-75 Chronograph

Faithfully Recreating an Obscure Military Chronograph

One might be surprised to discover how many types of military watches were conceived over the decades, ever since the appearance of the first war-specific timekeeping devices around World War I. I don’t know, I’m surprised. It feels like each day a brand re-releases or modernizes a particular tool watch made for a particular purpose. Because military watches didn’t start and stop existing with the Dirty Dozen from 1945, that was actually just the beginning. Governments from many countries have continued to commission models for their particular units to meet their particular needs ever since. One sub-genre of military watches I’m not super familiar with are chronographs. Although I’ve reviewed a few of them in the recent past, I’m nowhere near being an expert, meaning I wouldn’t be able to tell you many great stories about them. 


But what I can do today is to share some 1,500 words about the Praesidus Type H-75 Chronograph. The re-creation of a 1970s Breitling Chronograph 817 made for Italian helicopter pilots. (I will talk more about this later on.) What is amazing about this release—and which is what makes Praesidus one of my favorite watch brands—is the fact that for $245 USD you and I can get a faithful, well-made, and value-packed military chronograph that you and I have never heard of, and which we would most likely never heard of otherwise. Praesidus has achieved the same success and goals with the A-11 Type 44 and Dirty Dozen-45 and that is worth celebrating. Because for $245 you get a lot of watch as you always do with the brand, in addition to having a cool watch to strap onto your wrist. 



Specifications


Yes I will say once again that you get a lot of watch for your $245. Period. Praesidus has a knack for offering high quality watches for little money and the Type H-75 is no different. It’s actually now perhaps the best-value model in the brand’s catalog even though it isn’t its cheapest. So, what do we have here? First and foremost, a Seiko VK64 Mecaquartz chronograph caliber which has a stated monthly accuracy of +/- 20 seconds and a battery life of three years. If you didn’t know, a mecaquartz movement is a hybrid of a traditional mechanical movement with cogs, wheels, and levers, and a quartz-powered caliber. So it is endowed with the reliability and accuracy of a battery-powered machine and the satisfying mechanical clicks of a traditional movement. So pressing down on the pushers at the 2 and 4 o’clock mechanically operates the chronograph function. 



Moreover, the Praesidus Type H-75 comes with great and seemingly accurate dimensions with a case measuring 38mm in diameter, 45.5mm lug-to-lug, 11.8mm thick, and an 18mm lug width. (The push/pull crown measures a noticeable 7.8mm in diameter.) Pictured here on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist, it wears superbly thanks to, of course, its dimensions and for having a flat case-back. (How often do we not take the latter element into consideration when determining how well a watch fits on our wrist or not?) Anyway. Though the crown does not screw down, the case-back does, and by some engineering magic the Type H-75 is endowed with 100 meters of water resistance, a fact I love as it makes it very versatile. The crystal is a double-domed acrylic crystal and the lume is, well, of an unknown type but nevertheless comes in generous applications. 



Lastly, the case is made of 316L stainless steel and displays a mostly horizontal brushed finish (on the sides and case-back) with a few polished accents on the upper sections of the lugs. The bezel is of the unidirectional variety and comes with 120 surprisingly good clicks. “Surpringly” because for $245 I honestly expected something more pedestrian and because the bezel aligns perfectly with the dial and is absent of backplay. I mean, I’ve reviewed divers that retail for four times more and which cannot claim to have such a nice bezel construction and action. Just sayin’. 



Design


The Praesidus Type H-75 Chronograph, just like the Breitling it drew inspiration from, was designed to be super legible for helicopter pilots and as such comes with a few design details which indicate its mission-specific nature. First, the hour and minute hands are quite large and come with a particular design I’m not familiar with and one which makes them easy to see. While most hands are wider at the base (towards the pinion) and thinner at their end, these ones are symmetrical and are at their widest in the middle. In other words, the hands are as thin on either end which creates a superb visual effect as they appear to be simply resting against the pinion. The seconds hand, for its part, is thin but equipped with a large triangle which points at the minute track. This hand was designed this way specifically to be ultra legible inside a cockpit. 




Moreover, the hour markers are Arabic numerals with an old school, rounded and wide font, making them easy to see as well. And even though the 3 and 9 are missing, to make space for the two sub-registers, I had no problem reading the exact time at any hour. The numerals are embossed and filled to the brim with SuperLuminova. Having a matte and slightly textured dial, the Praesidus Type H-75 Chronograph is a legible piece of military and utilitarian horology. Being a chronograph, at the 3 we find the 24-hour sub-register and at 9 the 60-minute totalizer. Both are easy to read as well and I appreciate the mention of 60, 20, and 40’ on the left sub-register. In addition to being able to time an event up to 60 minutes (on the VK64 the chronograph minute hand stops at 60,) one can time an event using the bezel which is fully graduated. 



As you probably could tell, I quite like the design of the dial and I equally appreciate the design of the case. As we already know, the case is technically quite thin (11.8mm thick) and visually it looks so for two reasons. First, the mid-case appears to be narrow although about a third of it (the bottom section) angles down towards the case-back. This means visually this portion of the case is short and the case doesn’t dig into the wrist—it actually looks like a boat breaking through a wave. Second, the bezel has a clever design which also makes it appear thin: the insert is slopped down towards the edge of the bezel and the part that you turn slopes upward. (Take a closer look at the photos below to get a full grasp of what I’m talking about.) This makes the bezel easy to grip and visually appear thin. 




On a final note, the lugs are quite interesting to look at as well. They are long but narrow and appear to have a charming twisted-lug construction where the polished bevel overtakes the upper section. This is, I believe, a fascinating design detail which goes to show how much attention Praesidus put into building their modern interpretation (homage) of the Breitling.  



The Heart of the Matter


At the heart of the matter is the fact that thanks to Praesidus, we are now aware of a rare type of military chronograph which was made for Italian helicopter pilots. Not only does the Type H-75 borrow many design cues from the Breitling 817 from 1975 (I recommend reading this 2017 article from Hodinkee on the subject), but it also does from a Leonidas CP-2 Pilot Chronograph from the same era. While I’m aware of Breitling, I wasn’t aware of the 817 and Leonidas is a brand I’ve never heard of. (Two pieces of information which bear no meaning in this conversation!) According to Hodinkee, Breitling only made between 500 and 1,000 817’s and only 40 are known to the world, making it a very rare model indeed. I wouldn’t be able to tell you how much either models retailed for in the 1970s but I bet your ass they didn’t cost $245 in today’s dollars. 



So where does this leave us? Well, on the one hand we have a good tool watch, made of quality components for a relatively low price. Its design is something you have mostly not seen before because it is based on an obscure military chronograph specifically made for the Italian army. On the other hand we have yet another home-run from Praesidus, a brand which specializes in attainable, vintage military timekeeping devices. I’m indeed a big fan of Praesidus and this model, should it had been necessary to do so, seals the deal for me. And one thing the brand is very good at is to make homages (because that’s what it is) which are not only visually faithful to the original—though sometimes Praesidus takes some design liberties—but which are also actual tool watches one can use for flying a helicopter or cooking steaks on the weekend. 


In other words, Praesidus watches are actual watches and not pretend timekeeping devices.



Conclusion 


In the midst of an ever-growing and overcrowded micro and independent watch market, Praesidus stands out for making affordable tool watches which are built with the good stuff and which have not been the victims of any major corner-cutting. The design is complete, the manufacturing is sound, the spec list is wholesome, and the price is good. The Type H-75 Chronograph is the type of tool watch you can set-and-forget, not having to worry about being accurate or ready for your adventure, and one which wears superbly on the wrist. It is also a faithful recreation of an unknown, yet critical, line of military mechanical chronographs made for and used by the Italian Air Force, and all of what made the Breitling and Leonidas (and perhaps others) so unique has been elegantly repositioned within the dial and case design of the Praesidus. 


So, if you like what you saw today I recommend taking a look at this line up on the brand’s website


Thanks for reading. 

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