Crown and chronograph pushers on the left: what makes this so attractive?
Interest in watches with crowns and chronograph pushers on the left-hand side of the case isn't so much down to consideration for lefties. It's more about an opportunity to radically refresh the image of iconic watches without spending a huge amount of money.
No one knows who decided to call these watches with crowns and chronograph pushers in an unorthodox position "watches for lefties", or why.
After all, the first examples of such watches were actually made for the majority right-handed watch wearers, who admittedly needed to use these watches in unconventional conditions: the cockpit of an airplane, underwater, or behind the wheel of a race car.
You've got to admit that in these conditions you'd want to operate the buttons by feeling them out, not needing to look at them. Oh, and these pushers would be a few centimeters closer within reach of your right hand's index finger.
And as for watches made for ordinary civilians with crowns and pushers on the left-hand side, watchmakers release them with the intent purpose of giving the design of clients' favorite models an update at the lowest possible cost.
How hard could it be to turn a movement 180 degrees in the horizontal plane? Surely it couldn't be that hard. Today's burgeoning interest in watches "for lefties" spurred last year's new iconic Rolex GMT-Master II.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT Master II “Sprite” Bezel Ref. 126720VTNR
Rolex fans have dubbed this watch "Destro": from the Italian for "right", i.e., the hand on which left-handed watch owners normally wear their wristwatches. The "right-hand version" works exactly the same as the usual GMT-Master.
The automatic manufacture Caliber 3285 with a 70-day power reserve and balance frequency of 4 Hz has daily gains and losses in accuracy of -2/+2 seconds. In the watchmaker's recent history, it's interesting that Rolex has only released watches with the pushers on the left-hand side twice.
One of the miserly number of usual Oyster Perpetuals was made for Charlie Chaplin in 1945, and there was another GMT-Master referenced 6542 for Pan-Am pilots.
"Destro Sprite" (the second half of its the nickname refers to the black-and-green bezel around the dial) is housed in a 40-mm steel case and comes with either the trademark Oyster bracelet (price: CHF 10,500) or an original Jubilee bracelet (price: CHF 10,700).
Tudor Pelagos LHD (Left-Hand Drive) Ref. M25610TNL-0001
For anyone who thinks that the Rolex GMT-Master II is expensive at around CHF 10,000, you can purchase a far more affordable dive watch called Tudor Pelagos Left-Hand Drive for less than CHF 5,000.
Its titanium case with a titanium unidirectional rotatable bezel is watertight even at 500 meters, and it houses the COSC-certified automatic caliber MT5612-LHD. It's a wonderful timeless watch for every occasion.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5373P-001 Split-Seconds Monopusher Chronograph Perpetual Calendar
One watchmaker that already releases models with the crown and pushers on the left-hand side on a regular basis is Patek Philippe. It'd probably be foolish to claim that this significantly increases the price of such models on the pre-owned watch market, but then again...
We all know the general rule: the rarer the model by Patek Philippe, the higher the hammer price. And the great watchmaker designs these kinds of watches in their line for professionals, primarily guided by traditions.
You might ask, "What's professional about last year's watch in the Grande Complication category?" Well, a lot of things. They feature an expressly sporty colorway on the dial, a wide 20-mm embossed textile-pattern calfskin strap with scarlet stitching, and the chronograph itself: a fundamentally professional function.
Inside the case measuring 38.3 mm in diameter and 12.93 mm in height is the hand-wound manufacture CHR 27-525 PS Q movement, previously housed in the discontinued Ref. 5372 model.
Actually, the watch really will be very rare. Patek Philippe hasn't even disclosed the price for Ref. 5373P-001. But what we do know is that Ref. 5372 cost around EUR 500,000. Forewarned is forearmed.
Panerai Luminor Marina Left-Handed 8 Days PAM 796
The Florentine watchmaker Panerai has made its first serially produced left-handed watches. It pays tribute to the watches made for none other than the Italian Navy specialist diving corps, for whom Panerai actually created the left-handed crown watch.
It was actually easier to operate the pushers using the index finger of their right gloved hand. Left-handed watches have been kept in watchmaker's current model line, but they account for less than 10 % of the watchmaker's total production volume.
The classic and most typical of these models is the Panerai Luminor Marina Left-Handed 8 Days. It exhibits all the signature feats of early water-resistant watches made for navy personnel.
It's a large case measuring 44 mm in diameter and water resistance of 300 m, a sandwich dial, the crown positioned on the left-hand side of the case, which is protected for accidental impact by a special crown-protecting bridge (this protector performs the additional function of sinking the winding crown into the case for increased water resistance).
And of course its manufacture manually wound P.5001 movement with an eight-day power reserve (the less often you wind this watch, the longer it won't let water in). РАМ 796 also comes at an attractive price of just over CHF 6,000.
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch "Right-Hander" Ref. IW501012
Behold, the most obvious proof of how super trendy watches for lefties are. The famous manufacture based in the German-speaking Canton of Schaffhausen is fully focused on perfecting the reliability of both movements and cases, and had never let itself get distracted by fashion trends before.
And then all of a sudden, the company dives headfirst into the mainstream with its iconic "Größe Flieger Uhren" (Gr. "Big Pilot Watches") line. Who would have thought?! Ever since its inception 84 years ago, the Big Pilot's Watch has remained an indestructible watch for Air Force pilots, where the dial and caseback act as a Faraday cage that block electromagnetic fields.
The movement and case are so wide in diameter to maximize timekeeping accuracy. But it seem nowadays everyone submits to fashion trends sooner or later. As a side note, having the winding crown positioned on the left further underscores the watch's imposing and intrinsically masculine proportions.
Beating inside the 46.2-mm case is the automatic manufacture Caliber IWC 52010 with a week's worth of power reserve. Availability of the series is limited to 250 pieces. They're priced around CHF 14 600.
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