The Junghans 1972 Collection – An Olympic Watch – No it’s not Omega

Being a timing partner at the Olympic Games – well, it’s such a historical moment in any watchmaking company’s timeline that it would be simply rude not to “milk it”  just a little…. and the Junghans 1972 Collection celebrates the company’s ties with the world’s most famous sporting event.

 
It’s not all about Omega.  Yes they were the first brand to officially time all the events back in 1932 and they’ve done it more than anyone else, but there have been others.  Junghans and Longines combined forces to time the 1972 Games in Munich, and they both brought with them some innovations.  It’s hard to comprehend that the Multi Counter which Junghans used that year at the rowing event was the first ever with the ability to track each boat individually and they were the darlings of the press with their fancy new colour imaging finishing line photographs which they distributed to the media for worldwide use.

Junghans are no youthful brand.  They were founded in 1861 in Germany’s other watchmaking heartland located in the Black Forest.  They once had one of the largest watch factories and were one of the biggest producers of chronometers in the world.  Their mechanical watchmaking was halted in 1975, but they continued to be at the cutting-edge of quartz movement production, culminating in the release in 1990 of the world’s first radio-controlled watch, the Mega 1.  Recent times have seen them return to traditional watchmaking, with their Meister Collection which re-visits the creation of mechanical calibres using, where possible Schramberg-made components.

The Junghans 1972 Collection takes inspiration from the styling of the era – there’s a little bit of case spill-over, some bright colour tones, stubby markers, broad hands and a knife-edge rotating bezel.  The Chronoscope has chubby tonneau-shaped counters and a barely-there small seconds, the Mega Solar is plainer but more technical.  Three models of each will be available, all so distinctly “seventies” in appearance that all that’s missing is a wrist hair-grabbing stretch link bracelet.