The Baltic Tricompax Gets Regular Production Panda & Reverse Panda References

Earlier this year Baltic surprised us with their first manually wound chronograph, done in spectacular ‘70s racing watch fashion, including a pair of included flyback timers in the box. See our review here. That watch, which was a collaboration with Peter Auto, featured orange and yellow accents set against a creamy white and black dial, and wasn’t shy on flair as a result. It was also 300 units, which predictably sold out rather quickly. Today, Baltic brings us a regular production variant of the Tricompax, and while it ditches the color, it gains a sleek new personality with panda and reverse panda dial options. 

The Tricompax is a watch that gets a lot of the little details right. From its dimensions to its design, there’s a balance achieved here that sets its era specific inspiration within just enough of a modern context that none of it feels like a throwback attempt, or a recreation of something specific. Sure, the influences are there and readily apparent, particularly without the dashes of color, but there’s an element of restraint here that feels very ‘Baltic’ in its presentation. Something they’ve certainly proven adept at over the years and it pays dividends here.

Much like the limited edition Tricompax, the Panda and Reverse Panda are set within 39.5mm 316L stainless steel cases that measure 47mm from lug to lug, and 13.5mm in total thickness, which includes a heavily domed crystal. Numbers aren’t everything, of course, but this is indeed a very wearable case, with a thin midsection that blossoms up and around the bezel assembly. A slight belly protrudes underneath to hold the movement, and sits the watch up on the wrist a small amount which is compensated for by the downward slope of the lug.  

The flared bezel assembly holds a brushed aluminum insert with tachymeter scale, and along with the pump pushers invite the comparison to the venerable 6241 Daytona, but the dial design does just enough to keep its distance overall. The long polished hour batons and chic Baltic logo at 12 o’clock, along with the single 12 numeral at the top of the dial provide a vibe all their own. A ‘Tricompax’ label situated over the hour totalizer would have surely pushed it too far.

Baltic continues to use the hand wound Sellita SW-510 M caliber here, which provides 63 hours of reserve and should be about as robust an option as you could ask for. The caseback is closed so no view from behind, which suits this watch just fine if you ask me.

As the name suggests, this Tricompax is offered in both Panda (light base dial with filled black sub dials) and Reverse Panda (dark base with filled white sub dials) configurations. The chapter ring at the perimeter of the dial matches the sub dials, contrasting with the base dial color and bringing the whole dial area in a bit, visually speaking. Unlike the limited edition, the hour totalizer at 6 o’clock gets each hour, from 1 to 12, represented within it. 

The result is exactly as handsome as you’d expect. There are no handheld flyback timers included here, and production batches won’t be limited, however the first 200 of each dial produced will get a numbered caseback. The pre-order for that first batch will go live on December 1st at 10am Eastern (4pm in Paris), and end December 11th at the same time. The price is set at $1,596 on the leather strap, and $1,656 on the flat-link bracelet. Deliveries are expected to begin by September of 2023. More from Baltic.