Meet The New Siduna Expedition Chronograph

Siduna has launched a Kickstarter campaign to back their latest release called the Expedition Chronograph, a bicompax chrono designed with Pre-Electronic era cues pulled from steam engine telegraphs and pocket watches of yore. To my surprise, Siduna is not new to the world of horology. In fact, Siduna can trace its watch-making roots all the way back to the early 1900s where they made pocket watches in Bienne, Switzerland before moving to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1929, where their focus shifted to Landeron 51 equipped gold chronographs. Like most watch companies during the Quartz Crisis, Siduna was forced to close up shop, but the Siduna trademark would live on until it was resurrected in 2017 by industry veteran and former Longines chief designer, Francis Jacquerye. Today, Siduna combines its legacy, inspiration from iconic Scandinavian watches and modern day watch making to produce quality, European made timepieces at an approachable price tag.

The Expedition is a traditional chronograph, built in a stainless steel case that spans 42 mm in diameter and 13.5 mm in height, with the pump pushers and crown installed for right hand drive. For those that like the variety in their watch straps, the standard 20 mm lug width is welcomed. The Expedition measures 50.7 mm from lug to lug so this may be something to think about if you’re on the narrower side of wrist sizes like I am, and overhanging lugs are a concern. Just like the anti reflective crystal protecting the dial upfront, the display caseback crystal behind the Expedition is also rendered in sapphire and shows off the Siduna decorated movement.

Siduna plans to release four different dial colors and variations of the Expedition, leading with their charming silver dial model. If the sterling silver plated dial pulls your gaze in, then the tempered steel hands contrasted with the red theodolite scale bordering the dial and bold roman numerals for hour markers keep your attention. The seconds and minute sub-registers at three and nine provide balance to the dial. In addition to the symmetry, the sub-registers layering over the hour markers, along with the grained texture silver plated filling in the negative space at the center of the dial, adds a visual depth to the Expedition.

The counterpart to the silver dial variation will come in a sunburst navy blue with white Arabic hour numerals, and with additional backing from their Kickstarter campaign, they also plan to offer a champagne dial with Roman numerals and a black dial with Arabic numerals.

To keep the hands ticking, the Expedition will potentially have a custom Alfred Rochat & Fils automatic movement with an architecture based on the Valjoux 7750. I say potentially because depending on the backing from the campaign, Siduna may use the Sellita calibre SW510 BH or the La Joux-Perret L100 instead. As the campaign progresses, and we find out which movement Siduna decides to go with, we’ll update this article as needed. Siduna offers a nubuck leather strap with a signed buckle for each Expedition Chronograph, which is appropriate due to the all-weather properties of the material and the activities one may partake in with a watch that has a name synonymous with exploration.

Siduna finds itself in a different world from where the brand was a century ago. For now, Siduna plans to move forward and differentiate itself by carefully gathering each sourced component and putting it all together in house to produce a quality product that’s easy on the eyes, and wallet. The Siduna Expedition Chronograph is now available to pre-order on Kickstarter with a price tag of €929 EUR, or $1090 USD using their Night Owl offering.