The German watchmaker has gone under the radar for years, but they offer an intriguing proposition for chrono-lovers that can’t be ignored.

Hanhart is a company with heritage and continues to offer quality watches at great prices. So it’s surprising to me that they haven’t made more noise in the industry.

They’ve been around since 1882 - as their dials remind us - established in Switzerland only to move the base of operations across the border to Schwenningen, a key location of German watchmaking.

They were mostly known for their highly reliable stopwatches back then, and that’s still very much part of the brand DNA. Their production continues today, and I must admit they even make stopwatches look good.

But we’re here to talk about their range of chronographs, which are arguably some of the most underappreciated watches on the market today.

I’m particularly a big fan of their Racemaster collection, specifically their “bicompax” display format. The colour scheme of the dials also got my attention; it’s based on the paint jobs of racing cars of the 1960s and 1970s. An anthracite-tinted mid-dial provides striking contrast to the bright red hands which are surrounded by a ring-shaped minute scale, which comes in white, blue or orange, based on the model.

For a more classic take on their vintage models, there’s also the Primus collection. It includes a pilot, racer and diver model which leverages the company’s core area of expertise: making precision instruments whether that for use on land, sea or in the air.

For now, the brand relies on Swiss made calibres for its watches. All Hanhart chronographs are equipped with either an ETA 7750 or 7753 Swiss made automatic movement. And each one is extensively modified. For example, the typical bicompax dial design and complications like the flyback function of the Racemaster GTF are all realized in-house.

Since ETA is phasing out its movement supply to third parties, the plans is to phase in the essentially identical Sellita SW 500 movements over the next years. But we’re hoping to get an in-house movement again someday. After all, the brand produced its own chronograph movements until the in the 1960s. Their legendary calibres 40, 41 and 42 from the 1930s and 1940s still fetch high prices among collectors today.

Time will tell if their current models stand the test of time on the vintage resale market. But for here and now, it’s hard to argue against a Hanhart chrono.