I’ll admit that most of the watches that I have reviewed on Watch Hunter have been geared towards men. There are simple reasons for this: I am a guy, and I tend to review watches that I own or can get my hands on. I rarely come across watches for women so I can be at a loss to talk about them with great depth. To be honest, I rarely cross paths with female watch collectors, but I know that there are some women watch nerds out there. For them, I’ll give it my best shot when discussing this Victorinox Swiss Army Chrono Classic watch with a pink Mother-of-Pearl dial (model #249052).
This Victorinox Swiss Army Chrono Classic is pretty in pink Mother-of-Pearl
I picked this watch up with a batch of timepieces that I bought to resell. It was practically unworn except for some time on the wrist of a television show’s host. As such, it was in great condition and I could make observations about it as if it was a practically new watch. At the time of this writing, this watch was still available on Amazon, but not on the Victorinox Swiss Army web site. It was released in 2008, but this particular model was built in 2012 (based on the serial number). That is a decently long run for the same model of watch. It had an MSRP of $675. This model looked familiar to me. I knew that I had seen it before, and in fact, I had. Victorinox Swiss Army makes other versions of the Chrono Classic that could arguably be skewed more towards men such as seen in the various versions below.
Different variations on a central design theme for Victorinox Swiss Army Chromo Classic
Even as I wrote that last sentence, I felt like I was tip-toeing around in a gender-bias mind-field. I’ll just set the record straight that I am perfectly happy to let people choose their watches based on their own taste. I could honestly care less if a man wears a pink watch or a woman wears a panda dial watch that might have been intended for the hairy wrists of knuckle dragging cavemen. My rules are to “make yourself happy” and “wear what you want.” Whew!… with that disclaimer made, let’s talk about the watch.
Subtlety is the name of the game here. Silver and pale Mother-of-Pearl details compliment each other
The dial will be the reason why most purchasers would buy this watch. Simply put, the pinkย Mother-of-Pearlย is beautiful. Seeing how the dial of this watch is fairly uniform in color, I don’t know if the Mother-of-Pearl was harvested or simulated. Real Mother-of-pearl is a natural material that has been used for hundreds of years. It comes from abalone seashells and has a silvery reflective surface with hints of different colors in it. I would suppose that there are different grades and color classes for the material. If you have seen similar iridescent color on common sea shells that have washed ashore, Mother-of-Pearl takes this beauty to the next level.
Near 3:00 you can see some of the subtle color shifts of the material in the highlights
Whether real or synthetic, the Mother-of-Pearl dial makes a statement without looking childish like a hot-pink “Hello Kitty” dial might. Instead, the wearer is treated to a pale pink dial with hints of iridescent blues and greens. It is very subtle and the features of this Chrono Classic reflect whatever kind of light it is viewed in, from diffused light to sunlight to shadow.
The pink Mother-of-Pearl Chrono Classic in backlit shade
The pink Mother-of-Pearl Chrono Classic in hard sunlight. Notice the dark looking numerals.
Comparing the pink Chrono Classic to the more masculine Chrono Classics, you can see the thought process the Victorinox’s designers used to soften the look of the more masculine model. It’s important to note that the watches are the same size and that the changes are cosmetic. This is pretty smart from a manufacturer’s point-of-view because they can use common parts but extend the reach of the related models to different types of people. This is economy-of-scale and every manufacturer does this in one way or another to be more profitable.
The pink Chrono Classic in soft, diffused shade. Notice the light looking numerals.
The width of a Victorinox Swiss Army Chrono Classic is a friendly 40 mm meaning that is more unisex than a 45 mm wide watch might be. The lug-to-lug distance is 50 mm, which is not outrageous but it may overreach the width of smaller wrists resulting in a little overhang. Considering that some female owners wear their watches more like bracelets that loosely fit, this might not be a concern at all.
Theย Victorinox Swiss Army Chrono Classic came with a matching 3-link stainless steel bracelet with a signed (with logo) deployant clasp for easy on and off. The center links are highly polished to match the case and the outer links are brushed to show more diffusion in lighting conditions. Polished stainless steel tends to reflect the surroundings with high-contrast gradients where brushed stainless steel shows more subtle gradients of light. You can see this on the bracelet in the photo below.
Polished and brushed links on the Chrono Classic
If stainless steel bracelets are too heavy or if you want to accessorize the look of your pinkย Victorinox Swiss Army Chrono Classic, you can always replace metal links with a variety of leather watch bands. The Photoshopped image below shows some possibilities. The width of the replacement straps are an uncommon 21 mm, but you can find that size if you look hard enough. You can also experiment with 20 mm and 22 mm watch bands, which are plentiful.
Changing to leather watch bands can soften the look of the Victorinox Swiss Army Mother-of-Pearl Chrono Classic
The pink version of the Chrono Classic is an interesting watch design. The changes made to it in order to appeal to a feminine audience are strictly aesthetic. The Mother-of-Pearl model is the same size as the other “more masculine” Chrono Classics. That goes against conventional wisdom that might recommend scaling the watch down in size for slimmer wrists.
As a counter argument, there are many women who wear “men’s watches” borrowed from a boyfriend, husband or father. To simply assume that women want tiny watches bedazzled with jewels ignores the fact that women are individuals and like a wide variety of watch styles and sizes. Perhaps, Victorinox already knew this and thought that this watch might resonate with those buyers wanting something less dainty (and kept the size the same).
Subtlety is the name of the game here. Silver and pale Mother-of-Pearl details compliment each other
You can easily see the differences if you compare this pink model with the other Chrono Classic models, like the panda model. The game of “spot the difference” can apply to any pair of those models. Starting with the bezels, you will notice that the panda version has a black tachymeter scale and the pink version has a ghosted white-on-silver tachymeter scale. In some light you can barely see this, so camouflaging the scale dresses up the watch. It is still there if you want it, but the visual impact it minimized. This is not to be confused with a “tacky-meter” which is your gut feeling used to judge other people’s questionable fashion choices in public. ha ha.
The next thing you might notice is the sub dials. The pink watch has silver that blends in with the dial a bit more than the panda’s black sub dials that seem to jump off the dial with maximum contrast. Both versions have circular patterns stamped into their surfaces making them look like minuscule vinyl records.
The panda dial has an indented area in the center and a date window at 6:00. The pink dial has a flat dial surface (suggesting real Mother-of-Pearl) and the date has been moved to the 4:00 spot replacing the numeral.
Speaking of numerals, both watches take a different approach. The pink one favors truncated numbers (2, 6, 10) and the panda’s dial has a placeholder dot for numerals that would have been truncated (2 and 10). The panda dial has lume-filled numerals with a polished steel edge and the pink dial has stainless steel applied numerals. Of the two, the pink dial’s numerals can change from light to dark depending on what the mirror-like surface reflects. The lume for the pink dial has been moved to small squares on the angled chapter ring.
Both models are powered by a Swiss quartz ETA 251.272 movement with 22 jewels. This means that the chronograph has a 30-minute sub dial and a 1/10th-second sub dial. The central chronograph needle only ticks when the chronograph function is activated, but the sub dial at 6:00 constantly ticks to show the watch is working.
To wrap up, this watch would be a good choice for women who want to wear a slightly larger watch with a sporty presence, yet is not overly masculine. It would also make an excellent get-out-of-the-doghouse gift if you are a guy and did something stupid. You know who you are…
