Depancel Sekeltonizes the Serie-R Chronograph At A Pretty Unbeatable Price

If you were to put together an extremely specific list of watches, one that listed skeletonized column-wheel chronographs with a vertical clutch, for under €1,600, that would be a very short list. In fact, there just might be one watch on that list, the brand new Depancel Serie-R Chronograph Skeleton. Long has the French brand used Peacock chronograph movements, namely the SL-4801. Now, it's switching it out for the openworked SL-4802, and I'm digging it.

The case remains the same 40mm by 36mm steel footprint as the earlier chronographs, with a lug-to-lug of 48.5mm, but it grows to 13.7mm thick, or 12.8mm without the crystal. These numbers don't mean much when you're dealing with a rectangular watch, as we're not that used to wearing one, so your best bet would be to try one on. You get polished bevels against brushed flats and the sapphire crystal is bevelled to follow the case outline and has anti-reflective coating on the inside. Water resistance is 50 meters.

There isn't really a dial anymore. The movement is held in mid air with very dramatic silver metal bridges and it completely changes the look of the Serie-R. You keep the fantastic dashboard-style hands and indices, filled with white Super-LumiNova C1 and sitting over the bridges. And there's orange details everywhere – on top of the hands, the minute counter at three, the hour counter at nine and the big central seconds hand. I don't think this dial looks too cluttered, despite the chrono display and skeletonized dial.

The Peacock calibre SL-4802 is the openworked version of the SL-4801. It is an integrated, self-winding chronograph with a column wheel, vertical clutch and transversal balance bridge, beating at 4Hz with 55 hours of reserve. Peacock is a Chinese maker, which allows for the low price (for what it is), but it has a reputation for making decent movements. The watch comes on a 22mm bull leather strap with a steel pin buckle.

The Depancel Serie-R Chronograph Skeleton is a numbered edition of 100, priced at €1,595. Pre-orders open tomorrow, October 8 at 4PM Paris time and the first watches ship in mid-December. See more on the Depancel website.