Baltic has taken a more specialist route for its latest Tour Auto limited edition, introducing a standalone rally timer set rather than another wristwatch tied to the event.
The release marks Baltic’s fourth consecutive year as official timekeeper of the Tour Auto, the contemporary continuation of the Tour de France Automobile, a motorsport fixture with roots stretching back to 1899.
A dashboard-focused Baltic for the Tour Auto
The new Baltic Tour Auto Rally Timer is built around two separate instruments, a stopwatch and a dash clock, both intended to sit closer to the world of historic rallying than conventional wristwatch collecting.
That makes this edition a more unusual proposition for the brand, especially because previous Tour Auto releases leaned more directly into wrist-worn chronographs.
Flyback timing with a Hanhart manual calibre
The stopwatch uses a manually wound Hanhart movement with flyback functionality, a practical feature for motorsport because it allows a timing sequence to be reset and restarted instantly.
Its light blue dial uses a crosshatch motif, blue hands and a clean layout that keeps the timing display legible without losing the vintage-instrument character Baltic is clearly chasing here.
A matching dash clock with a hand-wound 6497
The companion dash clock carries the same light blue treatment, with Arabic numerals, sharp blue hands and an off-white subsidiary seconds display at 6 o’clock.
Inside is a manually wound Enloong 6497 movement offering a 42-hour power reserve, an accessible calibre choice that keeps the set’s price in a relatively approachable range.
Limited to 300 sets at €825
Both instruments measure 60mm across and 18mm thick, with hesalite crystals reinforcing the period-correct dashboard-equipment feel.
The dash clock caseback is individually numbered, while the stopwatch caseback carries an engraving of the Tour Auto route from Paris to Biarritz.
Limited to 300 sets and priced at €825, the Baltic Tour Auto Rally Timer is aimed less at the everyday watch buyer and more at the collector who appreciates purpose-built timing gear, historic motorsport and the charm of a mechanical object that does not need to live on the wrist.
