Chronoswiss has taken a more elemental route to the summer watch, leaning into gold rather than bright colour or beach-ready minimalism.
The new Opus Dakar Sundown and Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold both use the metal as a defining part of the design, but they arrive with very different personalities.
One is a bi-metal skeletonised chronograph with a desert-evening palette, while the other is a full-gold GMT with a newly treated guilloché dial.
At a glance
- Chronoswiss has introduced two gold-focused models, the Opus Dakar Sundown and Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold.
- The Opus pairs red gold with steel and a brown CVD skeletonised dial, while the Pulse GMT debuts a frosted guilloché finish in a 5N gold case.
- The Opus Dakar Sundown is priced at £28,000, while the Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold is limited to 50 pieces at £44,500.
The Opus chronograph gets a red-gold Dakar treatment
The Chronoswiss Opus has always been an unusual take on the chronograph, largely because it refuses to separate sport function from old-world detailing.
Its skeletonised dial displays the mechanics beneath, while the Breguet-style hands, onion crown and flute-tipped pushers pull the watch toward a more classical register.
For the Opus Dakar Sundown, Chronoswiss has shifted the case from the standard titanium execution into a richer mix of stainless steel and 18ct red gold.
The red gold appears on the coin-edge bezel, caseback, crown and pushers, giving the 41mm case a warmer frame without making the entire watch precious metal.
Red gold contains a higher copper content than more common rose gold alloys, which gives it a deeper, more copper-forward tone.
That colour works especially well with the brown CVD-coated skeletonised dial, a combination that gives the watch its dusty sunset character without becoming literal.
Inside is the Chronoswiss calibre C.741S, an automatic chronograph movement with a 46-hour power reserve.
The exposed architecture also shows brushed finishing and perlage, making the display feel mechanical rather than merely decorative.
A full-gold GMT with a softer guilloché surface
The Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold is the more overtly luxurious of the two releases.
Its 41mm by 13mm case is made in 5N gold, giving the watch a coppery warmth that contrasts with the silver-tone dial.
That pairing creates a kind of reverse salmon effect, with the warmth moving to the case rather than sitting on the dial.
The important detail here is the dial treatment, which Chronoswiss calls Frosted Guilloché.
After the dial is engraved, it is sand-blasted to create a lightly grainy surface that diffuses light rather than reflecting it sharply.
The result sits between classic guilloché brightness and a true matte finish, keeping the texture visible while softening the overall shine.
The layout is driven by the automatic calibre C.6002, which provides central minutes and seconds along with a 12-hour counter at 3 o’clock and a 24-hour counter at 9 o’clock for tracking a second time zone.
Through the exhibition caseback, the movement shows radial Côtes de Genève finishing and a skeletonised rotor.
Gold, pricing and the mood of the moment
These two watches also make a clear statement about where precious-metal watch pricing sits right now.
The Opus Dakar Sundown is priced at £28,000, a substantial lift over the titanium Opus Dakar, which sits around £15,000.
The Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold moves even higher at £44,500, more than double the titanium-cased standard Guilloché variant at around £18,000.
That difference isn’t just about case metal, particularly in the Pulse GMT, where the limited run of 50 pieces and new dial finish sharpen the proposition.
Still, both watches underline how strongly gold is shaping the upper end of independent watchmaking this season.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Chronoswiss |
|---|---|
| Opus model | Opus Chronograph Dakar Sundown, reference CH-7522.1S-BR |
| Opus case | 41mm by 14.8mm, stainless steel and 18ct red gold |
| Opus dial | Skeletonised brown CVD-coated dial |
| Opus movement | Chronoswiss calibre C.741S automatic |
| Opus power reserve | 46 hours |
| Opus functions | Hours, minutes, seconds, date and chronograph |
| Opus water resistance | 30 metres |
| Opus strap | Sand Nubuck leather |
| Opus price | £28,000 |
| Pulse model | Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold, reference CH-4221RM-GR |
| Pulse case | 41mm by 13mm, 5N gold |
| Pulse dial | Frosted guilloché |
| Pulse movement | Chronoswiss calibre C.6002 automatic |
| Pulse power reserve | 55 hours |
| Pulse functions | Hours, minutes, seconds and GMT |
| Pulse water resistance | 50 metres |
| Pulse strap | Black rubber strap |
| Pulse price and production | £44,500, limited to 50 pieces |
For collectors drawn to Chronoswiss’ mix of regulator-era cues, visible mechanics and assertive case architecture, these two releases offer a warmer and more opulent reading of the brand’s language.
The Opus Dakar Sundown feels like the more extroverted daily complication, while the Pulse GMT Frosted Guilloché Gold is the rarer traveller’s watch with the stronger precious-metal presence.
