Pioneer
Line History
In 1997 Hanhart decided to bring back to life, as a faithful replica, its legendary 1939 pilot's chronograph: a recovery operation drawing on the brand's historical archive that, in the following years, grew into the Pioneer collection, today organized into three families — Mk I, Mk II and TachyTele — each tied to a specific caliber from wartime and early postwar production.
The Mk I takes up the 1938 Calibre 40, Hanhart's first chronograph, a single-button design: a single pusher, lacquered red, handles start, stop and reset. The Mk II instead draws on the 1939 Calibre 41, the true pilot's chronograph, with two asymmetrical pushers and the characteristic red reset button. The TachyTele shares the two-pusher layout of the Mk II but adds a tachymeter scale on the dial's central spiral and a telemeter scale on the outer rim, designed to calculate speed and distance respectively.
The common thread running through the entire line remains the red pusher, in keeping with the brand's tradition born to prevent an accidental reset in flight from ruining a measurement in progress. The Pioneer models today house automatic bases derived from the ETA/Valjoux 7753 caliber, housed in 40 mm steel cases with a rotating coin-edge bezel, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, screw-down case back and a riveted calfskin strap, echoing the original military aesthetic.
Technical Specifications
Main Executions
According to the tradition handed down by the brand, the famous red pusher did not originate from a design choice: it was a pilot's wife who painted it red on her husband's chronograph, to prevent it from being accidentally reset during flight. A detail born of practical necessity that today identifies every Hanhart chronograph, the Pioneer included.