I’ve been thinking a lot about chronographs lately. Almost every brand makes one, most of them lean on the same tired motorsport or aviation tropes, and only a handful actually feel considered. So when Baltic released the Scalegraph Transat Café L’Or Limited Edition, it immediately stood out. Not because it reinvented the chronograph, but because it tied a familiar format to a very specific idea and actually followed it through.
This is a limited edition of 200 pieces, and it is built around Baltic’s role as official timekeeper of the Transat Café L’Or sailing race. That context matters, because this watch does not feel like a generic chronograph with a logo slapped on the caseback. The details genuinely reflect its purpose.
Starting with the basics, the case measures 39.5mm wide, 14.1mm thick, and 47mm lug to lug. On paper that thickness sounds like a lot, but in practice it wears well thanks to the double domed sapphire and compact footprint. It feels substantial without being clumsy, and importantly it still feels like a vintage inspired chronograph rather than a modern sports watch pretending to be one. Water resistance is rated at 100 metres, helped by screw down pushers and crown. You are not buying this to dive with, but it does mean you are not babying it either.
The dial is where this watch really finds its identity. The metallic champagne finish is warm and slightly understated, sitting somewhere between dressy and sporting. It avoids the starkness of white and the severity of black, which makes the whole thing feel more relaxed. Orange chronograph hands bring contrast and energy, and the bi-compax layout keeps everything balanced.
At three o’clock is an oversized 15 minute counter, designed specifically to time regatta starts. This is not decorative. It is functional in a very niche way, and that is what makes it interesting. The bezel is also graduated in knots per nautical mile, another detail that quietly reinforces the maritime link without shouting about it.
Inside is the Sellita SW511 BH a hand wound chronograph movement with around 63 hours of power reserve. A manual movement feels absolutely right here. You have to interact with the watch, wind it, engage with it, and that fits the broader theme. This is not a set and forget piece. It asks something of you, and in return it feels more involved and more personal.
Baltic also get the wearing experience right. The watch comes with their excellent beads of rice bracelet, which is comfortable, flexible, and suits the vintage styling perfectly. You also get a vulcanised rubber strap in the box, which leans harder into the nautical side of things. Both use quick release spring bars, so switching between them is genuinely easy and not something you put off doing.
What I like most about this watch is that it feels honest. It is not pretending to be a professional instrument for most of the people who will buy it, and I think it knows that. Like most mechanical chronographs, it exists somewhere between tool and theatre. You probably will not be timing regatta starts, but you could. And more importantly, the watch invites you into that fantasy without being self serious about it.
In a market full of limited editions that exist purely to move units, this one feels thought through. It has a reason to exist beyond colour changes and scarcity. The proportions are sensible, the movement choice makes sense, and the design decisions all point in the same direction.
If you are drawn to chronographs that offer more than just a stopwatch function, and you enjoy watches that encourage a bit of mechanical ritual and escapism, the Baltic Scalegraph Transat Café L’Or Limited Edition is a compelling option. It is not loud, it is not flashy, but it is confident in what it is. And that, increasingly, feels like the hardest thing to get right.
Leave a comment