This Funky Space-Age Watch Is Reinventing the Chronograph

You may think you’ve seen every type of chronograph. Think again.

Published September 11, 2024

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If you’re even slightly into watches, you’re no doubt familiar with the typical chronograph layout.

You’ve got your standard hour and minute hands for timekeeping, a central seconds hand for the chronograph that’s controlled via one or two pushers, and then a few subdials on the dial used for tracking the running seconds, the chronograph minutes and perhaps the chronograph hours.

It’s a tried-and-true layout that occasionally gets changed up — like, for instance, with center-mounted counters in place of subdials — but remains the standard formula for any brand looking to create a wrist-worn stopwatch.

But what if someone came up with an entirely new way to display a chronograph complication on a watch? Well, that’s exactly what upstart microbrand Isotope has done.

Isotope Compax Chronograph Moonshot

$2,994 at Isotope

Four Years in the Making

UK-based Isotope has only been around since 2016, but the brand has carved out a nice little niche for itself thanks to its funky and unusual designs and its willingness to experiment.

The brand’s new chronograph is almost certainly its most impressive experiment yet, as Isotope has essentially gone back to the drawing board to rethink how a chronograph even works.

Utilizing the classic and symmetrical tri-compax subdial layout, Isotope has replaced the hands on the subdials with rotating discs. These discs, which Isotope has patented and calls “Moondiscs,” feature cutouts that show the number of your running seconds, chronograph minutes, and chronograph hours in the same way hands would.

an isotope watch dial — While unorthodox, the “Moondisc” subdials offer uncluttered legibility.

It’s a unique look, for sure, and the system has the added benefit of presumably increasing legibility since any part of the subdial you shouldn’t be reading is constantly blacked out. Isotope says it’s the first time any watch has featured such subdials, and the brand spent four years developing the Moondiscs in order to get everything just right.

“The Chronograph Compax Moonshot represents Isotope’s most challenging timepiece to date,” founder José Mendes Miranda said on the brand’s website. “We meticulously calibrated the weight of the sub-dial discs to ensure precise rotation, providing a novel approach to time recording that we have patented.”

The Compax Chronograph Moonshot

The Moondiscs are certainly the main selling point of Isotope’s new Compax Chronograph Moonshot, but they’re far from the only thing the watch has going for it.

The one-of-a-kind chrono’s case was CNC-machined from a single block of rugged and lightweight Grade 5 titanium. The crown and pushers are also in Grade 5 Ti, and the entire case is DLC-coated for added scratch protection.

There are sapphire crystals front and back, and the watch includes both a tapering bracelet in matching DLC-coated Grade 5 Ti and an FKM rubber strap fitted with a DLC-coated Grade 5 Ti deployant clasp.

an isotope watch — The watch includes both a matching titanium bracelet and a rubber strap with a titanium deployant clasp.

Powering the watch is a Swiss-made Landeron 73 automatic chronograph movement that beats at 4 Hz with 28 jewels and a 44-hour power reserve.

For the Moonshot’s unique retro-futuristic styling, the brand took inspiration from the French space opera The Incal by writer Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrator Mœbius. Noted for its blending of sci-fi and fantasy, the graphic novel grew out of concepts Jodorowsky had come up with for his planned 1970s Dune film adaptation that fell through.

The Chronograph Moonshot’s sci-fi styling was inspired by a classic work of the genre.

Isotope

Isotope is offering two colorways of the Compax Chronograph Moonshot, both in black DLC: “Stealth” features a black dial and mint-green accents, while “Terra Maris” has a brown dial with blue accents.

Each color is limited to 25 numbered pieces in this initial drop, but at least two more drops are already in the works as the watches are not limited editions. Pricing is set at $2,994.