News · Chronoswiss

Chronoswiss cuts its Small Second dials out of Idar-Oberstein jasper and Zermatt serpentine

Two limited editions of 50 pieces each, one matte jasper in steel and one polished serpentine under a red gold bezel, both on the 55 hour C.6000.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 5 min read · 17 August 2026

• Chronoswiss has added two stone dial limited editions to its Small Second line, one in jasper cut at Idar-Oberstein and one in Zermatt serpentine.
• Each dial is a unique slice of natural stone, matte in the jasper and polished in the serpentine, with a hand-guilloche small seconds subdial at nine o'clock.
• Both are limited to 50 pieces, with the steel jasper at CHF 11,500 and the two-tone red gold serpentine at CHF 16,900.

Idar-Oberstein, Zermatt, and a dial that was cut rather than printed

Anyone who has spent time around Chronoswiss knows the brand has always been out of step with the rest of Swiss watchmaking. It is the way of a person who refuses to update their wardrobe and eventually looks correct again. The onion crown, the knurled bezel ring, the guilloché: those were unfashionable for most of the years I have been paying attention, and they are why the watches are identifiable across a room. So a stone dial is a genuinely interesting test of that identity, because stone is the most fashionable dial material in watchmaking right now. Chronoswiss has answered with the Small Second Jasper and the Small Second Serpentine, two limited editions of 50 pieces each.

The two stones do most of the talking, and they come from places rather than from a catalogue. The Jasper is cut in Idar-Oberstein, the German gem-cutting town that has been shaping stone since the Rhine mines ran dry and the trade turned to imported rough. The Serpentine comes out of Zermatt, which puts an alpine green under the sapphire. Neither dial can be repeated exactly, since the veining is whatever the slice happened to contain. The practical consequence is that the photograph you fall for is not quite the watch you will get.

Look at the Jasper closely and the surface reads matte, the colour of a slice of sandstone that has been rained on for a season, with rust-coloured seams wandering through it. The Serpentine is polished instead, and it is a dark bottle green shot through with paler flecks, closer to a well-used chopping board of soapstone than to malachite. Both keep the same layout, with central hours and minutes and small seconds at nine, and the subdial is hand-guilloché, sunk into the stone field as a small disc of ruled metal.

The 40 millimetre case that has not changed its mind since the 1980s

The case is the familiar Chronoswiss architecture, built from 17 parts, with a polished body, that fluted decorative ring around the side of the bezel and the onion crown sitting proud at three. It measures 40 mm across and 11.5 mm high, with 50 mm lug to lug and a 20 mm strap width. That footprint suits a 17 cm wrist without argument, and will overhang a much smaller one. The sapphire is domed and coated on both faces, so the stone stays legible at an angle rather than turning into a mirror.

Water resistance is 3 bar, which is the honest limit of a dress watch with a screwed caseback and screwed strap links. That means rain, a sink, hands washed without thinking. It does not mean a swim, and with a natural stone dial sitting a fraction of a millimetre under the crystal, nobody sensible would push it. Stone is beautiful and it is brittle, and the slices used here are thin enough that a hard knock is a repair rather than a polish.

The difference between the two watches is in the metal. The Jasper is all stainless steel, cool and slightly austere against the warm dial, while the Serpentine runs a two-tone case that combines steel with an 18 carat red gold bezel and crown. I went in expecting to prefer the steel, on the general principle that two-tone has to earn its keep, and the Serpentine talked me out of it. The red gold picks up the warm flecks in the green stone. The steel cannot do the same for the Jasper, which is left doing all its own work.

Calibre C.6000, and what 55 hours actually buys

Both watches run the C.6000, the automatic calibre Chronoswiss introduced in 2023 and developed with La Joux-Perret, beating at 4 Hz with 25 jewels and a Glucydur balance regulated through an eccentric. The power reserve is 55 hours. Take it off on Friday evening and it is still running on Sunday morning, though not by Sunday night, which is the awkward middle ground a lot of modern movements occupy and the reason a winder exists.

Turn it over and the sapphire caseback shows a skeletonised tungsten rotor on a ball bearing, ruthenium plating across the bridges, Geneva striping and polished screws. Tungsten is dense, which lets a rotor be cut away for looks without losing the mass it needs to wind efficiently, so the decoration here is not costing you performance. The finishing is properly done rather than merely present, and at this price it needs to be.

The straps follow the stones. The Jasper is on a calfskin strap worked with stone powder, giving it a faintly mineral, papery texture that photographs oddly and feels better than it looks. The Serpentine is on green calfskin. Both use the screwed strap links that have been a Chronoswiss habit for decades, so changing them is a screwdriver job rather than a spring bar job. Bring the right tool.

Chronoswiss Small Second Jasper and Serpentine pricing and availability

Both editions are limited to 50 pieces each and are listed for order on Chronoswiss's own site. The Small Second Jasper, reference CH-8023.2-STLS in stainless steel, is CHF 11,500. The Small Second Serpentine, reference CH-8022R.2-STSE with the 18 carat red gold bezel and crown, is CHF 16,900. Chronoswiss has not published an Australian price, and there is no Australian figure on its storefront, so local buyers will be dealing with a retailer or with international shipping.

Where this lands, for me, is that stone dials have become a shortcut to interest for brands with little else to say. Chronoswiss is the opposite case, with a house style so strong that the stone had to fight for room. It won, mostly. The Jasper is the one I would wear, the Serpentine is the one I would keep looking at, and either way the geology on your wrist is older than the town that cut it.