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Singer Reimagined builds the Heritage V72 around a cache of unused Valjoux 72s

Singer Reimagined is spending a cache of never-used Valjoux 72 movements on a chronograph that ends when the movements do.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 2 min read · 8 August 2026

The Singer Reimagined Heritage V72 in steel, grey dial with white subdials and a gold-toned bezel, on a grey strap — Image: Singer Reimagined

Singer Reimagined has a cache of unused Valjoux 72 movements, and the Heritage V72 exists to spend them. When they run out, so does the watch. No second series, no restock.

A box of calibres nobody ever built into anything, sitting untouched for decades. Rather than service them and drop them into cases, Singer has gone at the movement properly. I've wanted a V72 in something for years and have never once had the watch and the money available in the same month, which by now feels less like bad luck and more like a personality trait.

A restored Valjoux 72 chronograph movement photographed on white, showing its bridges, wheels and blued screws — A new-old-stock Valjoux 72, refinished. When the stock runs out, the watch stops existing. Image: Singer Reimagined

Frosted bridges, untouched running gear

The Valjoux 72 is one of the great chronograph calibres, so there was a right and a wrong way to handle a pile of them. Monochrome reports the bridges and plates have been frosted and their bevels polished, with the steel parts rhodium-plated and satin-brushed. The running gear has been left exactly as it was: 18,000 vibrations per hour, 2.5Hz, 44 hours of power reserve.

A modern chronograph runs at twice that frequency and keeps better time, and Singer isn't pretending otherwise. Rebuild a V72 to beat at 4Hz and what you're left holding isn't a V72.

The Heritage V72 in 18k yellow gold on a black leather strap — The gold SR620-1, twenty pieces. Image: Singer Reimagined

Close-up of the Heritage V72 dial showing the Singer signature, two subdials and the fluted bezel — Two registers, a fluted bezel and an orange chronograph hand. Image: Singer Reimagined

Two references, one case

Both versions share the same case. The steel SR621 is capped at 50 pieces at 23,000 Swiss francs before tax, and the 18k yellow gold SR620-1 is capped at 20 pieces at 45,000 francs before tax.

The case runs 38.8mm across and 13.25mm thick, sunray satin with polished bevels. Piston-style pushers, a flat fluted crown, glassbox sapphire front and back, 50 metres of water resistance. The dial keeps to two registers, running seconds at nine and a thirty-minute counter at three, sitting under a fluted bezel with an orange chronograph hand sweeping across it. On the back, one bridge is engraved 'Restored by Singer', which is the whole pitch stamped onto the metal.

Macro of the movement through the caseback, with "RESTORED BY SINGER" engraved across a bridge — Frosted bridges, polished bevels, and the engraving that explains the whole exercise. Image: Singer Reimagined

Scarcity, not accuracy

It's a lot to ask for a watch running a calibre designed decades ago, and nobody's claiming it'll keep time like a modern chronograph. It won't.

What the money buys is the pile getting smaller. There's a fixed number of unused Valjoux 72s in the world, that number only goes one way, and these have been finished to a standard the movement never got while it was in production. If you just want to time things accurately, a modern column-wheel chronograph does it better for a fraction of this. This one is for the person who likes that the thing on their wrist was made in the 1970s, sat in a drawer for fifty years, and has finally been finished the way nobody bothered to when it was new.

It's the most interesting watch I've seen announced this week and it isn't close. Whether it's good value is a different question, and there I'd say no.

They reach Singer Reimagined retailers in early November.