Regulator watches are like the band who on first listen sounds a bit too weird and geeky, but after another go, you become totally obsessed and realise how cool and significant they are. Looking at you, Kraftwerk . For many, they can be a bit of a slow burner; not your cup of tea at first sight but then you learn more about the origin and purpose and you're swayed.
The regulator is possibly the most niche of complications — which can be intimidating, but it’s actually just a fancy name to say that the minutes, hours and seconds display time from different points on the dial (the minute hand is centrally located and has the biggest length). Not how we’re used to reading time, but it served a purpose, historically. Back in the days before precision digital clocks were invented, watchmakers would set and adjust their timepieces against a super precise reference regulator clock.
“A regulator is the bridge between several aspect of mechanical watches: it reflects precision, it is super easy to read the minutes and it is the bridge between the large clocks of the past and the watches on our wrists,” says Thomas Brechtel , a watch writer and photographer in Cologne (who also happens to be a big Kraftwerk fan). Brechtel puts it bluntly: “A regulator was the first uncommon, weird, ugly watch I saw,” he says. “And after a day or two, I began to like it, to admire it.
” Today, Brechtel has an extensive collection of regulator watches. “A regulator for me is the first,.
