A historical watch shines anew:
The Telemeter Edition JF

The Telemeter watch is traditional: it was in 1951 that Junghans first presented a chronograph combining telemeter and tachymeter displays. 

Watches outfitted with these two additional functions are rare; Junghans belongs to the handful of manufacturers to offer the combination. The new Telemeter Edition JF is modeled on one of the rare gold models of that time, a watch that Hannes Steim purchased from the family of a deceased friend. The managing director of Junghans was so impressed by this special watch that he wished for a new interpretation of the sporty elegant model. “Originally it was only supposed to be a single watch for me, but it was so popular inside the company that we decided to make a small series,” Hannes Steim reports. It is now available in a limited edition of 150 pieces.

Light and Sound

The new Telemeter Edition JF comes in a stainless-steel case PVD-coated in yellow gold and a black dial that is loyal to the design of the original, while the eponymous telemeter scale is printed in red against a grey background. The idea behind the telemeter is to measure the distance from an event that emits light and sound, like a thunderstorm. This scale is based on the natural phenomenon that light and sound travel at different speeds. Light only needs an incredibly short amount of time to travel one kilometer – the negligible quantity of three milliseconds – while sound needs three seconds. Measuring this is practical: as soon as the wearer sees lightning in the sky, the chronograph is started; when thunder becomes audible, the wearer stops the chronograph. The ensuing measurement on the telemeter scale is the distance between the thunderstorm and the wearer. The tachymeter scale, on the other hand, encircles the outer perimeter of the dial and serves to measure average speeds – a car’s speed on the highway for example. Using route markers, the wearer can stop the time needed to travel one kilometer. The average speed can then be read in km/h on the scale.