Dodane 1857 – Type 23 Chronograph PVD First Impressions

Time for another one of my crazy rants, today I have the Dodane 1857 – Type 23 Chronograph PVD. Dodane very kindly sent me this watch a few days ago, and I have had the pleasure of trying it and seeing what it is like. Only the aesthetics and features will be covered today, a full on the wrist review will be with you guys later on in the week to peruse.

As mentioned before this watch is a favourite of the French Air Force, and Dodane have provided on-board chronographs for many years, so the authenticity and robustness of their instrumentation is not to be disputed. This piece takes the form of a PVD finish in all black of titanium nitride on the 42.5mm case, a screw down crown, paired with a matte black dial featuring two sub-dials.  The sub-dials are placed on the dial at the 3 o’clock position for the running seconds, and at the 9 o’clock position is the minute counter for the chronograph movement. The case is just under 14mm thick, with a bi-directional bezel and in this example sandwiching the movement and dial are sapphire crystal.

For the best colour combination in legibility, all of the text is white, and against the black really stands out, allowing for easy reading even in low light conditions. The numbers and the hands have lume on them and do a decent job of staying bright enough.

The hands themselves look like broad sword hands with an extended point, except the chronograph hand as that is very slender with a single arrow point, again with a very small amount of lume right at the tip. It would appear that Dodane have gone with the traditional green lume rather than a blue SuperLuminova. Attached is a black leather strap with white stitching as an accent, it mirrors the white on black theme throughout the rest of the package, even the deployment clasp has had the PVD treatment. The chronograph movement I have here is the 42030 which is the ‘flyback’ variant, meaning the chronograph movement does not first need to be stopped, in order to rest it. The movement is in fact from acclaimed Dubois Depraz, who are renowned movement and especially chronograph makers. Esteemed clients of Dubois Depraz include Girard-Perregaux, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, among others.

They are so happy with this watch that you can in fact order it will ‘extras’, such as case engravings and additional certification which exceeds COSC standards with testing from the National Observatory of Measuring Time of Besançon.

All in all, a very tasty and adept watch, you will have to wait for the #WOMW review.