The Mazda Design Chronograph will be manufactured in a strictly limited edition. It will be available at European Mazda dealers, beginning in Mid-August 2007, with a retail price in Germany of EUR 1.490,-.

The Design

The idea to create a premium watch that expresses the sensuous appeal of Mazda vehicle design came at a Mazda drive event at Germany’s Hockenheimring race track.

Hasip Girgin, Assistant Chief Designer at Mazda’s European Research and Development Center, Arno Gabel, Vice President of Operations, Sinn Spezialuhren Frankfurt, and Herbert Kunde, Manager Retail Marketing at Mazda Motors Deutschland, started working immediately, and 15 months later, their idea has become reality.

For Hasip Girgin, the designer of the new Mazda Design Chronograph, it was his first experience designing a watch.

“It was a challenge,” he admits, “because I wanted to give the chronograph a unique design with instant appeal. I worked for over a year to find a watch design that would express the same kind of sensuality found in our cars.”

To achieve this, he adopted a ”long hole” or rounded square form as guiding theme that appears as a design motif in the air intakes, tail lights and door handles of the Mazda MX-5.

Timeless and sensual, the “long hole” can be found in the shapes of the chronograph’s casing, its hands, the three crowns, in forms on the face and even in the exclusive gift box it is delivered in.

“I think we have the best harmony between a geometric body and the tense, soft curvatures that define this body,” says Girgin.

“Its mix of plane surfaces, curvatures, materials and weight make the watch so sensual.”

Another reference to Mazda vehicle design is the chronograph’s band with its unique butterfly buckle. The band is made of silicon rubber and has the same tyre profile as the Mazda Hakaze – the latest Nagare design study created by Mazda’s European design team and shown at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

About the designer

Hasip Girgin, the designer of the new Mazda Design Chronograph, has played a pivotal role in the design of a number of production and concept cars over the last 12 years.

He is best known, however, for his design proposals for the original Mazda3. His artistic talent goes beyond automotive designing. Girgin is an accomplished painter, who has exhibited in Germany, and holds lectures in design at Pforzheim University.

About Mazda and Sinn Spezialuhren Frankfurt

Mazda and Sinn Spezialuhren Frankfurt had cooperated twice before to create limited edition watches – the MX-5 NC model and the Sinn 303 RX-8.

While the first projects were customised versions of original Sinn models, the new chronograph was completely designed by and for Mazda. It expresses the core strengths of both companies – outstanding Mazda Design and Sinn Spezialuhren Frankfurt premium watch technology and craftsmanship.

(Source: Mazda)