The Chronoswiss Small Second Stone Dials tell the story of a brand
Nina Scally- Chronoswiss introduces natural stone dials to its Small Seconds collection for the first time, pairing German Jasper and Swiss Serpentine to celebrate both the brand’s origins and its home in Lucerne.
- Every dial is cut from a unique piece of natural stone, ensuring no two watches are identical, while production is limited to just 50 pieces of each reference.
- Housed in a 40mm case and powered by the in-house Chronoswiss Calibre C.6000 with a 55-hour power reserve, the collection combines the brand’s signature small seconds display with contemporary mechanical finishing.
Stone dials have been shoved under our nose for a while now. So it can be refreshing when a brand comes along with a new take and a genuine story behind why the stone has been used, enter Chronoswiss and its new Small Seconds Jasper and Serpentine. A simple watch from the brand, originally founded in Munich and now operating out of Lucerne, that proudly displays elegantly cut stones from its dual homelands.
If you’ve been closely following Chronoswiss’ trajectory over the last few years, you’ll likely know that the Small Second collection serves as the purest distillation of the brand’s current design language, especially when compared to its more complex jumping hour complications. It has become the canvas where their more flamboyant, deeply complex guilloché work usually takes centre stage, stripping away the visual density of Chronoswiss’ signature regulator displays to allow craftsmanship and materials to take the fore.
Measuring 40mm in diameter and spanning a highly wearable 50mm lug-to-lug length, the cases of these two new Small Second iterations retain their historical hallmarks and sit at 11.5mm tall on the wrist. You still get the tactile, polished coin-edge bezel framing the dial and the prominent onion crown. But this time around, the artisans in Lucerne have stepped back slightly to let Mother Nature do the heavy lifting. The green Serpentine model benefits from a two-tone case finish crafted from stainless steel and 18ct red gold – the warmth of the gold bezel beautifully framing the verdant dial. The Jasper iteration, on the other hand, is a purely stainless steel affair, sharing the same 30m water resistance.
Crafting dials from natural stone is hardly a novel idea in horology, yet even in an era of hyper-advanced material science, working with raw minerals remains one of the most fraught endeavours a manufacture can undertake because of the significant failure rate when slicing these dense minerals to wafer-thin tolerances. Every single dial starts its life as a geological slab before it’s painstakingly whittled down to reveal textures, veins, and shade variations that you simply don’t get from a machine. Of course, the inherent charm here is that no two watches are ever the same.
Fittingly, the stone for the Jasper model is sourced directly from Germany, paying a rather poetic homage to the birthplace of Chronoswiss. The historic region of Idar-Oberstein has been a global epicentre for stone-cutting traditions for centuries, and looking at the execution on this dial, you can easily see why the craft endures. The matte Jasper surface is a swirling, unpredictable landscape of warm beige tones, rich browns, and soft ivory hues. This marks an experimental departure for Chronoswiss, following its past success with enamel and CVD-finished dials like the Space Timer Gravity and Lunar Chronograph Aurora.
On the flip side of the coin sits the Small Second Serpentine, representing the brand’s vibrant present. The stone itself hails from the Swiss Alps, specifically the dramatic, sweeping region surrounding Zermatt and the Matterhorn. The geological backstory of this particular mineral is fascinating because what presents today as a wildly vivid green dial was actually once part of an ancient ocean floor.
Thrust upward during the collision of continents millions of years ago to form the Alps, the stone gets its name from the Latin word serpens, thanks to the scaly, snakeskin-like patterns that form deep within the rock’s structure. Chronoswiss opted for a high-polish finish here to allow the hidden structures within the dial to reveal themselves across the green canvas.
Despite the stark differences in the two dial materials, both watches share a beautifully considered layout. The time display is kept deliberately clean and highly legible, and the central ‘Feuille’ hands are sensibly filled with Super-LumiNova, sweeping gracefully over the natural landscape. But it wouldn’t be a Chronoswiss without a nod to the manufacturer’s traditional handcrafts. Nestled thoughtfully at the 9 o’clock position is a small seconds sub-dial, executed entirely by hand-guilloché. On the Jasper model, this sub-dial receives a fine sandblasted galvanic black finish, while the Serpentine features a warm 5N treatment. It’s a subtle juxtaposition that visually balances the whole dial beautifully.
Turning these watches over reveals that the mechanical execution of the new Small Second Collection is just as compelling as the display. Peering through the sapphire crystal caseback, you’re greeted by the Chronoswiss Manufacture Calibre C.6000 – one of Chronoswiss’ modern automatic movements, beating away at 28,800 vph and delivering a very respectable 55 hours of power reserve. The finishing is genuinely excellent, too, boasting crisp Geneva stripes across the ruthenium-plated bridges and highly polished screws, as well as an exposed escape wheel. But the absolute highlight of the caseback has to be the skeletonised tungsten rotor which allows for an unobstructed view of the movement’s inner workings.
Limited to just 50 pieces each, these two new Small Second Stone dial watches tether the brand’s defiant German roots to its evolution on Swiss soil. A physical reminder of the brand’s journey while displaying the very best it is able to offer in 2026. A simple small seconds, time-only model is doing a lot of storytelling here.
Chronoswiss Small Second Stone Collection pricing and availability
The Chronoswiss Small Second Jasper and Small Second Serpentine are both limited to 50 pieces worldwide and available to purchase through Chronoswiss boutiques and authorised retailers. Price: €12,700/ US$13,900/£12,200 (Jasper) – €18,500/ US$21,300/£17,900 (Serpentine)
| Brand | Chronoswiss |
| Model | Small Second Stone Dial |
| Reference | CH-8022R.2-STSE (Serpentine) CH-8023.2-STLS (Jasper) |
| Case Dimensions | 40mm (D) x 11.5mm (T) x 50mm (LTL) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel and 18ct red gold (Serpentine) Stainless steel (Jasper) |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Serpentine Jasper |
| Strap | Green calfskin leather (Serpentine) Brown calfskin leather (Jasper) |
| Movement | Calibre C.6000, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 55 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds |
| Availability | Limited to 50 pieces each |
| Price | €18,500/ US$21,300/£17,900 (Serpentine) €12,700/ US$13,900/ £12,200 (Jasper) |