Mühle-Glashütte Sportivo Power Chronograph First Edition Debuts New Modular Movement

When I think about Mühle-Glashütte, something I do surprisingly often, my mind tends to lean in one of two directions. Either towards their nautical timepieces such as the S.A.R Rescue Timer or their Saxon dress watches like the Teutonia. What I don’t necessarily think of is the Sportivo range of sporty chronographs. Well, Mühle-Glashütte are making us all sit up and pay attention to it now with the launch of the Mühle-Glashütte Sportivo Power Chronograph First Edition.

While the watch features an updated black ion plated steel case, measuring a broad 42.5mm in diameter, the key feature of this release is actually inside the watch. It houses the brand’s second modular movement, the MU9424-GR. It’s a high-end Saxon movement with a 62-hour power reserve and an accuracy of -0/+8 seconds per day, within chronometer standards.

In watchmaking, modular means that there is a base calibre with the core functions such as hours and minutes, and then you can add additional complications on top of that such as chronographs, GMTs and power reserve indicators by swapping which module is attached. Here, the base movement consists of the core timekeeping functions and chronograph and the attached module is the power reserve indicator, which is what gives the watch the name Sportivo Power Chronograph. It’s also where the GR initials in MU9424-GR comes from as those are the initials for the German word for power reserve, “Gangreserve”.

On the watch’s display the power reserve indicator can be found on the subdial at 6 o’clock with the markings given in German. The hint of red in its scale matches the red central chronograph hand as well as the hand on the 30-minute subdial and peripheral chronograph scale. There are also red accents on the bidirectional bezel with 60-minute scale. The combination of red with black is what gives the piece that bold, sporty aesthetic.

Initially I was confused why the bezel is bidirectional when, considering Mühle-Glashütte’s nautical heritage and the fact the watch is water resistant to 300m, it would make more sense for it to be a unidirectional diving bezel. But then I considered it more and I think it does ultimately work for the watch. Because the chronograph function can only time intervals of up to 30 minutes, a 60-minute bezel allows you to time longer events and making it bidirectional is more convenient as a timer (though not by a large margin).

The Mühle-Glashütte Sportivo Power Chronograph First Edition is priced at €4,300 (approx. £3,580) in a limited edition of 200 pieces. With that price, and also aesthetically, I would say that makes its closest competition the Oris Aquis Chronograph, which is also a dive/chronograph hybrid. Specs-wise the two watches are very close to each other so choosing between the two is difficult. The Mühle-Glashütte appeals to my love of German design, but I must admit I prefer the clean steel look of the Oris. As this is only the first edition of the Sportivo Power, give me a slightly more refined version in future that leans into its Saxon heritage a fraction more and it will win me over wholeheartedly.

More details at Muhle.

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