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When the 1972 Olympic Games were held in Munich, German watchmaker Junghans served as the official timekeeper. Some four and a half decades later, several Junghans watches commemorate this important milestone in the company's history. At the same time, the models in the Junghans 1972 collection cater to the demand for wristwatches with 1970s design, which have enjoyed great popularity among many watch connoisseurs for several years now.
Olympic Year 1972: Junghans Makes Sports History
The long-established Schramberg watchmaker Junghans has been on the market for more than 150 years and has set global standards with its watches in many respects. The company's high reputation within the industry and among the public rests not only on the quality and reliability of its products but, to a large extent, on its remarkable capacity for innovation and the technically advanced solutions that continue to define the Junghans lineup to this day. The range extends from classic mechanical watches and quartz watches to radio-controlled and solar watches, thus covering all the common techniques and technologies of watchmaking.
As official timekeeper of the Olympic Games in 1972, the Black Forest manufacturer set new benchmarks with state-of-the-art technology. The central aim was to guarantee objective and indisputable results. To achieve this, Junghans used specially developed measuring instruments in Munich that incorporated notable technical achievements. Examples include starting pistols that, in addition to the acoustic start signal, simultaneously emitted a visual signal as well as an electronic signal usable for timing, along with photoelectric light barriers and digital clocks. So-called “Indicators” made it possible to display running times directly on television. Such solutions seem a matter of course today, but at the time they represented remarkable innovations. The new precision of the timing impressed athletes and sports officials as much as the interested global public. With electronically networked starting blocks, start control systems and double light barriers, starts and finishes could be clearly monitored and documented. Every false start could be detected beyond doubt.
Beyond that, the new technology also proved itself by making it possible, for the first time, to analyze the times of each individual runner clearly and separately. Press coverage benefited from the fact that editorial offices could now be supplied with color images from finish-line cameras, on which the finishes were clearly traceable for everyone. This, too, had never existed in this form before.
Olympic Moments for Everyday Life: The 1972 Collection
With the models of its 1972 collection, the brand with the “J” in the star revives the finest hours of Olympic timekeeping for which it was responsible. True to its sporty DNA, this collection includes a range of chronographs which, while not suited to timing entire Olympic competitions, can serve you excellently in everyday life and during individual training.
As is customary for Junghans watches, the models equipped with a stopwatch function bear the name Chronoscope. There are also versions designed as three-hand watches with a large digital date display. They are powered either by a battery-operated quartz movement or by a solar-powered quartz movement. The latter variant is called the 1972 Mega Solar and impresses with a power reserve in darkness of up to 21 months.
So it keeps running even if it sits in a drawer for several weeks or months and therefore cannot recharge. The stopwatch function of the chronographs measures time to an accuracy of 1/5 second.
Retro Design with Striking Color Accents
A particular highlight of any retro collection is, of course, the design, which picks up the stylistic trends of a specific era and brings them back to life. In the case of the 1972 collection, it is above all the flat case shape, the crisp interplay of edges and the bold color accents that evoke the early 1970s.
There are, for example, orange hands or a tachymeter scale in the same shade, or totalizers in a color contrasting with the dial.
Solar Chronograph
On the Solar version of the 1972 chronograph, these are positioned at 12 and 6 o'clock and are perfectly round. While the upper one records the elapsed minutes, the lower subdial is used to set the alarm time.
At 3 o'clock there is also a small date window, and on the opposite side a small seconds. The stopwatch function can time up to 60 minutes, which is entirely sufficient for most sports.
Quartz Watches in the Collection
The battery-powered quartz version features a somewhat different dial layout. Here, the two larger subdials are arranged side by side. The elapsed minutes are recorded at 9 o'clock, while a 24-hour display appears at 3 o'clock.
Unlike on the Solar variant, both subdials are not round but tonneau-shaped. On this model, the small seconds sits at 6 o'clock, while the date window appears at an angle between 4 and 5 o'clock. Here, too, the maximum timing period is 60 minutes.
Mega Solar
The 1972 Mega Solar has no stopwatch function and, accordingly, no subdials. Like the Chronoscope models from the Junghans collection series, however, the 1972 Mega Solar also features a unidirectional rotating bezel with an aluminum insert.
Thanks to water resistance of up to 10 bar or 100 meters, you don't need to take off the '72 Chronoscope and Mega Solar models before showering or swimming.
Straps and bracelets are available in stainless steel as well as leather.
