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“The Scalfaro GTO 1962 Bizzarrini watch is a fabulous piece of machinery. A spectacular instrument and scarce collector’s piece. Clearly, a must have for every serious Ferrarista.” – Marcel Massini, leading Ferrari Marque Expert & Historian.
Watches and cars go hand in hand! It’s a close relation between watches and cars/motorcycles/planes/etc. All are reduced, in the end, to a case with some kind of engine inside and till now, I’ve never met a collector of one not to be interested in the other.
In this case, a watch – the GTO 1962 Bizzarrini Edition Chronograph – is dedicated to a special car, the Ferrari 250GTO and to the great mind of Giotto Bizzarrini. And that is not all, another great name is related to this watch: Nick Mason, the Pink Floyd drummer. So great engineering, great car, great music. I think it’s the only watch I know with such a complex heritage.
“Inspired by the world’s most legendary sports car: the iconic 250 GTO launched in 1962, watch manufacture SCALFARO created the limited GTO 1962 BIZZARRINI EDITION of mechanical Swiss timepieces featuring original material from one of the most prominent GTO cars – the ex-Ecurie Francorchamps chassis no. 3757GT. The design and creation of this truly special edition were realised in close collaboration with “L’Ingegnere” Giotto Bizzarrini who was the leading engineer in the GTO’s development over 50 years ago as well as Pink Floyd drummer and car collector Nick Mason who supplied genuine parts of his GTO for this edition. These parts were subsequently integrated into the watch cases, so that each of the numbered edition watches not only features numerous design elements from the GTO, but also contains the authentic DNA of this sports car icon and thus a direct link to its fascinating history. The signature of Giotto Bizzarrini adorns the face of each chronograph and underlines the exclusivity of this edition limited to 250 pieces. Further details include: 42mm case diameter, Scalfaro Ceramic DNA Intarsia, finely decorated Swiss mechanical Manufacture La Joux-Perret chronograph movement, off-shape bezel, sapphire crystal, see-through case back, choice of black natural rubber strap incl. cylinder ignition pattern of the Colombo V12 engine or Horween shell cordovan strap, elegant folding buckle, water-resistant to 100m (330ft).
Giotto Bizzarrini and Nick Mason in his 250GTO
Conceived with great attention to detail, radiating with quality in every aspect from the sophisticated construction of its watch case with its refined surface finishing and the elaborate mechanism of its Swiss automatic manufacture movement, each timepiece of this edition is made to last and reflects the passion that lead to the creation of the legendary GTO sports car.
Manufactured in a rare artisanal process combining traditional crafts as well as modern technology, each timepiece is a unique work of art preserving the DNA of the iconic GTO.” – Scalfaro Website.
The watch uses the advantages of ceramic materials like the custom colour, the filling capabilities, the light weightiness with the advantages of the steel (robustness, shock resistance), part of the components being based on real GTO components. The 42 mm case stainless steel that includes the Scalfaro Ceramic DNA Intarsia and original 250 GTO metal offers 100m/330ft of water-resistance.
The watch features manufacturing details that will make it, in equal measure, interesting for the car lovers and watch collectors: at 6 and 12 o’clock – Spinner and gearshift pattern with Ceramic DNA Intarsia containing genuine parts of Ferrari GTO Chassis No. 3757GT (material supplied by the owner of the car Nick Mason, inclusive certificate), the bezel with Ceramic Intarsia in Rosso Corsa & black Ceramic DNA Intarsia air-outlet design and handwriting on the case side – “Omologato” in purple Ceramic Intarsia (tribute to Enzo Ferrari’s habit of signing with purple ink).
The 1962 Bizzarini’s dial has the same amount of details as the case: galvanised black dial partially micro-blasted and satin-finished with applied hour indexes luminescent filled, two digits luminescent seconds Roman numerals indexes for every 5 seconds, beautiful skeleton diamond polished swords hands generously filled with Super Luminova and the Giotto Bizzarrini’s signature on the sapphire crystal. The dial features hour, minute, second indication, a date window at 6 o’clock with rapid date adjustment and chronograph function with the indication of timed seconds, minutes and hours. The detail that I love most at this dial is the beautiful shaped second’s hand with luminescent filled tip.
The engine powering this beast is the SCALFARO Caliber ADK 150 which is based on Manufacture La Joux-Perret movement. The ADK 150 is fine-tuned using high precision adjustment, it has Haute Horlogerie decoration as perlage on the main plate, côtes de Genève on skeleton rotor and bridges, flame-blued steel screws and satin-brushed surfaces. Special about this movement is the Chronograph TriCompax complication.
The caliber is visible through the case-back with sapphire crystal and the engraving: “GENUINE 250 GTO PARTS INTEGRATED”. The case-back is fastened with 4 ScalfaScrews – exclusive development of SCALFARO.
This super technical watch comes with a choice of strap: a black natural rubber strap engraved with the ignition pattern of the GTO’s V12 Colombo engine or a black Horween Shell Cordovan strap, both straps are equipped with the elegant SCALFARO folding buckle.
This beauty/beast comes in a beautiful wooden box and costs 8,250Euro.
The GTO 1962 Bizzarrini by Scalfaro is an interesting watch, I love the idea of gathering so many legends under one watch. It was a pleasure to see it and have a real feeling of the 1962 GTO on the wrist and talk about it with his creators.
I would like to thank Alexander Kuhnle for his time and help with the images and information.
Please visit the Scalfaro Website for more information. Bellow, you can enjoy the GTO 1962 Bizzarrini watch and the Ferrari 250 GTO in action.
The images with the Ferrari 250GTO are from the Ferrari Website (many thanks to Ferrari Marketing team).