Watches with a secret: three Maneros in Atomic Blonde

Carl F. Bucherer · Manero CentralChrono / Flyback / AutoDate

The model in detail

Meet the watch

A list of agents inside a wristwatch is the detail that sticks in your mind after Atomic Blonde (2017). The information is hidden on microfilm inside a Carl F. Bucherer Manero CentralChrono. People hunt for it, search for it and pass it from hand to hand: the watch becomes one of the objects driving the story. Two other Manero models also appear in the film, each with its own job.

The action unfolds in Berlin in 1989. Lorraine Broughton, played by Charlize Theron, arrives on a secret assignment. Against a backdrop of double games and brutal confrontations, the contrast works particularly well: outside is a neat, classic watch; inside is information that can determine people's fate. We will look at the watch details without revealing the final twist.

The Manero CentralChrono is the watch containing the list of agents. The real model has an unusual stopwatch layout: two central hands indicate its elapsed seconds and minutes. The minutes get a large scale rather than a small counter. Running small seconds sit at 3 o'clock, the 24-hour display at 9, and the date at 6. Crucially, the left subdial displays the time of day, not elapsed chronograph hours.

Details and limitations

The CentralChrono is powered by the automatic CFB 1967. The manufacturer's manual specifies approximately 42 hours of running time when unworn. The black-dial catalogue example on a leather strap, 00.10910.08.33.01, has a steel case measuring 42.5 mm across and 14.24 mm thick. That thickness deserves attention when trying it under a cuff. The central minute hand is more interesting than an abstract promise of 'complicated mechanics': its benefit is visible on the dial itself.

The Manero Flyback provides a different spy clue. In the film, coordinates from a city map are engraved on components of its movement. This is the role described by Carl F. Bucherer's then CEO, Sascha Moeri, in his Swisswatches interview. The Flyback with coordinates and the CentralChrono with microfilm should therefore be kept distinct: the Manero family's similar styling conceals different jobs in the plot.

The real Flyback has a useful function of its own: a running chronograph can be reset and immediately begin the next measurement with one action, without a separate stop–reset–start sequence. The CFB 1970 has automatic winding and column-wheel chronograph control. The illustrated catalogue version, 00.10919.03.13.01, has a confirmed 42-hour reserve and an 18-karat rose-gold case measuring 43 mm across and 14.45 mm thick. It is an expressive, but fairly large, chronograph.

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The Manero AutoDate is the watch on Lorraine's wrist. Its appearance on Charlize Theron is also confirmed by Moeri's interview. Three hands and a date give this model a quieter character. To illustrate the family's construction, we use the specific catalogue example 00.10908.08.13.01: steel, a silver-coloured dial, automatic CFB 1965, a 42-hour reserve, a 38 mm diameter and an 8.75 mm thickness. These are the illustrated version's specifications, not established dimensions of the actress's screen watch.

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If I were choosing a watch from this trio for myself, I would decide on its purpose first. The CentralChrono attracts me with its unusual way of reading stopwatch minutes; the Flyback with its ability to time successive intervals quickly; the AutoDate with its simplicity and the illustrated version's thinner case. Cinema gives you a reason to become interested, but comfort depends on the particular case, strap and your wrist. Calling these three movements identical because they share the Manero name would be a mistake.

The brand's presence in the film was an official collaboration. Director David Leitch and actor Daniel Bernhardt were its ambassadors, and Carl F. Bucherer partnered with the Berlin premiere on July 17, 2017. There was even a watchmaker's bench and a craftsman on the red carpet. Bringing the craft into the film presentation helps explain why the mechanisms were given a role of their own in the story.

The photographs show three catalogue models; the exact references of the screen props have not been established in the sources used. Microfilm and secret coordinates belong to the screenplay, not the functions of the watches sold. The illustrated versions are rated at 3 bar / 30 m: that is not permission to swim, and the CentralChrono manual describes this protection as covering sweat, drops of water and rain. For me, the CentralChrono is the most interesting watch here: the film draws attention to an uncommon display layout. Would you choose a central minute counter, flyback or a simple AutoDate?