In the category “Strange but true” the Singer Reimagined Flytrack Barista does actually make the best espresso! I know it is hard to believe, but it is quite simple really. It all works thanks to the Agengraph flyback chronograph that displays elapsed seconds (of which you will need 25 for the perfect espresso) in a ring around the centre of the dial. Forget the two/three subdials of the past, this new type of chronograph puts the complication front and centre in a highly legible way (the time is displayed at six o’clock, in case you were wondering).
So How Does it Work?
You begin by placing six to eight grams of freshly ground arabica coffee into your espresso portafilter, tamper it down, insert it into your coffee machine and press go at the same time as you start your chronograph. The first five to seven seconds – which are orange on the chronograph scale – count the time for the water to infuse with the ground coffee (nothing can be seen at this stage, but the magic is happening on the inside), then the first drops of rich, black liquid will start to arrive.
The longer the extraction time shown on the scale, the larger (and more diluted) your coffee will be. For a ristretto, aim for somewhere between 10 to 15 seconds, for an espresso, it is 20 to 25 seconds, a lungo is 35 seconds, and an americano 50 seconds. Each coffee style is marked clearly on the dial so that you only need to stop the machine when the orange chronograph hand meets the desired type of coffee.
Combining the Art of Watchmaking with Espresso Making
Unlike the chronograph owners of the past, who relied on their chronographs for speed, navigation, star gazing, measuring pulses, and more, today’s chronograph owners rarely have a use for their chronographs. Our need to time things has waned somewhat, unless, of course, you are a barista.
Marco Borraccino, co-founder and creative director of Singer Reimagined, is both an Italian and a coffee aficionado (although I do wonder if one can exist without the other)! He is the brainchild behind this magical chronograph with its barista scale that calculates the perfect extraction time; a ritual that is performed millions, if not billions, of times around the world each day.
More About the Watch Itself
The Singer Flytrack Barista is housed in a 43mm stainless steel case that is hand finished with circular brushing and polished edges. The dial comes in a coffee-bean colour and includes the unique one-minute coffee brewing scale written out on the dial with beige letters. Moving outwards, a circular brushed golden inner bezel with a contrasting black 60-second display indicates the coffee chronograph seconds (the elapsed minutes are shown on the same scale via the orange-tipped hand). For the time, this can be read via an orange pointer at six o’clock on the peripheral rotating, matte black, ceramic hour disc with its 12 luminescent Arabic numerals. The watch is completed with a dark brown calf leather strap with brown stitching, to match your coffee, of course!
As times have changed, so have our requirements for timing. Crafting the perfect espresso suddenly makes the chronograph useful again, making it the instrument it was initially designed to be. I wonder what else we could time like this.
