This Admired Affordable Chronograph Makes a Push for Best-in-Class Status

Affordable is a subjective term with blurry parameters, but when it comes to watches, I like to draw the line at $2,000. If that’s your budget, you can get a fantastic watch if you know what to look for.

When it comes to retro-inspired chronographs, for example, Baltic has been steadily improving its design over the past five years and just introduced what might very well be the best affordable mechanical chronograph.

Baltic

Baltic introduced its flagship chronograph as the Tricompax in 2022. As the dial evolved, the name changed to the Scalegraph in 2025, but it retains the same retro-inspired design language and well-respected Sellita Caliber SW510-M hand-wound movement.

The headline of the new Scalegraph update is the increased water resistance, which I’ll get to, but my attention was immediately captured by the three new dials.

A few details have been carried over from the limited-edition Scalegraph Tour Auto, released in 2025, including the broken-ring applied metallic hour markers and matching frames around the subdials.

Baltic

The small seconds dial at 9:00 is identical to the Tour Auto, and the chronograph totalizers at 3:00 and 6:00 have been reformatted to match. All six hands and the contrasting 60-second track encircling the dial are unchanged from Tricompax.

Poppin’ bottles

As great as the dial details are, it’s the three new color schemes that steal the show. There are two “reverse-panda” options with eggshell-white subdials: one with a glossy blue dial and the other with a shimmering gray dial, both complete with matching aluminum bezel inserts.

The blue features a sky-blue chapter ring and more or less borrows its color scheme from the Tour Auto. I love the gray because it resembles a black vintage chronograph with a nice patina fade.

Baltic

My favorite, however, is the Champagne dial, which is almost the same tone as the subdials, but contrasts their snailed texture with a shimmering finish. It is paired with a black aluminum bezel insert.

Going deep

As advertised, Baltic brought the screw-down pushers featured on the Tour Auto, as well as the Transat Café L’Or limited edition yachting chronograph, to the regular production Scalegraph. This upgrade increases the watch’s water resistance from 50m to 100m, making it appropriate for swimming.

Baltic

A couple more case tweaks carried over from the Tour Auto and Tranist Café L’Or are a small crown guard and a vertical satin brushed finish over the entire case.

The dial is still capped with a double-domed sapphire crystal, and the caseback is the same screw-down stainless steel, decorated with radial brushing and an etched Baltic word mark.

Baltic

The three new Scalegraph references are offered on the same strap options as the previous panda and reverse panda models. There is Balitc’s standard beads-of-rice steel bracelet, a flat-link steel bracelet, a quick-release brown leather pin buckle strap and a rubber quick-release tropical strap in black and green.

Availability and pricing

After steadily improving its mechanical tricompax chronograph for four years, I’d like to say Baltic has achieved perfection, but I thought that with the Tour Auto, and I like the new Scalegraph even more. Maybe the French watchmaker will find more improvements down the road, but for now, this is the best mechanical chronograph $2,000 can buy.

The Baltic Scalegraph with 100m water resistance is available now from Baltic for $1,938 on a steel bracelet, $1,870 on a leather strap and $1,864 on a rubber strap.

Baltic

Baltic Scalegraph 100m

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Sellita Caliber SW510-M hand-wound
Water Resistance	100m

• $1,938 at Baltic

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