This Legendary Tool Watch Brand Changes Gears With a Fun Daily Wearer

Hanhart is well respected for being a serious and practical watchmaker in an almost stereotypically German way. Its most famous designs are tools like pilot’s watches and chronographs.

But two new references serve as a reminder that the Swiss-German brand can occasionally be lighthearted and fun.

Hanhart

The Silva is a subset of the Pioneer collection that sheds Hanhart’s distinctively Teutonic design language for a minimalist, time-only dial. It is more Bauhaus than Bismarck, and the name — Latin for forest — is a nod to the brand’s home within Germany’s Black Forest.

Introduced in 2023, the high-contrast dial has, until now, stuck to Hanhart’s pragmatic color palette with a white dial marked with black and a black dial marked with white. It follows the same legibility scheme as Timex’s famous Easy Reader, but executed to a much higher degree.

In a refreshing divergence, Hanhart livened up the Silva with a pair of eye-catching pastel dial colors: a faded mint green called the Silva Pistachio and a light pink called the Silva Rosé.

Hanhart

The update only applies to the dial colors, but is still incredibly impactful, providing a completely different vibe to the reliable daily-wearing watch.

Easy to read

The Silva was designed as an homage to Hanhart’s legacy from the early twentieth century. Before the brand became a destination for tool watches, it was known for highly legible and reliable time-only pocket watches.

Hanhart

This principle of simplicity pairs naturally with the minimalist, geometric design ethos developed in Germany during the interwar period. Sans-serif Arabic numerals denote even hours, while small metallic dots represent odd hours.

The minutes track is a series of printed dashes with a larger, bolder mark at each hour. The hands couldn’t be any simpler, with narrow bars that come to a point for the hour and minute, and a needle hand with a small counterbalance for the seconds.

Hanhart

Aside from “Made in Germany” tucked away under the six o’clock maker, the only writing on the dial is Hanhart’s vintage script logo. This ties the watch back to the simple designs from the 1920s and 1930s that inspired it.

A pop of pastels

Hanhart designed the Silva Pistachio and Rosé with an achingly German sensibility. As the brand describes it, “Lightness and joie de vivre for ever shorter days: to give the dreariness of the approaching winter the cold shoulder, Hanhart is adding two new colors to the Silva line.”

Hanhart

Rather than celebratory autumnal burnt orange or vibrant red, these pretty pastel watch dials are provided to stave off the impending dreariness of winter. But you know what, it works.

Regardless of the motivation, the muted green and pink dials are comforting to look at. It is, indeed, a pleasant thing to strap to your wrist and glance at countless times a day, which can’t hurt during the darkest, coldest winter months.

The 38.5mm rounded steel case holds a Soprod caliber SOP P024 automatic movement with a 4Hz beat rate and a 38-hour power reserve. So, as far as telling time is concerned, the colorful new Silva references are still reliable tools.

Hanhart

With its comforting new paint job, you would be forgiven for mistaking the Silva for fellow German watchmaker Nomos. This tangential design is one of the most pleasant daily watches in Hanhart’s impressive catalog.

Availability and price

The Hanhart Pioneer Silva Pistachio and Rosé are available now in the European market, but have not yet made it to the American market. Hanhart’s exclusive North American retailer, Watchbuys, will likely stock it by the end of November.

Since the new dial color is priced the same as the original dials on Hanhart’s German website, it is safe to assume that Watchbuys will also sell them for the same price of $1,270.

Since Watchbuys sells directly from its North Carolina warehouse, American buyers do not have to pay additional import fees or tariffs, only local sales tax.

Hanhart

Hanhart Pioneer Silva

Specs

Case Size	38.5mm
Movement	Soprod caliber SOP P024 automatic
Water Resistance	50m

• $1,270 at Watchbuys

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