Besides its chunky 46-mm case, the 2010 Alpina Avalanche Extreme Chrono Double Digit automatic chronograph also offers you an unusually styled dial with the common hour numerals replaced with minute markers in “05” — “60” format.
The 2010 Alpina Avalanche Extreme Chrono Double Digit is offered in two versions: black-on-black and black-and-red.
“Double Digit” here means that Alpina replaced normal hour markers with the double-digit minute market (Praesto did the same feat with their Modern Fliegeruhr Aviator, but it was not available at the moment of writing this review.)
With this kind of design, the Swiss brand puts an additional emphasis on its chronograph complication implicitly stating that the chronograph seconds hand, however thin it is, is more important here than the hour and minute hands.
Speaking of which, I must point out that the hour and minute hands are radically different on models with black-and-grey and black-and-red color schemes. While the first sports more or less normal hands filled with grey Superluminova, the second has both hands skeletonized, thus making the chronograph function even more visually important.
However, with the black-and-red featuring no lume on the hands, its nighttime legibility is not even problematic: it is basically non-existent if you don’t plan to always carry a flashlight on you while wearing this timepiece.
Also, you may consider this a tired man’s ranting, but I don’t see the point in the model with skeletonized hands: it just sort of defeats the whole idea of a “sporty” timekeeper, which is supposed to be visually imposing and more or less rugged, but also versatile enough to use it in most imaginable scenarios (safe, perhaps, for zombie apocalypses and the nuclear holocaust) without any sort of crutches and pointless excuses.
So, perhaps the model with the more normal grey lume on its hands is a more rational choice for a person who wants to use this gadget primarily as a watch, not a sort of overpriced vehicle for delivering personal statements.
A rather large 46 mm stainless steel cushion-shaped body is available either untreated (Ref. AL-850BR4AE6) or in black PVD (Ref. AL-850BB4AE6) finish. Both versions feature the same black PVD bezel secured by six triangular-shaped stainless steel screws and come equipped with the same black rubber strap with the brand’s logo stamped on its front surface.
Like most current offerings, this one is powered by an ETA 2894-based caliber AL-850 with its rotor plated in black PVD.
Although this is not a diver, the Extreme Chrono Double Digit features a more than decent water resistance rating of 200 meters, which is more than enough for basic swimming and even some snorkeling.
The Swiss-based company wants €2500 for this piece of horological gadgetry, which seems to be a bit too much considering that it is powered by a rather standard self-winding mechanism. But that’s always for you to decide, of course.
See also: Vintage-Inspired DOXA SUB 600T-Graph Collection
Photos: Alpina
Alpina Avalanche Extreme Chrono Double Digit specification
Price range: €2500
Movement: Caliber AL-850 (based on ETA 2894), automatic, Swiss Made
Frequency: 28,800 vph
Jewels: 25
Decoration: Blued screws, circular graining on bridges, black oscillating weight with vertical Geneva Stripes and Alpina logo
Complications: Date, chronograph
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case: Stainless steel
Shape: Cushion
Size: 46.00 mm
Case height: 12.50 mm
Dial: Matte black / Matte black with red sub-dials
Hands: Luminous / Skeletonized
Water resistance: 200 meters
Strap: Black rubber
Crystal: Sapphire
Back: Transparent