Last week, Albishorn unveiled the latest in their ongoing series of “Imaginary Vintage” watches, the Thundergraph Kumbu. Founded by Sébastien Chaulmontet nearly two years ago, Albishorn is a high concept indie focused on a very specific strain of vintage watch inspiration. The watches that make up the Albishorn collection not only take their design cues from vintage watches, they are conceived as that never existed, but could have, and provide, as Chaumontet puts it, “a missing link” between the past and present. That centers each new watch on the idea of storytelling, and Albishorn has created elaborate imaginary backstories for each of their watches released to this point. (You can find our previous coverage of the brand here).
The new watch from Albishorn, the Thundergraph Khumbu, is a new take on last year’s Thundergraph Himalaya, a chronograph conceived for alpine exploration. The idea here essentially was that on a climb, an alpinist would need easy legibility and the benefit of a rotating bezel to time ascent phases. The oversized crown and bezel, and monopusher chronograph execution, are also intended as design nods that would benefit a climber in difficult terrain (of course, these are straightforward tool watch design codes that could be applied to any number of situations – but that’s where the storytelling piece kicks in).
For the new Thundergraph Khumbu, Albishorn has introduced a green dial, which the brand says is inspired by the landscapes of the Khumbu region of northeastern Nepal. Like its predecessor, the dial features large Roman numerals and oversized, lume filled triangular indices that would help to easily orient a climber in a low legibility situation. The dial layout is a slightly skewed take on the classic “California” dial, which typically features a combination of Arabic and Roman numerals. Here, the Arabics have been jettisoned in favor of those triangular markers, which make more sense in concert with the running seconds and 30 minute counters located in the dial’s lower half.
The case is stainless steel and measures 39mm in diameter. It’s dominated by a dramatically oversized bezel which extends the diameter to 42.7mm. The dish-like shape meant to make it easy to grip, and somehow Albishorn was able to keep the case height to 12mm. The 10:30 crown and chronograph pusher embedded in the case flank just below it have become a bit of an Albishorn calling card.
New for this edition is a bracelet that Albishorn says will fit all of their previous models as well. The bracelet features micro-adjustment on both sides of the clasp, which the brand claims enables for quick adjustments while the watch is being worn.
The Thundergraph Khumbu is a limited edition (though not numbered) of 99 pieces, and will be produced over a period of three years. On a strap, the retail price is listed at CHF 3,650, while on a bracelet the Thundergraph Khumbu will set you back CHF 4,100. Albishorn
Zach Kazan
2026-04-06 14:00:00