One for the Fans: Ferrari launches new Lap Time Chronograph

Making sense of Ferrari's vast merchandising empire depends entirely on how you look at the brand. As an exclusive purveyor of supercars and GTs, it amounts – in some minds, at least – to sullying the brand name. As a sports team – one of the winningest in motorsport or any other sport for that matter – it makes perfect sense, just as it does for your local pro sports franchise to sell jerseys and baseball caps.

Few organizations are as cognizant of that schism as Ferrari themselves, which currently has not one, but two separate watch lines on the market. One is made specially for Ferrari owners (actual or wannabe) by Officine Panerai. Those are the watches that sell for the big bucks. But for racing fans who see the Prancing Horse as the mascot of their favorite team (as opposed to the marque of eminently desirable exotic sportscars), Maranello has a more economically priced and sportingly styled watch line, the latest of which is the subject of this post.

The Ferrari Lap Time Chronograph is built around a Swiss anadigit movement and is housed in a 44mm stainless steel case coated in black PDV. It features a digital display for two secondary time zones, tachometers and chronometer timing functions, alarm, date display and split-second timer. It's secured to the wrist with a rubber strap emulating a grooved racing tire and is of course emblazoned with little cavalinnos all over.

Available from the Ferrari Store starting at the end of this month for €245.83 (about $350), the Lap Time Chronograph is decidedly more accessible to the average racing fan than the high-priced Panerai timepieces. Follow this link for more details and click on the thumbnails below to view images in our high-resolution gallery.

[Source: Ferrari Store]