We’ve covered Baltic plenty over the years, and the French microbrand has earned every inch of that real estate by quietly turning out some of the most thoughtfully designed, fairly priced watches in the sub-$1,000 space. So when Etienne Malec’s crew decided to mark their fourth year as Tour Auto’s Official Timekeeper, the path of least resistance would’ve been another commemorative chronograph. Instead, they did something far more interesting.
Meet the Rally Timer Tour Auto 2026. It’s not a wristwatch. It’s two mechanical dashboard instruments (a flyback stopwatch and a dashclock), bolted to a brushed steel mounting plate that’s meant to live inside the cabin of a vintage rally car. And we’re quite obsessed to say the least.
A Watch That Isn’t a Watch
The Tour Auto, for the uninitiated, is the modern continuation of the Tour de France Automobile, a road rally that dates back to 1899. Each spring, around 290 classic-car crews carve their way from Paris to Biarritz, hitting circuits like Magny-Cours, Albi, and Nogaro along the route. It’s the kind of event where Stirling Moss-era machinery still runs in anger, and the co-driver’s job is largely defined by stopwatches and clipboards.
Which is exactly the headspace the Rally Timer was built for. Rather than a wrist-bound nod to the rally, Baltic engineered the actual instruments a navigator would reach for between corners.
Two Cases, Two Movements, One Plate
Each unit is housed in a 60mm stainless steel case that’s 18mm thick, capped with a wildly domed Hesalite crystal and topped with an oversized, fluted crown at 12 o’clock. Hesalite was specifically chosen over crystal here because in a crash, it flexes and cracks rather than shattering into the cabin or the movement.
The stopwatch runs on a Hanhart 122 flyback caliber. Hanhart has been building dedicated mechanical stopwatches for decades, and the flyback function lets the navigator reset and restart the timer with a single push of the 11 o’clock pusher, which is critical when you’re stringing together sector times and don’t have a full second to waste on a stop-reset-start.
The catch? A six-hour power reserve. You’ll be winding this thing before every stage, which can be seen is either charming or annoying depending on your tolerance for ritual.
The Dashclock Plays the Long Game
Sitting next to the stopwatch is a matching dashclock running on an ENLOONG 6497, a manual-wind movement architecturally derived from traditional pocket watches. The 6497’s wide diameter fills the 60mm case naturally, putting the small seconds at a clean 6 o’clock without the awkward dial gymnastics you’d get from a smaller movement floating in a sea of empty space. Power reserve clocks in at 42 hours, and the large balance wheel handles the kind of road-noise vibrations a vintage suspension is going to throw its way.
Both dials wear a satin light blue finish lifted straight from the historic French racing palette, with off-white azurage subdials and blued steel hands that pop against the matte background.
Baltic also included some nice details on the casebacks: the stopwatch is engraved with a map of the Paris-to-Biarritz route, and the dashclock carries the Tour Auto 2026 logo and the individual edition number out of 300.
The Best Part Is the Mounting Plate
Both timers bolt to a brushed steel plate via a set of knurled, hand-tightened nuts that can be loosened without tools, even with thick driving gloves on. The plate itself has four countersunk holes at the corners, ready to mount directly into a dashboard fascia. Pop the nuts and the stopwatch comes off for handheld use at checkpoints.
Spec Sheet
Brand: Baltic
Model: Rally Timer Tour Auto 2026 Limited Edition
Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel
Case Diameter: 60mm
Case Thickness: 18mm
Crystal: Double-domed Hesalite
Dial: Satin light blue with off-white azurage subdials
Stopwatch Movement: Hanhart 122 flyback, manual winding
Stopwatch Power Reserve: 6 hours
Dashclock Movement: ENLOONG 6497, manual winding
Dashclock Power Reserve: 42 hours
Mounting: Brushed steel dashboard plate with knurled quick-release nuts
Limited Edition: 300 numbered pieces
Pricing & Availability
The Baltic Rally Timer Tour Auto 2026 Limited Edition is available now, priced at €825 (~$965) for the full set. With production capped at 300 numbered pieces and Baltic’s reputation for limited drops disappearing fast, this one isn’t going to linger.
Recap
Baltic Rally Timer Tour Auto 2026 Limited Edition
Baltic celebrates four years as Tour Auto’s Official Timekeeper with a pair of mechanical dashboard instruments — a Hanhart flyback stopwatch and an ENLOONG-powered dashclock — limited to 300 numbered sets and priced at €825.
