Ventus Black Kite, Black as Carbon – Because it is Carbon

By Matt Himmelstein February 4, 2016

Do you want a carbon fiber watch, but don’t want to spend a ton of cash to get one, well, the Ventus Black Kite on kickstarter may be just the ticket. I covered the brand previously with the Caspian models, which were very successful and well received, with the exception of some issues with the lume. With carbon fiber, you can layer the material or you can shred it, melt it and mold it. This latter technique was used for the Tempest Carbon One, but the Ventus Black Kite is using the layering style.

Cobra de Calibre Crossfire, I Told You to Back This Watch

By Matt Himmelstein February 3, 2016

I told you guys to back this project back in November. Well, good things come to thee who wait, because the Cobra de Calibre Crossfire, is currently back on Kickstarter, at a reduced price (and fully funded at this point). I have looked at a number of Cobra de Calibre watches, and keep saying “hey you should check this guy’s work out.” There great success stories where one project turned into two or three and then into a full blown brand, and I am hoping that John Lee will developed a cult following that funds all his projects.

Measuring Time With the Caliper View

By John Biggs January 29, 2016

The Caliper View watch offers a tightly designed modern automatic watch that should make every architect and engineer cry. This is a new watch company taking its namesake from the tools used to measure distances between two sides of an object. I got to wear the prototypes to see how they measure up. Read on for my impressions!

The LIV Genesis X1 A, LIV it Up.

By Matt Himmelstein January 27, 2016

LIV watches is back on Kickstarter with their send watch, a three hand automatic, the LIV Genesis X1. Their first watch was a Swiss made quartz chronograph. The new watch has a strong visual tie to the first, with a very similar looking sandwich dial, red ringed crown and oversized bezel. LIV did a great job on marketing the watch before it was released, catapulting them beyond the initial funding threshold immediately on launch (they are sitting on nearly $250K in pledges as of this writing). For all you future watch builders out there, take note of how important thus pre-release advertising is.

Introducing the Haldor Abissi 1000M

By Patrick Kansa December 22, 2015

When it comes to dive watches, especially those that we see showing up on the crowdfunding sites, they are decidedly more of an entry-level proposition. I am not saying that there is a problem with that (quite the contrary), just stating a fact. That makes it all the more curious – or interesting, depending on your view – that we caught word of a new higher-end sort of an option showing up over on Indiegogo. The Haldor Abissi 1000M just launched, and offers some rather nice specs especially for the pricepoint.

Bumping Along with the Automat Oro Dato

By Patrick Kansa December 21, 2015

There are certainly no shortage of watches popping up on crowd-funding sites these days. There are so many there days that we have actually dialed back our coverage. A lot of that is due to an abundance of very (VERY) similar watches coming out with little differentiation past a dial color and logo. Then you have something like the Automat Oro Dato that is rather unlike what has come before it, and then it merits some discussion here on these pages.

Diving For The Skies with the MEW Depth Pilot

By Patrick Kansa December 18, 2015

After dive watches, I would hazard a guess that pilot watches are the next most popular style – in general – of watches. And if they aren’t, they have to be in the top 5, just based on the sheer number of models that I have seen released. A lot of these tend to come from the more established brands, or those with a particular history with aviation watches. What I have not noticed near as much are pilot-style watches coming from independent brands, especially those using Kickstarter to get the ball rolling. As you might guess, that’s where we find the MEW Depth Pilot.

Crowdfunding Round Up, December 2015

By Matt Himmelstein December 1, 2015

If you are a regular reader, you may have noticed that we have pivoted a bit away from crowdfunded watches in the last few months. We will still cover projects that intrigue us, but we are more selective about the campaigns we highlight these days. That said, this crowdfunding round up is highlighting five watch project currently running on Kickstarter.

Santis and Berg Vertice, The (Eastern) Arabic Watch

By Matt Himmelstein November 30, 2015

I know we keep saying that we are going to limit our coverage of minimalist quartz watches, but it seems that the limit on what can be done with this simple formula has not yet be met. Take the Santis and Berg Vertice, a two hander that uses Eastern Arabic numerals for the chapter ring. Here is a watch design that truly is hard to find on the market, at least outside of the Middle East, and something that should appeal to quite a number of people.

Introducing the Vejrhøj Nautic

By Patrick Kansa November 12, 2015

When it comes to crowd-funded watch projects these days, everyone and their brother seems to be coming up with a minimalist quartz watch. Not that there is anything wrong with a minimalist watch, or a quartz-driven one. It is just that we are not seeing a whole of of differentiation in the projects (check out this editorial to see what we think makes a project interesting) out there. So that is what we try to focus in on, what makes a watch different or unique, and will be bringing those to light. Which then brings us to the subject of today’s article, the Vejrhøj Nautic.

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