How does that Hair Club for Men commercial go, “I’m not just the President, I am also a client.” Well, with Zelos, I am not just a blogger, I am an owner; when the Helmsman launched, I put my money down for the Bronze/brown with Serial #1. Now, Zelos Watches is back for their third launch on Kickstarter, the serious bronze diver, the Zelos Abyss.
The end of the year has been a pretty busy one for me in my day job, so I have not been able to track crowd funded projects as closely as I normally do, nor as closely as I like. As a result, a number of crowd funded watch projects have slipped by me. I was able to write up the Helgray Silverstone, which has monster support, The Tempest One Forged Carbon Watch, which I really like, the Astoncain, a project that still has a shot, and the Ferro one hander, the project I am most likely to back right now. So if you did not get a watch for the holidays, consider supporting one of these projects, or the projects below.
I am intrigued by single hand watches. I have looked at a few of them, but have yet to pull the trigger on buying one. I also like watches with a strong automotive link, but have yet to buy one of those. The new Ferro Watch on Kickstarter may let me tick both those boxes off my watch wish list.
Astoncain 01How do you set yourself apart from the other watch brands on Kickstarter? There is only so low you can go on price, and the features you offer are all tied to a cost. So then you have design, but there are lots of designs already out there, especially with Bauhaus inspired minimalism. Astoncain decided to go nearly as clean as they could with the design, removing even the branding from the face of their watch, currently up on Kickstarter.
If you recall, last week I posted up about the Maranez Layan, which featured semi-precious stones being used for the dials of the watches. While I have not had the pleasure of seeing those in person, I did just recently spend some time with another watch that features stone, in this case, marble. The watch in question is the Vincero Verde, named as it is for the green Italian marble utilized on the watch.
Kickstarter is full of watch projects where the creators claim that they are trying to do something new, or they couldn’t find the watch they wanted so they made their own… To be honest, however, it is rare that these projects are actually really unique. They may be attractive and a good value, but rarely are they unique. Tempest just posted a project that certainly fits the unique bill though. The Tempest One Forged Carbon Watch is not only an attractive watch and a pretty good value, but it is going to be the envy of all your tech-loving friends.
The Lew & Huey Legends Racer is a great combination of classic racing watches in a modern, and affordable, package.
Helgray Watches came out of the gate a few months back with a four watch launch on Kickstarter. All four watches were modern takes on a WWI vintage look, and, to put it mildly, they blew up with $159,000 in pledges against a $12,000 goal. Now they are back on Kickstarter with their second, or is it fifth, watch, the Helgray Silverstone 60’s Racing Chronograph.
Lew & Huey are back at it again, with their sixth watch project launched on kickstarter. This time, the Lew & Huey Legends Racer is a square case design that harkens back to the look of the Tag Heuer Monaco, with a bit of the look of the Tudor Heritage Chrono.
For a while, I was very enamored with the ideas of a wood watch case. But the more I saw, the more I realized the limitations of the material. You can’t make it tough and thin at the same time, it is hard to waterproof, and the all-wood cases are often pale imitations of regular case designs. For those reasons, I am more interested in watches that incorporate wood into the watch, without using it as the case material. This led me to take a closer look at the NUVO Discovery Collection of watches, put together by a fledgling watch company out of Australia.
