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.
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.
Earlier this year I was attending an alumni event and the subject matter turned to watches (how I turned it there I don’t recall). One of the group asked what I would recommend for her to get her boyfriend as a gift. My first question was how much money she wanted to spend. When she said roughly $1,000, I immediately recommended a Weiss. Her question also got me thinking about how I could organize the 2015 holiday gift guide. So for this iteration, I will recommend my favorite watch (or watch related gift) in each of several price ranges. Chances are, if I like it, especially if it under about $1,500, we have covered it in the past, since that is the kind of people we are; but there may be watches here (especially at the high end) that have not graced our pages.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, doorbusters on Thanksgiving itself, this is the start of the discount season, at least here in the US, and Lew and Huey and getting on on the excitement. From now through December 1, the brand is giving a discount of $100 on any Acionna or the Spectre, $75 on any Cerberus, and $50 on the Orange/Blue and Red/Gray Orthos.
It was back in July that we first brought you word of a new Dutch brand, Van Speyk, and their inaugural watch. As I concluded in that writeup, the Van Speyk Dutch Diver had a thread running throughout it – familiarity with differentiation. That observation was all based off of what I was seeing in the photos. The question loomed, however – would that impression hold up after seeing the watch in the steel?
Chronographs are popular complications, but I wonder just how useful they are. Sure, I have one, but I don’t really use the chrono feature, I just like the look of the watch. Well, the Conqueror WatcheCompany Opalus takes the chrono and puts it into the background, leaving the central second hand as, well, a second hand. The watch itself is comfortable and attractive, walking a nice line between dressy and sporty.
I have to say, Mr Jones has really been stepping up their game. They have had some interesting and quirky designs in the past, and their jump-hour equipped Chatterbox brought another level to things with the printing they were able to do on the underside of the crystal. They learned some good lessons there, it seems, as the same sort of treatment (albeit with a bit of a twist) shows up in the Mr Jones King and Queen.
I have said it many times before, and I will likely say it many times more – dive watches are simply one of, if not the, most popular styles of watches today. Most of them show on the wrists of those who don’t dive (such as this writer), so it really becomes more of a style choice. Sure, there is some appeal to the capability that a dive watch represents, but for most desk divers, it is the look of the watch that draws them in. So, then, if a new brand is bringing a diver to the market, it should offer something unique – and that is what we have with the Manchester Watch Works Tatoskok.
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.
I see quite a few watches that come out of China, anyone who looks at a lot of watches under the $1,000 mark is bound to see them, but I have not yet had the chance to check out a watch that is being sold by a Chinese brand. My chance came when Sea-Gull Watch Store reached out to us and asked if we would review their first in-house watch. The GT & FQ (the brand owners’ initials) M0001 Rider Automatic is quite an accomplished first effort for this brand, which is already expanding the line.
