As the old saying goes “there is more than one way to skin a cat.” With watches there is more than one way to display the time. There is, of course, the circular display, with lots of variations, and then there are text displays, be they digital or printed, like the Devon Tread. Division Furtive Type 50 watch is not content with these options, and uses a linear display, two rows of LEDs for time, date, moon phase and chronograph functions.
The rise of crowdfunding has really opened up watchmaking to new entrepreneurs and enthusiasts wishing to make their mark on the industry, and put their product on your wrist. The first product out of the gate is interesting, but for me, the real test comes with the follow up watches. The Rossling & Company Automatic is the firm’s sophomore effort, back on Kickstarter, that builds on their first watch offering, keeping a similar aesthetic, but adding a mechanical movement.
Szanto was nice enough to loan me three watches to review on this site, with the Szanto 2252 being the second piece of the trio. The Szanto 1100 was the first watch I reviewed, and I liked the look and feel of this field watch. Yet to come is a 4000 series, a two eyed chrono which I have also liked. My relationship with the thee eyed 2252 chronograph, however, is more complicated.
TokyoFlash Japan Kisai Vortex 04These guys have me confused right now. On the one hand, the TokyoFlash Japan Kisai Vortex LCD watch is probably the nicest looking and most refined watch I have seen from them. On the other hand, what time it? It is a sharp looking watch with their own twist on the actual telling time part of a watch’s function.
While the overall watch case design movement may be staying with the mid-40mm case, I have seen quite a few designs of late that are less than 40mm across, designed for me (or at least unisex) and are round. The Melbourne Watch Company Parkville automatic is just the most recent of these. Skipping the crowdfunded phase that started the brand’s previous efforts, the Parkville is being offered as a pre-order on their website, an encouraging sign that this young watchmaking firm has a strong enough following to sell direct.
I was introduced to this site based on a watch I purchased through Kickstarter, and started writing reviews on watches on that site, and then branched out a bit, finally becoming official and covering anything watch related then comes my way. But I still have a soft spot for Kickstarter, and consider it part of my beat. When Zelos was designing their first watch, which they were offering on the site, they reached out to us and offered us an early peek at the project page. Frankly, it hit just the right number of buttons for me, so I jumped in an bought a Zelos Helmsman, in bronze, serial number 01/50, and was actually the first backer on the project.
Cobra de Calibre is a small brand out of Canada that is back with a second watch project on Kickstarter. I really like the style of the watch, though my timing in making other purchases always seems to put these projects at the wrong time for me. I covered their first watch when I was still just a friend of the site in February of this year, and they are selling a slightly refined version as their model 2 on their web site. This project, the Cobra de Calibre 3 Twin Crown carries forward a lot of the brand’s established identity, but takes it in a new direction with a bronze case, and a DLC coated bronze case.
What do you wear when you want a blast of color to match your outfit? What about when you like to change your color choices often, but don’t have a lot of money? You could go with a nice watch and swap out straps, or maybe you invest in a few watches that you can wear with a variety of options. Or.. you could go with bright, inexpensive watches that really pop. This is what the SlideIdentity Slim Collection on Kickstarter is all about. Their project puts out low cost Italian made quartz watches with polycarbonate cases that come in at a svelte 8.5mm.
I am one of those guys that wears a watch all the time. Well, almost all the time, when I am involved in one of my potentially dangerous activities, I don’t wear a watch. For me, this is road biking, mountain biking and rock climbing. It isn’t that I don’t want to know the time, it is that if I take a fall (and I have been known to crash my mountain bike a fair bit), I don’t want to damage my watch. But now, the Haigh & Hastings M2 Diver can ease that worry, pairing a nice looking, sensible diver with a 5-year damage repair guarantee.
Earlier this year, we brought you word that the first watches from British brand Areion were finally…
