Cobra de Calibre 3 Twin Crown, Cobra goes for Bronze

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.

The twin crown comes from a second crown at 9:00 which moves the internal bezel.  Placing it here somewhat limits the usability of the bezel, but it does give the case a nice twin symmetry and allows the brand to maintain the larger crowns and smooth crown protectors, without things getting too crowded on the right side.  The watchmaker is tinkering with the click stops and friction of the system, but it is bi-directional and can’t be adjusted underwater.  So in spite of the 200M water resistance rating, it is not a true diver.   But the real star here is the marine grade bronze case, which also can come with a DLC coating that leaves a bronze bezel but otherwise blacks out the material.

Bronze naturally (or chemically, if you are impatient) ages, developing a unique patina.  There are coatings and chemicals one an use to arrest this process or restore the original look, so if you find you like the bronze as is, you can keep it that way, and if it ends up going too far, you can bring it back.  With heavy use of sulfur compounds, you can take it all the way to black, really creating a mottled, vintage look (below).  With the DLC version, it is only the bronze bezel that will age, the remaining case will stay with the DLC look.

Driving the watch is a Miyota 9015 automatic movement, and up front is a domes sapphire crystal, something Patrick is sure to appreciate.  The bronze case comes with either a black or olive green dial, and the bronze/DLC case has a black dial.  All of the dials feature guilloche striping, and the markers and hands are rose gold colored.  The watch takes its lume seriously, with a small channel in each of the chapter markers to accommodate a extra thick stripe of lume, and the hands and each of the 10 minute increment numbers on the rotating bezel are also deeply lumed.

Completing the package is a thick and soft Crazy Horse genuine Italian leather strap with a branded buckle finished in either bronze or DLC coated bronze.  I think the brand is well on its way, with a strong design identity, attractive models, an attention to detail, and a successfully completed Kickstarter campaign already under their belt.  The Cobra de Calibre 3 Twin Crown is sitting at a bit more than 1/3 of the funding goal (as of this writing), so there are still plenty of early bird rewards to be had.  If only I had some extra money lying around…  Cobra de Calibre

Watch Overview