Coming soon to Kickstarter: the Vesuviate Doppio

When we’re talking about crowdfunded watches, we’re often telling you once the campaign is underway – and we don’t normally have a chance to go hands-on. Well, today’s review is a bit different as it IS a hands-on review, and it’s for a watch that doesn’t launch until July 28th – the Vesuviate Doppio.

If you’re thinking that Vesuviate name is familiar, you’re right. We first reviewed them earlier this year with their Swiss chronograph, again before the campaign was underway. While the chrono had some well-known cues and movement, this new Vesuviate Doppio goes in more of a direction that we’re used to seeing from an independent brand – a 42mm diver powered by the trusty Miyota 9015.

There are other ways that the Vesuviate Doppio is familiar, yet changed a bit. For starters, the case – it’s vaguely cushion style, but it has a much flatter top surface and has some softened steps down from the sides to the lugs. On the textured grid dial, you’v got the pips and bars that are very familiar, but a good bit larger than we see on many watches. And surrounding all of that, you’ve got a ceramic bezel insert (the current popular material, of course) with perhaps the largest numerals I’ve ever seen on a bezel.

I think in many ways, that bezel will be the calling card, for better or worse. One fellow reviewer I traded messages with felt like those numerals were yelling at him. I think in large part is due to how much brighter the white is in the bezel vs the luminous paint into the indices on the dial. And that sort of leads to what I felt was the design story here, intended or not. Basically, everything was as super-sized as it could be made to be within the confines of a 42mm steel case.

While it’s looks are outsized, the Vesuviate Doppio was quite a wearable watch. In fact, the bracelet was a physical highpoint for the watch. It’s perhaps not as flexible as a diver, but it takes the looks in a more upscale direction, complete with a hidden clasp. With that, we should probably talk about the changes that we’re aware of that are being made from the watch that you see here, versus what will ship to backers:

• Model name ? ?DOPPIO? will be added onto the dial face at 6 o?clock
• Anti-reflective: the production model will have the layers of AR coating increased to 5 (from the 3 on the model we saw)
• Bracelet: Two half-links (4mm each) will be added to the bracelet to allow for fine-tuning of the sizing

That’s the nature of a prototype – they’re made, and then the designer finds the changes that they want to make. We’ve reviewed the blue dial here (and matching bezel), but it sounds like there are plans to produce green, orange, and white dials as well. Though the campaign hasn’t kicked off yet, you can go to the campaign page and sign up to be notified once it launches in a week’s time. campaign page x vesuviate.com

Review Summary

• Brand & Model: Vesuviate Doppio
• Price: SGD499 (approx $359 USD depending on conversion rates)
• Who?s it for? Anyone who wants a bold diver-style watch with an upscale bracelet
• Would I wear it? It was unique – but it’s not one I think I would be wearing regularly
• What I?d change: The numerals on the bezel insert could do with being a bit smaller – and if there was a way to make it a touch more matte, that could be nice as well
• The best thing about it: How bold the dial and bezel are

Tech Specs from Vesuviate