We just received word of a new model lineup come from one of our favorite brands, Techné. Read on to learn some more.
First off, if you”re not familiar with Techné, you really need to check out their stuff (and our earlier posts). In short, they offer some really nicely designed watches, and at surprisingly affordable prices to boot.
This latest family, the Harrier (), is their take on the iconic Aviator-style watch. Surprisingly, they weren”t content to just look to one historical inspiriation – instead, they”ve gone for an amalgamation of various designs with aviation ties – check out the image in the press release (below) for further explanation.
Now, on the surface of it, all of these inspirations could turn out to be a mess. Here, however, I think they really nailed the design – it pulls together some interesting elements I”ve not seen before, as well as giving different visual cues to people who might be more familiar with the different inspirations.
Another unique to this family is wide swatch of functionality and movements. The low-end of the range comes in right at $240 (quartz, sub-seconds; ref 375.0); and the top-of-the-line model features a Miyota 9015 automatic movement, and comes in at $480.
For many brands, that sub-$500 price would be the norm. For Techné, though, you need to realize that this truly is a high-end piece for them, and the pricing reflects that. Given everything that we”ve seen from them in the past, I think this is likely still going to be a steal, in terms of what you”ll get for your money; delivery is expected in April
. If you”d like more information, I”ve put the full press release below:
Techné Instruments is proud to unveil the Harrier, a modern interpretation of the classical fliegeruhr (military pilot watch).
Two years in the making, the display of the Harrier borrows cues from iconic navigation and timing instruments of the 20th century. The oversize minute tracks and Arabic numerals are inspired by altimeters and vintage German pilot timekeepers. The hollow luminous hands are borrowed from navigation compasses and the two dots by the 12 o”clock mark are borrowed from the British Wrist Watch Waterproof standard.
The flagship model of this new collection is the reference 363, powered by a novel self-winding mechanical calibre supplied by Citizen Holdings, the world”s number 2 watch company.
Founded in 1918, the Citizen watch company released their first truly efficient shock-protection in 1956. Nineteen years later, they released a 11½ calibre that proved so reliable it is still in demand today. After 1975, this calibre 8200 allowed Miyota to develop 12 variations, of which the 8217 is used in a custom version by Techné since 2010.
During the first decade of the 21st century, Miyota began developing of a new 11½ calibre that would exceed the 8200 in terms of performance, refinement and slimness. Miyota relied on their near-centurial experience in industrial watchmaking and proprietary technology to design and industrialize the new calibre 9000.
Positively reviewed by watchmakers, this cost-efficient calibre offers a thinness of 3.90 mm, a high-torque, a generous power reserve of 42 hours and the accuracy of a high-beat inline anchor lever paced at 28,800 alternance per hour.
All 9015 movements used by Techné are manually fine-tuned in three positions to run within COSC rates (-4 to 6 seconds per day), which entitles the watches to bear the “Opus Manufactum” label (Latin for “hand-worked”).
Measuring 41.0 mm in diameter with a total thickness of 11.1 mm, the Harrier comes with a scratch-proof front sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflection coating. The reference 363.0 comes in brushed surgical 316L stainless steel and the reference 363.1 comes with a sand-blasted finishing and an aeronautical surface-hardening PVD coating. Both versions use a screw-down crown, are water resistant to 5 bar, and are available on a choice of 15 different straps.
