While we’ve not covered RZE Watches before, you may have seen the brand popping up on wrists over on Instagram (at least, that’s where we discovered them). From what we’ve seen, they’ve been releasing some solid designs at great prices (I mean, just look at this one, for example). Well, their fourth model was just announced, and they’re taking to the skies with the RZE Fortitude.
Now, for this design, the RZE Fortitude isn’t just copying pilot watch designs or making “just another flieger”. Dial-wise, I can see some similarities to their other watches, but they’ve thrown in a bit of texture and a degrade in the color scheme. Spinning over that dial is a modified set of Flieger hands, which are painted edge to edge, a detail that I rather like in this style.
Wrapped around the sapphire crystal of the RZE Fortitude is a twisted bezel that calls to mind a pinion gear, or spinning engine bit. It’s something we’ve seen from Oris before, and it’s a fun detail on what could otherwise be a flat or uninteresting bezel. On the crown, they’ve got another “hidden” aviation detail. By that, they’ve taken inspiration from the “Remove before Flight” tags, and put that red onto the crown as a reminder to screw it down for maximum water resistance.
And that crown? You’re screwing it down onto the grade 2 titanium of the 41mm case. In other words, the RZE Fortitude is going to look like a steel tool watch, but it’s actually going to wear a bit lighter – always appreciated. Tucked in that case must be a bit of soft iron, as they’re offering an anti-magnetic spec for protecting the NH35a movement. Nicely enough, though we’re dealing with titanium, the Seiko movement helps keep pricing well under $500. Mark your calendars if you’re interested – the RZE Fortitude will be available to order on December 13, 2021 – in the four colorways – for $469 directly at rzewatches.com
Tech Specs from RZE
- Case: Solid Grade 2 Titanium with UltraHex Coating(up to ~1200Hv hardness) **Anti-magnetic case with protection up to 20,000A/m
- Case Size: 41mm
- Case Thickness: 12.45mm
- Lug size: 20mm
- Lug to lug: 48mm
- Movement: NH35A Automatic Movement
- Water Resistance: 100m (330ft) / 10ATM
- Crown: Screw-down crown with custom reverse engraved logo
- Dial: Sand textured sandwich dials with applied indexes filled with Grade A BGW9 Swiss Super-luminova
- Hands: Custom-made hands with Grade A BGW9 Swiss Super-luminova
- Lens: Sapphire Crystal with inner-side Super-AR
- Strap: Titanium bracelet with stainless steel buckle with UltraHex Coating
- Case Back: Screw-down solid titanium caseback with VITON® gasket
