How often do you find, when someone asks you for the time, that you translate what the hands on the dial tell you to something along the lines of “it’s a quarter past 2”? I’m guessing it’s quite a bit – and so do the folks over at Biegert & Funk.
Their watch, the QLOCKTWO W allows you to skip the mental gymnastics, and simply read off of what dial is telling you for the time. Now, you’ve probably not heard of the watch before, but you’ve undoubtedly seen their clocks showing up around the web.
The watch is simply a “shrunken” version of the well-received clock model. The stainless steel case itself is 35mm square – and wears much larger than a 35mm round watch would, due to the squared off design and 24mm leather strap. While our review sample featured a brushed steel finish, it’s also available in a polished or black finish.
For functionality, you just press the single button on the side of the case, and LEDs light up the text on the watch, which breaks the time down in five minute increments (a note on the language: the watch is available in English, French and German). Subsequent presses of the button will cycle you through the date and running seconds displays. In the time display mode, you’ll want to pay attention to the four dots at the bottom of the face – those actually tell you the minutes to add to the text, if you want the precise time.
While the UI is pretty straightforward, B&F thoughtfully put a key for the functions onto the caseback, making it easy to remember. Now, back to the display. The LEDs light up very cleanly – there is no discernible bleed into any adjoining text. While they’re bright enough to read in daylight, they won’t blind you in the dark – a nice balance, that.
In terms of daily wear, this is an extremely light and comfortable watch. Reading the time is fairly simple, and just plain fun with the readout. I appreciate the uniqueness of this watch, I find myself, and I like the fact that this gives you the appearance of time-telling approximation, while still giving you the exact time. In this vein, their desk and wall clocks are similarly intriguing.
From my limited time with the watch, I’m not seeing anything that would prevent me from telling you to give it a closer look (product page)(store link)(also available from Watchismo) – just prepare your wallet for a little bit of sticker shock. The steel versions retail for $770, and the PVD variant runs $880. Given the uniqueness of the watch, and the German hand-built aspects, I don’t think this is that drastically out of line. All in all, a very fun watch – and one that will catch the eye of anyone who sees it on your wrist.
