When I hear the word “ronin”, I think of one of two things – either playing a Risk-style game (called ) based in feudal Japan (where you could send out ronin to do your bidding), or the crazy-awesome car chase in the De Niro movie of the same name. Today, I may just have to add another reference point to that phrase.
Based out of Singapore, Ronin is a new micro brand that has come onto the scene with a pretty excellent-looking watch. Their stated goal is to bring quality watches at reasonable price points – something they appear to be able to do by the nature of where they”re located.
For starters, let”s look at the movement. It”s a clone of a hand-wound Unitas (made in Asia, of course) that features a 40-hour power reserve. It”s a good move to keep prices down, and frankly, the movements we”ve been seeing coming out of Asia have really carried some great quality and accuracy – so it shouldn”t be a concern here, in terms of purchase.
Next, they”ve adopted a single style (the flieger, or pilot, watch from the mid-20th century), and worked with it to make a few varieties of the same watch, widening the appeal. First off, they”ve made their case in two sizes – 44mm and 47mm. Second, they have the option of the crown being at the normal 3 o”clock, or over at 9 o”clock.
While the 9 o”clock crown is generally aimed at folks who wear their watches on their right hand, I think they can work well for left-hand wearing. With an automatic, you”re really not utilizing the crown that often (especially while it”s on your wrist), so it moves the crown to a spot where there”s no chance of it digging into your wrist.
Depending on the crown placement, this moves the subseconds display as well – it”s at 6 o”clock for the right-side crown, and 3 o”clock for the left-side crown (that”s a placement that would take some getting used to, but it does add some nice visual appeal, I must admit). It”s a nice changeup (or option to have a changeup, I should more accurately say) that allows the Ronin to break away some from the other very similarly-styled fliegers that are out there.
And now, for the crowning touch on this particular watch – it”s price. Coming in at $265, this certainly seems like quite a bargain, given the clean style and mechanical movement, paired with the handful of style options you have in the lineup. If you want to order yours, you”ll need to head to their Facebook page or their Etsy shop. I guess if you”re going to set some new standards, never hurts for a young brand to branch out in your ecommerce presence as well.
