Apparently, it is! The brand in question is Tsovet – and they’re based out of California (established in 2008). I’ll admit – based purely on the name, I simply assumed it was a Russian (or Soviet-inspired) brand, and simply never took a closer look. The other day, though, curiousity got the best of me, and I began poking around their collection (and history).
It looks like they do draw inspiration from the past, focusing in more industrial tooling, avionics instrumentation and automotive gauges. For the watch I’m focusing on today (SVT-QS40), though, I don’t know that you can apply any of those categories – this is just a clean dress watch.
That’s right, a dress watch! They can’t all be in black and chrome, you know. Sometimes, if you’re throwing on a blue or brown suit, maybe you want the watch to lighten up a bit – and this one fits the bill (though, they do have it in black, if you’re a purist).
Aside from the color combo, what would make this stand out from others is the 40mm case. At 12mm thick, it might be a squeeze under some cuffs, but it should work out. Another facet that grabbed my attention are the luminous markers. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll notice small dots above each of the indices – not something you see on many dress watches.
On top of all that you’ve got a screw-down crown and caseback, and a mineral glass crystal, combining to give you 50m of water resistance. The only quibble you may have with this watch (did I mention it’s Swiss-made?) is the movement. Rather than a mechanical movement that we tend to lean towards, it contains a Ronda 513-2 quartz movement. At this pricepoint, though, I really don’t see how it would be a deal breaker.
