When Freddie Palmgren, the man behind SÖNER, asked for a bluntly honest review of his watch, I wasn’t sure that’s what he really wanted. Most of his watches had been quartz-powered, large, and tank shaped. Basically, in a world of round watches, that are returning to more middle-ground sizes, Freddie went the opposite direction. This is his first mechanical-powered watch, using the Miyota 9039 no-date movement. And it’s not wrong. This is the SÖNER MOMENTUM.
Who wears this?
Look: you’re baller. You wear shirts with cuffs, maybe even a proper sport coat. You’re not small, maybe not swole. You own party shirts, and leave two buttons unbuttoned before the collar. You have a sensibility about your fashion choices, and every item you own reinforces it. It allows you to present yourself to the world with confidence.
What makes it special
It’s a big watch. It doesn’t hide, it doesn’t apologize, it doesn’t do anything to disguise itself. But because it’s gently curved to match the curve of your wrist, it wears comfortably, and it fits under your baller party shirt cuffs.
As mentioned before, it’s powered by the Miyota 9039. This is Miyota’s superbly accurate movement, in its no-date form. Perfect for the job.
Hands and dial
The version Palmgren loaned me to try out is a white dial in silver-colored case, on mesh bracelet. The white dial is absolutely the right choice for me, although black, green Sun-ray brushed are available, as is a polished gold colored case.
The indices on the dial are sized to match the hands at 12-3-6-9, and thinner at 1-2-4-5-7-8-10-11. The indices are not lumed.
The hands are flat, lumed, and the seconds is tipped with an arrow. These are classic choices, that suit the watch well.
Bracelet vs Strap
The mesh bracelet is comfortable, but it is the wrong choice for this watch. I have a rule – always go for the bracelet, you can change to straps later, but in this case, the leather straps with butterfly deployment clasp are the correct option for this watch. The mesh bracelet’s lugs have a little too much gap around the spring bars and can look angled in relation to the square edges of the case. The lugs measure 22mm, in case your wondering
The advantage to the mesh bracelet is that the clasp is easily adjustable with just a small flat blade screwdriver. Use the flat blade to lift up the part that clamps one side to the mesh, slide it, push it back down to clamp, and then wear. The clasp works by being in two parts, one that clamps to the 6 o’clock bracelet side, and one that hooks and latches, on the end of the 12 o’clock side. There’s a flip lock to secure it, if that was a concern.
The Back
The case back is a square secured with screws. It has nice beveled edges so that it wears comfortably. It is engraved with what amounts to the recipe for the watch. It’s a recipe that’s proven successful. Note that the 5ATM water resistance is likely due to the screw-on case back and non-screw-down crown. This is fine, and don’t let it bother you – it’s safe for splashing about.
START YOUR LEGACY
STAINLESS STEEL
SAPPHIRE GLASS
JAPANESE MOVEMENT
WATER RESISTANT 5ATM
What makes it different from the quartz model
The quartz model shares the case shape and size. Any refinements made to the dial and hands for the automatic version aren’t present in the quartz model, although I don’t have a quartz one on hand to compare to with my own eyes.
Is it too large?
On its own, viewed in a vacuum, you might be inclined to say, “yes, yes it is.” But the interesting thing is, I compared it alongside the Apple Watch Series 6 and found that they’re nearly the same size – especially if you’re a nerd like me, who puts a case on the Apple Watch. In practice, it’s pretty easy to wear, although the wide bracelet again shows that a tapered strap might be more comfortable.
The Blunt Review
Each of us has different opinions when it comes to watches – what’s perfection for one person may be blindingly offensive to the next. If I were making this watch for myself, I would have made a few different choices.
- lume the indices
- increase all the indices to the width of the hands
- a different bracelet fit at the lugs – larger spring bars, smaller ends, so that it doesn’t move out of alignment
- instead of flat hands, hands with some bevel or peak to them, so that they catch the light better for increased visibility and dimensionality
A tank case has never been my personal style. I just never chose one. And yet, despite it being quite large on me, it wears comfortably.
Those are my wishes. And they could happen, who knows – but even if they didn’t, this is still an excellent watch to project confidence to the world, and it’s available for an impressively affordable price. It’s available in polished steel, brushed steel, and polished gold. The straps are the mesh, or black, brown, nougat, black alligator, green alligator, dark brown alligator, and light brown alligator. For 290 EUR (about 330 USD), you get a real automatic watch that looks the beans. It’s not garish, it’s bold. Like you, you fantastic individual. This watch was funded on kickstarter, but you can find the company at Sonerbysweden.com
