Micro Brand Watches - CJR Watches

CJR Watches, created by Calvin Ng of Hong Kong creates industrial watches inspired by machinery. Namely aircraft. CJR has two watches in production as of this writing: The Velocita and the Airspeed. Both are ambitious designs that really speaks to the spirit of microbrand watches - trying to enter a market saturated with many different watch options.

The Velocita - a thick industrial, rugged looking watch with a bullhead configuration crown and pushers. Now, I have a soft spot for Bullhead watches. This piece however just doesn't do it for me. Bullhead watches are the embodiment of mid to late 20th century racing chronograph design. The Velocita however doesn't scream heritage. It has an awkwardly looking case with struts(?) and bracing at the bottom of the case. This most likely adds unnecessary thickness to the case (booo!).

The watch comes with many different looks. Pictured is the Spacecraft from the collection. Priced at $799 and inside ticking is a Ronda 3520D Quartz movement -  a movement you can literally buy for $50. A typical run of the mill quartz movement in an $800 watch!? Moving on..

Pictured is the USO from the same collection. Let me just mention that the description on the website for this watch still says 'spacecraft' where 'uso' should be. Not a good look guys. This blued-out watch comes with a price tag of $799 with the same Ronda Quartz movement.

Thank god. CJR does offer a cheaper(?) watch under the Velocita collection; the Army. Coming in at $499 I can hardly call it cheap. Like its more expensive variants, it also houses the Ronda Quartz movement. For $499 though. I get that you will be hard pressed to find a automatic chronograph for this price point but why not just go with a Seiko mecha-quartz movement? You are getting very little bang for your buck in terms of movement here.

If you thought an $800 watch with a Rhonda Quartz movement was bad, pictured above are the two automatic variants of the Velocita. Both houses an ETA 7750. However, this is still VERY steep for an ETA 7750 equipped watch. Expect to pay around $1000 USD for an automatic chronograph from reputable brands such as Hamilton, Victorinox and Fortis. C'mon guys. You can't price your watches like this! Especially not as a microbrand!

Next in their lineup is the Airspeed collection. A watch inspired by round dial instrument of aircraft. The collection has five different dial and case configurations and each watch comes in at 43mm in diameter and 14.8mm thick. Not the skinniest watch but not terribly thick either.

Housed inside the stainless steel case is a Miyota 8219 automatic movement. Along with that the watch has a Hesalite crystal (same material as found on the original Speedy Moonwatch). Coming in at $550 it isn't a bad price for what you get. Alot better than the Velocita collection thats for sure!

Next in their line up is the Commander - as of now not much information is available. However it seems to be a unique design that again is inspired by aircraft. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here.

Another interesting industrial design that definitely has my attention...... If the price isn't crazy high!

Micro Brand Watches - Zinvo Blade

What was your first impression after seeing that picture? Mine was: it looks just like an airplane turbine! Sure enough that was what Zinvo was going for. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, Zinvo is a fashion-centric brand that creates watches for the modern and dynamic consumer. They surely have done that. Name one other watch that is styled like this (other than the Perrelet Turbine).

Unline the Perrelet Turbine, the Zinvo however has a little twist. You may not have noticed any second hands. That's because the turbine blades on the dial is the second hand. Not only that, Zinvo made the really smart decision to go with an automatic movement as opposed to quartz. Imagine seeing a turbine that goes tick-tick-tick. Yeah. That doesn't look too good does it. The sweeping hand creates beautiful movement across the dial - this creates a more dynamic feel to the watch as opposed to a traditional dial layout. The industrial case styling and the turbine blades on the dial makes for many different color combinations that work well.

There are many more and case combinations to choose from and can be found on Zinvo's website. The watch is crafted from a 316L stainless steel case that may be coated for different textures and color (depending on variant). The case measures 44mm in diameter and 12mm in height and the watch comes with a Sapphire crystal along with a Hardened mineral glass on the back. A Miyota 8215 with 42hrs of power reserve turns the blades on this watch and the watch is water resistant of up to 100m (although I wouldn't take this watch diving).

There are just so many different designs to choose from. It is getting hard to decide! At $229 it is a steal and I will be adding this unique piece to my collection pretty soon!

Crowd Funded Watches: Maen Watches - The Manhattan 40

Up on Kickstarter is a new Micro Brand watch, The Manhattan 40 by Maen Watches. The company, based out of Stockholm Sweden curates minimalistic and stylish watches. They weren't playing when it comes to minimalistic - none of their watches has a second hand! Which may be a blessing in disguise as these $200-300 watches all come with a quartz movement and seeing a ticking hand may take away some of the luxurious feel from a watch - something Maen is trying to create with their minimalistic designs.

The two designs they offer, The Manhattan 40 and the Moonphase (which is essentially the same watch with an addition of a moonphase indicator) both comes in a few different configurations: Gold case with white or black dial and silver case with a white or black dial. For now, I'll let the pictures from their campaign do the talking.

The Kickstarter campaign is beautifully laid out showcasing each trait of the watch. Coming in at $200-300 I feel obligated to remind you that there are other offerings from Japanese manufacturers such as Orient that not only offer similar design, but are automatic. Not trying to belittle Maen or anything - I think they nailed it in the low end watch market - they actually were funded 3x over by 187 backers as of the time of this writing. I just feel that a better movement than the Ronda one should have been considered. Although the Ronda is a Swiss quartz it is one of the cheapest and mass produced Swiss quartz out there - you can find this movement on that costs less than $100!

Nevertheless, don't judge a watch mainly by its movement. The Manhattan is a sleek, elegant design that will go well for any formal occasion or even a casual day in the city.

Breitling SuperOcean 44 Special

One of the my favorite watch manufacturers known for creating Pilot's timepieces and rugged military watches recently released a new watch in their diver's lineup: The SuperOcean 44 Special. Now, Breiling's SuperOcean models have been around since 1957; next year will mark 60years so it was a surprise for Breitling to bring out a special edition a year before its 6 decade anniversary.

The watch is nothing new or 'special' from Breitling's current trend of offering a black steel edition for everyone of their designs. The 44mm case is a satin brushed black steel and it is fitted with a glossy ceramic unidirectional bezel. The watch also sports a new dial with over sized luminous markers with 13-24hr markings on each marker. The hands also features luminous properties and the seconds hand is accentuated at the tip with red.

At 9 o'clock is a helium escape valve along with the double gasket screw down crown allows the watch to go down to depths of up to 1000 meters. Inside ticks a COSC Breitling 17 movement (All Breitling models are as of this writing - something I fully support).

More information can be found on Breitling's website.

Micro Brand Watches - Rebel Time

THE STORY

Based in Brooklyn New York, Rebel Time started out as a passion project from the creator's desire to bring quality watches without 'mortgaging the house'. They promise to deliver quality watches through 'classic design principles' and 'modern tailoring from Swiss consultants'. Their watches are made in the same factories as Movado and Bulova and their straps are locally sourced in New York to support local vendors. Read more about their story here.

THE WATCHES

So far, Rebel Time has only four different designs to choose from. All of them flieger inspired chronograph watches.

Classic Chronograph

The Classic Chronograph priced at $249 is a modern interpretation of the military field watch. Which features a date between the 4-5 o'clock position, chronograph function and a brushed stainless steel case with a screw down caseback. The watch is powered by a Miyota 0S20 Quartz chronograph movement (same one in some of the Bulova chronographs). The watch is 44mm in diameter and is 12.48mm thick. It comes with a sapphire crystal and a black rubber strap, watch case, leather band and a strap changing tool is included. The watch also comes in another dial color:

Aviator Chronograph

The next in their lineup is the Aviator Chronograph. The specifications are exactly the same as the Classic Chronograph. It includes the same band and rubber strap and is also priced at $249.

It also comes in two color choices. Apart from the slightly different design inspired by olden time pilot watches the Aviator Chronograph is mechanically the same watch as the Classic Chronograph.

Aqualung Diver

Frankly, those first two watches were boring; two more fliegers in a field saturated with fliegers of the similar shape and design. Coming soon is a rugged diver with an automatic movement (Selitta sw200-1) and 300m of water resistance. Now this is a watch I am excited for!

The design is bold, rugged and definitely looks like something I see myself wearing to a lake, fishing or even just going outdoors. So far there are no price published yet and no ETA for this watch but I will be keeping my eye out for it! Check it out here (coming soon link).

Oh and one more thing. Rebel Time, if you are reading this it is DEPLOYANT not deployment. Rookie mistake guys.

Steinhart Ocean Titanium 500 GMT Premium

Steinhart, a brand we all know and (love?). Has just announced a new watch to their popular Diver watch series dubbed the Ocean Titanium 500 GMT premium.

I don't know about you but I get a bit nervous when a company feels they have to add the word 'premium' to the end of a name. You don't see Rolex coming out with Daytona 'Premium' the brand image should already imply that it is. Steinhart, fortunately is a brand that you definitely 'get what you pay for' with. Although Steinhart watches have been reported to be delivered to the customers defective, The company will follow through on any dissatisfied customers and if you want to play it safe, you can always order from Gnomon Watches which QCs their inventory before shipping - if you don't mind having your watch ship out of Singapore.

The design of the watch is no doubt reminiscent of the Rolex GMT Master II, a pilots watch.The Steinhart is not a replica; it is an homage of the Rolex with subtle differences all around. Some people are against homages (me personally) but I believe Rolex has set a benchmark for what a diver's watch should look like and as long as Steinhart doesn't make an absolute lookalike, I am fine with that.

On to the specs of the watch. Firstly there is a satin-finished titanium case that is super lightweight (as compared to a traditional Stainless Steel one) and inside ticking away is the ETA 2893-2 movement. A respectable movement found in many different watches. Repairs and maintenance should come by pretty easily and relatively easily. The bezel is a glossy ceramic blue/black bezel with luminous material and the domed sapphire crystal is double coated with Anti-Reflective coating. Giving it a vintage feel with modern anti scratch technology. Not only is lume present on the bezel, the dial and the hands also sport luminous material making legibility at night or while diving excellent. The lume they use is reported to be Super Luminova BGW 9 which has excellent luminous properties.

The watch is 42mm in diameter which is pretty standard for divers of the sort, it is 13mm in height and weights 80g. The watch is also water resistance to 50ATM (although Steinhart ambiguously uses the wording 'waterproof' on their website). Flip the watch onto it's face and you will be greeted with an open caseback.

To me, this image is extremely disappointing. I think the brass rotating wheel makes the watch look cheap. However, this is a trend with Steinhart; they love their clear casebacks. The caseback is a sapphire crystal that allows full view into the ETA-2893-2 movement that it houses. Steinhart really should have just stuck to a solid caseback in my opinion as there is nothing special going on back there.

Expect to pay 660 euros (tax included) for this watch on the Steinhart website.

Crowd Funded Watches: UNDIVE Watches - Rugged Divers

New and upcoming brand alert! Undive watches is set to release a Kickstarter campaign in August and the company is teasing a really rugged dive watch on their website reminiscent of the divers of yesteryear. 

Rugged, stainless steel case with a brushed (or DLC) bezel accented with a beautiful blue lume along with being automatic - priced around the $500-600 ($436 Early Bird through kickstarter) makes this piece tough competition to the other microbrand divers going around. The watch reminds me of a mix between the Luminor Submersible and the Submariner taking cues from the bezel and dial respectively. 

500m of water resistance along with a helium escape valve would definitely make this a suitable watch for air/saturation diving. The helium valve in my opinion really completes the 'rugged' divers watch look suitable even for the desk diver to wear.

Be sure to head over to their website and subscribe to their campaign notification! This watch would definitely be something I can see myself go diving with! This startup brand caught my attention and I can't wait to see what else comes out of their watchworks!