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.
