Micro-Adjustment
The most exciting developments in watches are happening on a small scale
It’s been a while since I wrote anything here about watches. If I’m honest, I’ve probably gotten a little bored with them. Well, not watches themselves. After all I wear one or another every single day and my rotation is embarrassingly large. But really, after 15 years writing about them, I struggle to find new interesting angles from which to approach them on the page. And I don’t want to just gush over a new variant, pull out my calipers, debate the value of one versus another, or wade in past my depth over a movement nuance. There are many writers more qualified than me to take on those topics.
The internet this past week was all abuzz over a new Omega Seamaster that Daniel Craig was spotted wearing at the Paris Olympics. It’s a Seamaster Diver 300 in what appears to be the familiar case, and with a textured wave dial like we’ve seen, but in black. The big news? It doesn’t have a date! Judging by the response on Instagram and beyond, I guess this qualifies as groundbreaking. Watch enthusiasts are, after all, pedants and like to focus on the details. So maybe I’m the odd man out in yawning over the retired 007’s product placement choice. Is it a cool watch? Sure. I love a good Seamaster. In fact I’ve owned a few and still have a classic ref. 2254 with the Ministry of Defence dial markings and sword hands. But these days it takes a little more to get my excited about a watch, and this year has been better than most.
That said, the past few weeks have seen a few new watches cross my desk. Most will become fodder for future projects, both commercial and editorial, so I won’t get into the weeds on details here. But all of them occupy a mid-range price level (at, or less than, around $2,000) that is a highly competitive category, and having spent a lot of time over the years handling watches both well below, and well above this range, it’s made me think about the narrowing gap between the big players and the scrappy contenders. Most of what is exciting in watches these days seems to be coming from the bottom up.
Years ago, in my fledgling watch days surfing the online forums, I naively penned a post for WatchUSeek boldly proclaiming that there was little difference between my Seiko SKX007 and my (now departed) Omega Planet Ocean. Both could go deep, time a dive, had in-house movements, good lume, long rubber straps, and so on. Well, needless to say, I got shredded in the comments on that one. I clearly missed the boat on all that makes an Omega an Omega—finishing, accuracy, legacy, prestige, and technology. I retreated with my tail between my legs. But now, I think I could more confidently make the case that lower priced watches come within a hairspring’s breadth of equaling the big boys.
Case in point: the Christopher Ward Super Compressor I am wearing right now. It is a meticulously re-engineered “super compressor” style watch, with a spring-loaded caseback that gets more watertight as pressure increases. You can even see the signature mechanism through a lovely clear caseback. The case itself is a study in brushwork and polished bevels, beautiful detailing on the twin crowns, and a shimmering multicolor dial sporting a decompression scale for avoiding the bends. The steel bracelet, while utilizing the maddening pin-and-collar fitments, has a clever micro-adjust mechanism and a very comfortable brushed clasp. Oh, and the movement, while not in-house (I’m not one to give two hoots), is a chronometer, and came packaged with its official certificate stating its accuracy. This is an $1,800 watch. Now that’s not cheap by any means. But to me, it feels fully worth that when lined up next to a lot of others that cost a fair bit more.
Remember when so-called “micro-brands” came on the scene? You could tell one was a sub-$1,000 watch with your eyes closed, simply by manipulating the crown or spinning the bezel. They were rough, scratchy, and imprecise. Their case finishing lacked any refinement or really any care at all, and the movements were scarcely more precise than a sun dial. Times have changed. I’m not plugged into the supply chain enough to know how things have improved so much in 10 to 15 years, but whatever the reasons, we’re all more fortunate for it. Spoiled for choice, with brands like tiny Lorier and Autodromo, on up to Christopher Ward ready to make us feel we got our money’s worth and didn’t spend a fortune.
The Elliot Brown Holton GMT (see main image) I got at Windup Chicago last month is another good example. I have a really hard time finding a single fault with this watch. Sure its case is a slab of matte steel and the dial is a simple printed affair. But this isn’t a watch marketed as a luxury timepiece or example of haute horlogerie. It was devised in response to a set of demands from the UK’s Special Boat Service and it feels it. Details like the hobnail bezel grip that can be satisfyingly turned from the top with the palm of your hand (try that with your fancy Seamaster, 007), and the solid screwed strap bars, and the broadarrow GMT hand that cleverly lines up behind the sword hour hand when they overlap all point to a thoughtful design that is well executed. Elliot Brown doesn’t hide the fact that this watch is entirely assembled in the Far East. But for less than $900, I don’t care. It outperforms a lot of Swiss watches I’ve had. It’s time to rethink our bias about Asian-made watches. I remember as a kid when “Made in Japan” on the back of a radio or other electronics meant it was poorly made. See how that went.
And finally, I’ve got a couple of Marathons in for a diving photo shoot. Like the Elliot Brown in their singular purpose, these are function-first watches, a trait I find so lacking as you move up the horological food chain, when “features” are more like “talking points” than anything designed for actual use. Name a better dive bezel in the world than a Marathon SAR. I bet you can’t. The side profile on these is comically tall, like a little castle turret on the wrist. Designed for Canadian Coast Guard rescue swimmers and divers to grip with the thick gloves needed for Arctic waters, Marathon didn’t seem to care that the (aptly named) Jumbo Day-Date SAR is 18 millimeters tall. You can look down your patrician nose at that hefty dimension but when you get pushed out of a Sea King chopper into a churning icy sea you’ll wish you had this watch on your wrist instead of your dainty luxe diver.
You know my predilections by now—function first, and purpose-built. This doesn’t mean a lack of quality or attention to detail. It’s just that the important details are different, value being one of them. I think as the high end watches get more in-house, more elite, more expensive, we’re seeing a rise of the smaller players, to fill that price category the luxury houses—sorry—maisons—have vacated. It isn’t a new trend, but now that we’re seeing the higher levels of quality in these smaller brands’ watches, if I were a Swatch Group Richemont, or even Seiko executive, I’d start looking in my rear-view mirror. They’re coming for you. And I’m right there cheering them on. Because this is a trend in watches I can get excited about.
Does a NIKE perform better than an ADDIDAS? You don’t have to play the game to enjoy wearing the name. Dad.
…I still want a fifty fathoms though!