Monthly Archives: August 2017

Bronze watch on the beach

If you have been reading some of my previous posts or maybe seen my Instagram stream, you will know I have a Bronze Pinion Axis Pure LE for which I been giving updates on the development of the famous “bronze patina”.

Anyway slowly slowly the case of my watch  has been getting darker and I have been quiet pleased with the result.

Axis Pure – before my holiday

Having read about and seen the drastic effect contact with sea water can have with bronze , some examples I have seen such as some bronze Panerais or the Oris diver of which have gone pretty extreme. I was interested and slightly concerned how my watch would react to my two weeks in Sicily.

Before I show you the effects of seawater I must say the Axis Pure with a couple of Nato straps works out as a pretty good holiday watch. It is water resistant to at least 100m which avoids worrying about swimming. It is tough and any knocks it might take can only enhance its “lived in” look. Finally you don’t have that worry of it attracting the undesirable attention, some more famous Swiss brands get, from street criminals. With the bronze version you get the added interest of how the case will react to different environments like the chlorine of the swimming pool to salt water of the sea.

The conclusion is chlorine seems to have the effect of slightly brightening the metal whilst the sea is the most fun.

Pinion Axis Bronze + Sea water

The photos above and below where taken after the watch had been in the sea for an hour.

Pinion Axis Bronze + Sea water

My first thoughts were “wow, that looks pretty cool” quickly moved on to “will that come off?” Now I was pretty confident there are ways to bring the watch back to its original finish but I did not want to return to the “as new look` – fortunately with a bit of a rub you can bring the watch back to whatever level of patina you like.

My next experiment will be to leave the watch a little longer before taking it back to normal.

Pinion still have a few of the Bronze watches left and they are now available a special price here

https://pinionwatches.com/product/axis-pure-bronze/

Kickstarter Watches

After closely watching the launch of the Hamtun H1 diver’s watch  and the Marloe Cherwell on Kickstarter I had a little browse to see if any other interesting British newcomers are on the horizon.

I have come across two new very nice looking and reasonably priced projects both interestingly using the tried and trusted Seiko NH35A movement.

The first being the 44mm TC9-9 Divers seventies style divers watch.

TC-9 Diver

This watch will be available in  brushed stainless steel or black PVD with Super Lume paint on hands and dial . An aluminium bezel insert with 12 hour markers or minute markers.  As you might expect for a diver’s watch  water resistance is quoted at 1000 feet.

There is at the time of writing the opportunity to get this watch with a pledge of £179 or more on Kickstarter.

The second watch is from London based Alkin, who I have to admit to finding our about from them giving me several likes on my Instagram page.

Alkin Model One

This Kickstarter project has not yet gone live, so if you are interested you should sign-up to receive a notification for when they launch.

From what I can glean form the various social media postings this handsome minimalist watch should feature a 42mm 316L stainless steel case in plain brushed steel or Black PVD, sapphire crystal, an exhibition case back and 100 metre water resistance. The initial Kickstarter price should be $225.