Category Archives: Black Watch

Hampshire Watches

As someone born and brought up in Hampshire this is a phase I could not have ever imagined writing, but there are now at least two Hampshire based watch companies, Hamtun, from Southampton and Zero West actually from my birthplace, Emsworth.

The first of theses two companies to come to my notice was Hamtun a brand that started as a kickstarter project in 2015. I was honestly curious about the brand name which immediatly made me suspect a connection to the city of Southampton, 20 miles from the village I grew up in. For us Southampton was always the other city in Hampshire, but I still felt a connection. On investigating the brand I went on to discover that Hamtun was the name of the original settlement that grew into Southampton.

Hamtun was founded by two friends lead by co-founder and designer Ross Davis, the aim was to create the watches that they wanted to own but, as family men with normal jobs, could not afford. By cutting out all of the extra layers of bureaucracy and by working to sensible margins, they set out to make high quality watches.

Their first watch was the H1, a fairly classic looking dive watch in titanium. The 41 mm case houses the tried and trusted Seiko NH35a automatic movement.The H1 sold out very quickly. I still have not managed to get hold of one to review despite several attempts at trying to meet Ross at Waterloo station.

The H1 is no longer available, it has evolved into the Kraken H2. It has been joined by the Nanok which is Hamtun’s answer to a famous Swiss brand’s Day-Date at a significantly lower price point.

Then having established themselves Hamtun have recently launched a “value” brand Phantom, offering a regular diver style watch with a Seiko NH35a movement for a remarkable £262.80. ( an amusingly precise price point). For more news I recommend visiting the Hamtun website.

This brings me on to the revelation that after finding a watch company from my birth county one turns up in the town of my birth, the small coastal town of Emsworth founded by two friends in 2016.

Zero West work out of their converted boathouse, over looking the mill pond.The site itself providing inspiration for their watches. The boathouse was formerly owned by George Gray, a panelling expert from London who worked on Malcolm Campbell legendary Bluebird land-speed vehicles and the record breaking Railton Mobil Special, as well as creating the bodywork for the first Vanwall racing cars back in the 1950s. George’s talents also won him a contract to build Spitfire fuselages after the bombing of the factory in Southampton during World War Two, which he did at one of the many shadow factories set up along the south coast.

As well as the Longtitude model I reviewed (4/11/2018) The company currently offers a range of what can only be described as “Boy’s Own” watches principly drawing inspiration from 20th century British automotive and aviation history.

The majority of the watches are based on the unique Zero West 44mm case design housing either an ETA 2824 or Valjoux 7750 automatic movement.

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S2 Spitfire

Above is an example of the aircraft themed watches the Spitfire S2. This watch uses metal recovered from an actual Spitfire pulled out of Poole Harbour.

CR-1 Cafe Racer

The automotive styled models include two chronographs, the more traditionally styled CR-1 above and the “bulls head” style Landspeed, below. Both watches using Valjoux 7750 automatic movements.

Land Speed

Zero West’s watches range from £2200 to £3300 for the chronographs. Details of all the watches can be found at the Zerowest website.

These are the only two current Hampshire watch brands I have come across, I would love to discover more. In the meantime, despite being at different price points, as well as being from the same county these two companies are run by incredibly enthusiastic owners. Best of luck to both.

I am now starting to think of other British counties that are home to multiple watch brands. The first that springs to mind is Oxfordshire with Bremont and Pinion. I will get digging.

Schofield Daymark Dark

I was very happy, after a couple of not too subtle hints, to be offered my second Schofield watch to review, the Daymark Dark. Unfortunately due to a lack of communication the watch sat in reception of my office for a few days.

  • Daymark Dark – Day One

However, on opening the outer packaging the first impression you get of this watch is a lovely smell of wood from the beautifully detailed wooden box.

The Box

 

Once out of the box and onto my wrist I expected the overwhelming impression to be “black” given the distinctive 44mm Schofield case, instead the first feature that really stood out were the “pink” anodised hardhats filled with Super Luminova C3  that sparkle above the number indices. Not in a blingy way, just making themselves playfully noticeable on what would otherwise be a more muted dial. A detail that I would not have expected from Schofield. Unfortunately, my iPhone photographic skills are such that I was not able to get a picture that demonstrates this surprising feature.

The Schofield case design is worth mentioning again, as it has now become so recognisable that there is really no need for further branding, probably realising this Schofield make you search the dial very closely until you “Schofield” find printed on the bottom edge of the chapter ring.  Will they every make a watch with a different shaped case? There are still plenty of materials they have not used yet after all. Would a slightly smaller version work for female wrists ?

Schofield Branding

So, the Daymark Dark uses the same case dimensions as Schofield’s   Signalman and the other members of the Markers range. Although it has been made from one piece of vapour-blasted stainless steel, the shine and sheen of the Daymark’s case have been replaced by the a Black ceramic coating.  This ‘traditional matte’ coating  is in the lowest band of gloss that is possible to attain by modern standards. In terms of scratch resistance it is, again, right at one end of the spectrum as it clocks in at a 9H in the Pencil Hardness Test  which is the most scratch resistant that a coating can be rated. To give you an idea of the resistance, when sprayed continuously with water two and a half times as saline as seawater the ceramic coating was over ten times as resistant to corrosion as stainless steel.

As you would expect the Daymark Dark features the same tried and tested automatic movement as the first watch in the series, an ETA 2824, which is visible through the display case. Personally I am a huge fan of Schofield’s engraved case backs. Whilst it is interesting to see the automatic movement working, I feel it makes it look a little lost inside in the large case. I am sure Schofield would offer a solid caseback if requested.

Display Back

 

Another Schofield feature  present is the distinctive crown with  nail notch milled into the case with a deep groove running around the circumference. These two details make it easy to pull the crown out. This groove also indicates the ‘affordance’, the action required of the crown, teeth to show rotation and the groove to show pulling in and out.

I reserve my last comments for the 24mm strap, as we expect beautifully made and held to the watch head with screwed bars. Whilst these provide a secure attachment they are super fiddly to undo. Luckily I do not have any other 24mm straps in my draw so I was not tempted to try the Daymark on anything else.

The Daymark Dark, makes a really nice addition to the growing Schofield range and as with the other watches, there are of course many ways to make these already ready distinctive pieces even more personal.

I am really looking forward to seeing the what variants on this cas Schofield come up with in 2019, and if they stick with the core design.

 

 

 

 

£3,840.00

Elliot Brown – Military Watch

Many watch lover’s have a special attraction to military watches. I have posted recently about the “Dirty Dozen” and 6BB watches, both past and revived.

Holton – new military watch

Elliot Brown are now offering something slightly different a new watch designed together with the British military, not an old design refreshed or relaunched.

It’s the first military issued watch from a British company in over ten years and prior to being approved, was the subject of intense testing, surviving some of the most hostile conditions imaginable.

The Brief: capable of prolongued exposure to water and dust, durable, shock resistant, clear visibility day or night,  unidirectional timing bezel operable with a gloved hand, easy strap changes and comfortable strapping options that don’t break.

As a piece of equipment issued by the stores, the Holton has been assigned the NATO stock number 6645-99-303-0677: Time-measuring instruments; United Kingdom, and features the ‘Crow’s foot/Pusser’s Arrow/Broad Arrow‘ on the dial in subdued grey.

The watch will also be available for non-military wrists from £425. I have not seen a watch in the metal, but Elliot Brown do have a good reputation. I hope to get my hands on one soon. In the meantime you can get more detailed from the Elliot Brown website.

 

Vertex M100B – The Black One

After reviewing and enjoying the original Vertex M100 I was intrigued to experience the limited edition blacked out version.

M100B on rubber strap

I am sure I have read a comment from Don Cochrane of Vertex that this watch was how he imagined the dirty dozen watches might have evolved. The blacked out look making the watch even more appropriate for stealthy military operations. There is certainly no doubt that the black DLC coating does give a more modern look, especially on the superb, and subtly branded, rubber strap.

Aside from this particular watch I had been eyeing black cased watches for a time attracted by their purposeful modern. However whilst considering the merits of the M100B I realised that for me, black is not particularly new.

My previous black watches

So this brings me to my first observation, the DLC finish does actually look more stealthy. On the first morning of wearing the Vertex ,my usually attentive wife, did not notice the watch at all, when I bought it to her attention she said she had thought I was wearing the Swatch on the right in the picture above. Now for some of us that might like to keep our growing watch collections less evident, this could be a bonus feature.

Like the original watch this one comes packaged in a Peli case with three straps – however in place of the leather strap there is  a bespoke Vertex rubber two-piece strap. The two Vertex nylon NATO-straps this time are  in Red with black DLC metal parts and all Black.

M100B on red NATO

 

M100B on black NATO

The star strap has to be the new rubber one. It is super comfortable and very “elegant” exception to what I was used to expect from rubber straps. I especially like the very subtle branding. The Vertex arrow featuring on the top near to the lugs and as a grippy looking pattern on the underside.

Rubber strap detail

M100B rubber strap underside

Only 150 M100B timepieces will be produced and when I checked last week there are still some available at £2624.40. Unlike the M100 no referral is required.
The other specifications remain the same as the original. A 40mm case housing a ETA 7001 movement with a solid caseback.
 Then of course there is still the amazing lume….

 

That LUME

In conclusion this watch is a great compliment to the original with the advantage that you do not need a recommendation to buy one.

For more information and possibly to buy one visit the Vertex website.

Vertex M100B

Today I received more details of the second watch from the re-launched Vertex the all black M100B. I wrote briefly about this watch last week but lacked good quality images. Well here they are and looking pretty impressive.

M100B – photo Vertex

 

M100B + Red NATO photo Vertex

Blacked out watches are fashionable so one could be cynical and think Vertex are just following fashion but in their defence Don Cochrane has a credible explanation. The black case and rubber strap bring the M100B in line with the demands of a modern military
timepiece.
“I would like to think that, had the technology been available, the original W.W.W Cal59 made by Vertex
in WW2 would have been designed to be non-reflective. Creating the M100B has allowed us show just
how perfect that would have been and, we could not be more thrilled with the result “

As you might guess from the images above in addition to the rubber strap the watch comes with two NATO straps. The rubber strap lookes really nice in the photos, I am particularly happy to see the “easy-release” spring bars, making switching straps a breeze.

So most would agree the watch is cool, the good news is that it can be purchased , unlike the M100, without referral. The catch is there will only be 150 made, so hurry.

I am looking forward to getting to see one in the metal before they all go.

Vertex M100B specifications

• Custom ETA 7001 mechanical movement with rhodium finish and Cotes de Genève decoration
• In keeping with our previous Vertex movements, the ratchet wheel is engraved with Vertex
• Brushed steel DLC case, box crystal glass, waterproof to 100m
• Moulded Super-LumiNova™ dial
• Hand wound with 42-hour reserve
• Black dial with arabic numerals to maximise legibility, in homage to the Vertex W.W.W watch of 1944
• Packaged in a Peli case with three straps – a black rubber two-piece strap and two bespoke nylon NATOstyle
straps in Black and Red, all with black DLC hardware
• Price: £2,625 available via www.vertexblack.com

Vertex & Fears

In my waiting for the next review I have posted very little recently. So just to keep things rolling along a little I thought I should give a quick update on the latest news I have picked up.

The biggest story as far as I am concerned is the announcement on Friday of a second watch from the revived Vertex brand, the M100B. I guess the “B” standing for black as this watch is essentially the same watch as the original M100 but with a black case and a rubber strap.

The only picture I could find at the moment is this  “screen shot” from Instagram.

 

Vertex M100B

This watch will be limited to 150 pieces, as yet I am not sure of the requirements for getting hold of one. I hope to find out more once the official press release is published.

This launch co-incides with the first anniversary of the re-launched Vertex brand.

The other newsworthy event for me was the Pop- Up Fears Museum evening held at Picketts in Mayfair. This was a very enjoyable evening to which Nicholas Bowman-Scargill bought, as well his current range, also some examples of past Fears watches.

Some historical Fears watches

In the picture above you can see on the far right the watch that inspired the new Brunswick, which by all accounts is selling very well.

Some later examples of Fears

 

When I last met Nicholas he was very proud of the gold watch at the top of this collection – an inspiration for a future model ?

 

 

Patrolman – Police Watch

Watch companies are often looking for a new niche to exploit, something around which they can build their own brand mystic and hopefully a  cult following. The masters of this strategy through their military watches is Bremont. Now a small British brand has identified the potential of the law enforcement market. The brand “Patrolman” is launching on kickstarter.

This video explains the background.

The watch looks like a valid shot at what a regular law enforcement officer might be looking for in a watch for their work. An inexpensive, clear and robust quartz timepiece. Not costing the sort of money that jet pilots might want to invest.

They are offering the watch at £110 on Kickstarter versus an eventual retail price of £185.

Bamford Mayfair Watch

Bamford, the well known London based customisers of high end watches has for some time provided a “service watch” for their clients for use whilst their own watch is being worked on.

In two weeks they will make these watches available for sale.

Bamford Mayfair Range

The Bamford Mayfair range of watches are available in a number of combinations. From a choice in dial colour, bezel, coating and type of strap, you can choose a Bamford Mayfair to match your own taste.

The 40mm case will be made of military grade titanium. The movement will be a trusty Miyota calibre 2035.

For £425 you can look like you are having your Rolex customised.

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.

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Meerson Altitude Officier in Black on my wrist

This has been a momentous period in the life of Grinidgetime; my first watch to review that is not mine, all thanks to  Matthew Fletcher of Meerson Watches who organised a lone of an Altitude Officier in Black.

My first concern was to make sure should anything untoward happen my insurance would cover me, £9800 would make a substantial whole in my current finances – All OK.

Altitude Officier on my wrist

Altitude Officier on my wrist

Trying to put this value at the back of my mind I now had to try to think objectively about this watch. The first impression is “black” I realise that despite telling Matthew that this is my favourite of the Meerson range, I am currently not a great fan of black straps. My only explanation for this I can think of is that I am not wearing such formal clothing these days. If this was my watch, I would specify a brown strap, which I think would also be more in line with the idea of a field watch.  On “field watches” I am also a big fan of “nato-style” straps, thanks to the option to rinse the strap once they get a bit sweaty, this is not an option with the the unusual lugs on the Altitude Officier.  Having said all this the black case looks really great, this is an ADLC finish on titanium so super resistant.

The Black - Altitude Officier

The Black – Altitude Officier

Titanium explains the second sensation – lightness. On the wrist the sensation is almost like that of a Swatch,  you just do not notice it at all. This is probably helped by the way the watch sit on the wrist.

After these initial thoughts I then started to look more closely at the detail of this watches build and it is here the quality and attention to detail shows. If you look closely at the AM-4808-A movement you notice how careful the finish is when you compare it to more mass-market movements. The titanium case is lovely and smooth to touch. The raised “Breguet-style” numbers, each an individual work of art.

Then on this particular watch the really cool touch…

Prototype !!

Prototype !!

Yes, this watch is a prototype. I had one very impressed teenage son.

I wore the watch most of the time for almost two weeks, I only left it off in occasions in which I thought I might expose it to undue risk such as decorating at home or riding bicycle quickly over south London’s “pave” the later having proved pretty negative for several of my friends watches.

The impact of this watch on my office colleagues  – zero. No comment at all, but not many watches do provoke much comment. This does suggest this is a great “sleeper watch” passing unobserved by the general public, which for many of us is a very positive attribute, leaving its many particular features to be explained to any passing aficionados.

So accepting the premise that I would prefer a brown strap my overall conclusions about this watch is very positive. It is subtly great looking. It is really well made. It is exclusive and, probably what is the most important element for me, is I have met its creator, Alexandre Meerson, on a couple of occasions and I enjoy the way he thinks. This gives the watch meaning for me.

I have left out a lengthy technical explanations in this review. This is because Alexandre has gone to great lengths to ensure the specification is top notch, and I am confident that a Meerson buyer takes this for granted and buys into the authentic and Alexandre’s story.

However for those of you that are curious you can find a full technical description here : http://www.meerson.com/watches/altitude-officier-smallseconds-titanium-whitesilvered-101-oejw-101-OEJW.html