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Haim Watch Company Unveils The Legacy – A Go Anywhere, Do Anything Chronograph With Midcentury Style And A Classic Movement
Among watch enthusiasts, few things can generate as much excitement as a vintage mechanical chronograph. With a sporty aesthetic, useful functionality, and a visceral tactile connection with the movement within every time the pushers are activated, classic chronographs were a staple for everyone from doctors and pilots to racing drivers and astronauts. Young Chicago based Haim Watch Company brings this classic chronograph look and feel into the modern age with the Haim Legacy, blending classic sports chronograph aesthetics and a legendary movement with thoroughly modern features and finishing to create a capable timepiece for all occasions.
The 316L stainless steel case of the Haim Legacy is handsome and classically compact at 39.5mm in diameter, with stylish cues evoking the great chronographs of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The rounded polished bezel, broad athletic lugs, and aggressive crown guards all harken back to classic vintage chronograph models, but the piston style pushers deliver perhaps the boldest visual statement. Oversized and brightly polished, these pushers immediately draw the wearer to engage with the column-wheel chronograph movement within, creating a crisp physical link between man and machine. While the design is pure classic sports watch, the case construction is designed to meet every modern challenge head-on. Gone are the mineral glass and acrylic crystals of yesteryear, with the Haim Legacy opting for a highly scratch-resistant sapphire crystal featuring an anti-reflective coating to cut down on irritating glare. While water resistance is a traditional weak point for chronograph designs, the Haim Legacy offers a robust 100 meters of water resistance ready to tackle everything from a light rain to swimming.
Haim offers two distinctive colorways for the dial of the Legacy. The first is Sky Panda, a unique riff on the classic panda dial format combining navy blue subdials and accents with an icy blue sunburst main dial. For those interested in a darker tone, the Reverse Hunter variant blends clean light gray subdials and accents with a rich forest green sunburst main dial. Both the Sky Panda and Reverse Hunter follow the same classically handsome two-register dial layout, designed to cleanly integrate as much useful information as possible for the wearer. This is accomplished through the use of three concentric rings surrounding the dial, starting with the tall and elementally simple tachymeter rehaut for tracking the wearer’s speed over a given distance. Inside this is a broad pulsations scale, offering wearers a scale for measuring potentially lifesaving vital functions like heart rate. Lastly, the inner ring features a handsome and airy railroad seconds track for general timekeeping. For the main dial itself, the layout is suitably sporty and classic, with enough idiosyncratic flair to set it well apart from the pack. The brightly faceted applied baton indices are paired with sporty pointed paddle hands, while the markers at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock receive special attention with modernist printed numerals to orient the dial at a glance. The running seconds and 30-minute chronograph subdials at 9 o’clock and three o’clock add a splash of visual depth to the dial, sitting in a recessed bowl below the level of the main dial surface for added contrast.
The Seagull ST1901 hand-wound chronograph movement inside the Haim Legacy is one of the centerpieces of the entire design. The ST1901 is the direct successor of the legendary Venus 175 chronograph movement, made with the same specifications and tooling as the movement behind so many chronograph legends. Like its forebear, the ST1901 features a column wheel actuation system, prized among chronograph enthusiasts for providing an accurate and satisfying pusher feel on stopping, starting, and resetting the complication. While the design may be classical, the ST1901 delivers modern performance with a 42-hour power reserve at a 21,600 bph beat rate.
To finish off this timeless design, Haim pairs the legacy with an intricate beads-of-rice style bracelet in 316L stainless steel. With a style that emulates the classic chronographs of the ‘60s, this beads-of-rice bracelet offers a dynamic interplay between brushed and polished surfaces that comes alive in changing light conditions. To ensure maximum security and comfort, this classically styled bracelet is equipped with a security clasp and four levels of micro-adjustment.
With the Legacy, Haim brings the timeless look and feel of midcentury sports chronographs into the current watch market at a surprisingly affordable price. Only 150 examples of the Haim Legacy will be made in each colorway, and this limited-edition design is available to order now through Haim’s website at $499. aBlogtoWatch readers can save $50 on their purchase price by entering the code “ABTW50” at checkout before December 25, 2020. For more details, please visit Haim’s website.
The Farr + Swit Wayfinder Evokes The Adventure Of Aerial Navigation
When charting a course for an aircraft through dangerous terrain or open water, accurate timekeeping can be the difference between safe navigation and death. Young Chicago based watchmaker Farr + Swit aims to create the perfect sports timepiece for this treacherous environment, one legible and accurate enough to guide pilots safely through difficult scenarios, but durable and stylish enough for everyday wear. The result is the all-new Farr + Swit Wayfinder series, blending the most useful elements of pilot watches and dive watches to create an all-weather sporting timepiece with a charismatic outdoorsy design hand-assembled in the US.
The 42mm stainless steel case of the Farr + Swit Wayfinder is designed for maximum all-purpose sporting durability with a classic sports watch feel. The wide-set tapering lugs and bold monolithic crown guards give the case a timelessly athletic look, but the diver style rotating bezel is cleanly modern and minimal in its execution. From the partial coin edge for grip to the simple dot indices on the navy blue insert, this bezel is as handsome as it is functional. To ensure these sporting cues aren’t just for show, the case of the Wayfinder is built with a water resistance of 100 meters.
Farr + Swit offers the Wayfinder with two adventurous dial colorways. The white dial variant fitted to quartz models is deceptively simple, combining cool white, midnight blue, and vibrant signal orange for a playful and bold look. In the dark, however, the true complexity of this dial reveals itself, with four unique colors of lume lighting the full dial surface in an intricate map-inspired pattern. The limited-edition automatic variant opts instead for a cool blue approach, with shades of navy and sky blue accented by steel gray. Both dial options, however, follow the same clean sporty pattern, with rectangular indices and broad sword hands flanked by futuristic, angular Arabic numerals. What immediately catches the eye, however, is the pattern on the main dial surface. Designed by noted artist Alex Asfour to emulate topographical maps used in aerial navigation, this intricate pattern of lines becomes a dramatic reminder of the Wayfinder’s capability on the wrist.
The Farr + Swit Wayfinder is available with either the Seiko VH31 hybrid quartz movement or the dependable Swiss Sellita SW200 automatic movement. The VH31 offers wearers the reliability, accuracy, and affordability of a standard quartz movement, packaged together with the smooth seconds hand sweep of a traditional mechanical powerplant. For automatic buyers, the SW200 is a tried and true workhorse movement with a solid 38-hour power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate.
Farr + Swit offers preorder customers a pair of ruggedly handsome straps with the Wayfinder line. The first is a navy blue NATO strap in comfortable parachute elastic, combining military-grade toughness with a stretchy comfortable feel. For a more refined look, a navy blue leather NATO strap by Barton will also be included.
With durable construction, reliable accuracy, and a colorful sporting design, the Farr + Swit Wayfinder is made to help you navigate through all of life’s obstacles. Both the quartz and automatic versions of the Farr + Swit Wayfinder are available for preorder now on the brand’s website, with the quartz model priced at $399 and the limited edition automatic variant carrying an MSRP of $559. Preorder customers for either model receive $100 off the final sale price. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
Tsao Baltimore Unveils The Limited Edition Legacy – An Heirloom Worthy Tribute To The City Of Baltimore
When Alan Tsao, founder of boutique American watchmaker Tsao Baltimore, learned he was going to become a father, his mind immediately turned to the question of what he would someday pass on to his child. Tsao wanted to create something worthy of being passed on to the next generation, that would combine Tsao Baltimore’s passion for quality and watchmaking with the indomitable spirit of the city that gave the company its name. The limited-edition Tsao Baltimore Legacy is that heirloom-worthy timepiece, integrating an aggressive super compressor design with subtle and loving visual tributes to the historic city of Baltimore.
The 40mm case of the Tsao Baltimore Legacy takes on an angular, modernist take on the super compressor dive watch formula. Available in either stainless steel or bronze, this case combines distinctive dual crowns at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock with a razor-sharp tonneau case design. The industrial brushed finishing emphasizes the sharp lines of the design, while the raised external bezel gives the case a bold visual presence on the wrist. In keeping with the super compressor dive watch look, the Tsao Baltimore Legacy offers a dive-ready 200 meters of water resistance.
Tsao Baltimore offers the sandwich dial of the Legacy in four dramatic colorways inspired by the history and feel of Baltimore itself. Each dial option combines a tall bidirectional internal rotating bezel with deep cutouts for the mix of lumed Arabic numerals and indices, along with classic pilot watch style hands and a heavily textured degradè dial finish. From here, each of the four colors imbues the dial design with its own sense of character. The gray dial is undoubtedly the most classical and sporty, but both the rich sapphire blue and emerald green dial options give the design a vibrance and eye-catching allure. Undoubtedly the standout of the four, however, is the Raven dial option. Named both for the Baltimore Ravens football team and the work of the city’s most famous literary resident, Edgar Allan Poe, the Raven dial brings a richly textured royal purple hue that fades darkly into black, emulating the distinctive sheen of raven feathers.
The Tsao Baltimore Legacy can be equipped with both the classic Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement and the Soprod C125 automatic GMT movement. For the three-hand SW200-1, Tsao Legacy regulates the movement for greater accuracy, maintaining the 38-hour power reserve and smooth 28,800 bph beat rate. The Soprod C125 movement, on the other hand, adds second time zone tracking for easy traveling along with a solid 42-hour power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate.
To complete the look of the Tsao Baltimore Legacy, the brand offers unique strap options for both stainless steel and bronze models. Stainless steel variants are paired with an in house designed solid steel bracelet with quick release spring bars and a diver extension. For bronze models, Tsao Baltimore instead opts for a handsome Horween leather strap in a warm camel brown.
With the Legacy, Tsao Baltimore has created a truly one of a kind design with dramatic finishing and a touch of Baltimore spirit. Only 75 examples of each dial color will be made in stainless steel and 75 examples in bronze with Sellita movements, with 25 examples of each dial color in stainless steel and 25 of each in bronze for GMT variants. Preorders for the limited edition Tsao Baltimore Legacy begin in February 2021, with a starting price of $650. For more details, please visit the brand’s website.
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