The Frisland Classic is the latest new piece from Iceland-based JS Watch. What I think is generally amusing about the brand is that the traditional style of their watches casts a personality on the small company that doesn’t precisely communicate who they are. Youthful, stylish, and full of a lot of character the people who run JS Watch produce these watches as hip traditional timepieces rather being stuffy and conservative themselves.

Knowing that helps understand their collection as well as the them begin watches such as the Frisland Classic and the earlier Islandus 44mm that we did an aBlogtoWatch review of here. With classic, handsome proportions the Frisland Classic is a bit smaller at 42mm wide in a highly polished steel case. At 12mm thick it isn’t an ultra-thin watch but should rather wear “substantially” without feeling too thick. Love for this watch is going to be all about the dial. JS Watch adopted a lot of elements from tradition pocket watches in the design. In fact, it looks rather Germanic if I didn’t know better.

The dial makes use of elegant serif Roman numeral hour markers with smaller Arabic numeral minute markers under them. It makes for an interesting and legible design that mixes classy looks with the soul of a tool watch. In a sense this is a retro-tool watch dial design. Blue and red make cameo appearances in a unique way that you don’t often seen on timepieces of this style. The hands are all flame blued, which isn’t that uncommon, but the minute markers at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock are as well. Red is used for the numerals in the date window. I further like that the symmetrically-placed date at 6 o’clock does no disrupt the hour makers at all.

Inside the JS Watch Frisland Classic is a Swiss Soprod A-10 automatic movement. This movement is used by a lot of boutique watch makers (Sarpaneva for example) and is generally quite good. JS Watch claims to use their “Top Execution” A-10 movements that are more decorate, have blued steel screws, and often Chronometer-grade in regard to accuracy. The movement is visible through a sapphire crystal caseback window. Attached to the watch is a fine ostrich leather strap that in my experience is pretty comfortable. On the pricey side the JS Watch Frisland Classic retails for 1,968 Euros (but should be less if ordering outside of Europe due to the lack of VAT tax). It is an attractive piece from a rather niche brand. If you hold Iceland or the city Reykjavik close to your heart there aren’t too many other options for your wrist. jswatch.com

Technical specifications from JS Watch

Movement:
Swiss Made Mechanical movement Soprod A10-2 “Execution Top”
Automatic winding 25 jewels
Custom decorations Blue screws and Rhodium plated finish
42-hour power reserve when fully wound
Fine tuning “Assortment Chronometer”
Shock protection Incabloc
Adjusted to five positions

Case Material:
Surgical grade German Stainless Steel “316L”
Diameter: 42mm
Height 12mm

Surface finish:
Highly polished
Curved Sapphire Crystal with multi anti-reflective coating on the inside
See-through Sapphire Crystal back
Water-resistance 50 meters

Dial:
Antique silver dial with Roman numerals and indexes
Date display at six o’clock

Hands:
Traditional Flame Blued hands in Lancette style

Strap:
Handmade 20mm Genuine Ostrich leg