Very rarely do I get to review a watch that is actually a remake of another watch the brand made just a few years earlier – that I also reviewed. This Marvin Malton 160 Rectangular Flying Hour watch (ref. M024.14.41.64) is a follow-up piece to the brand’s previous Marvin M014 watch that I reviewed here. In addition to a new case design, the new Malton 160 (to be honest I still don’t understand what the “Malton 160” name in new Marvin watches means) Rectangular Flying Hour piece improves on two important areas over the original.
From a design standpoint the Marvin Flying Hour (as I will refer to it) is a very unorthodox looking watch. The case combined with the dial design is less than typical, and the way of telling the time takes some getting used to. This is actually interesting to me as much of what the brand does these days represents cool designs based around very standard layouts. It takes come getting used to, but this watch does have a lot of charm.
In polished steel, the case is 35mm wide by 50mm tall. It does not feel small due to the length of the case. More refined and interesting compared to the M014, the case has well-done edges and the sides are much more interesting than the previous model. In addition to polished surfaces the sides also feature some sandblasted surfaces for a cool effect. The caseback of the watch is curved a bit for wearing comfort and the entire thing is water resistant to 50 meters.
Over the dial is an AR coated sapphire crystal. Though due to its curvature it does get some glare. Much of the watch face is black-coated perlage which makes for a nice background. If you checked out the link above you’ll see that the Marvin M014 I reviewed also had a perlage dial. The idea in a sense is to replicate the the look of gauges on old planes and automobiles.
On the Marvin Flying Hour the dial indicators are larger compared to the previous model – they also look more like actual instrument gauges. Reading the time is simple once you get the idea in your mind. The top gauge shows the hours and minutes. Hours are told on a moving disc with a red arrow pointing to the time, while minutes are told via a hand. In the right light the hands are legible, but I would have liked to see hands that contrast better with the dials. This is hard to plan for because the design phase is all computer driven and it is hard to see how finishes and materials work together in real life. Really, only brands that have in-house production can effectively prototype in any time-effective manner. As it is a larger dauphine style hand, the minute hand is much easier to read than the seconds hand which is on the lower dial. No lume on this puppy.
If you recall from the M014, one issue with it was that it had two crowns. Only one of the crowns actually did anything. Marvin felt (and I agree) that from a design standpoint the watch looked better with two crowns. That was because the placement of the movement required that the crown be placed near the top. So Marvin added a second non-functioning crown to balance out the design. Still, it essentially had a faux-crown. On the Marvin Flying Hour however that isn’t the case. Both crowns actually do something. The top one is used to adjust the hour and minutes, while the lower one is used to stop and start the seconds.
This is all done by having the watch incorporate two distinct movements. Those being Swiss quartz Ronda 753 and 751 calibers. Their independence makes it possible to adjust the seconds separately from the hour and minute. Interesting idea, I know. It does seem to work for the theme that Marvin is going for.
Attached to the watch is a really nice thickly padded calf leather strap with contrast stitching. The inner lining is that cool Marvin red. Thanks for the strap and case design I must admit that this is a pretty comfortable watch to wear. Reading it takes some practice, but isn’t very difficult. It works really well if you want a sober looking slick design that is still highly abnormal. Price is $1,020 and it is available online via their website here.
