Rossling & Co. has always known its market. From the very beginning, this Canadian team has produced conservative, contemporary, small to mid-sized dress watches, each at a Bum-friendly price. Their fourth release, the Metropolitan Automatic, is yet another elegant and tastefully restrained timepiece, this time featuring 1960’s vintage design cues and a Miyota 90 series movement with an open-heart option.
Like Rossling’s Classic Automatic, the Metropolitan’s polished stainless steel case is 40mm wide with vertical sides and slender, angled lugs set 20mm apart and drilled through for easy strap changes. The watch is just the right size to provide contemporary wrist presence, while still sufficiently modest for more formal wear. Case height is just under 12mm, which is a touch meaty for a dress watch but should be slim enough to fit under your shirt sleeve. It features a screw down display case back and broad, flat crown, both sealed for 50m water resistance. The strap is black crocodile embossed leather with a signed buckle.
Perhaps the most striking feature on the Metropolitan is the beautiful, sapphire coated, double-domed crystal rising high above the case. Regular readers know the Bum likes big domes (So find that juicy double, The Bum’s in trouble, beggin’ for a piece of that bubble), and this one delivers the retro look I relish. Beneath it resides a black, white, or luxuriant sunray blue dial. Applied polished stick markers, loop-tailed second hand, and long, bevelled feuille hands are an exercise in simple elegance. The only text on the dial is the brand name and “automatic” at the top.
The next feature is yours to decide and completely changes the character of the watch. If you prize discretion, you will likely opt for the Miyota 9015 movement with a 6 o’clock date window. On the other hand, if you are more of a dandy and want to show off a bit, the 90S5 is the way to go so you can display the skeletonized movement through a porthole in the lower half of the dial. Both units share the same key specifications: 24 jewels, a smooth 28.8k bph vibration rate, hacking and hand winding capability, and a power reserve of over 42 hours. The novel twist is that to display its “heart” in the lower center of the dial the 90S5 had to be mounted slightly askew in the case, placing the crown between 3 and 4 o’clock. It is an unorthodox position, but then again, isn’t that the point? I like its quirkiness.
Early bird pre-orders started at just $349 and quickly sold out, but as of today, you can still grab one for $379. Full retail will be $500. Given Rossling & Co.’s past successes, I expect no less from this project. For more information or to order your own, visit the Rossling & Co. website or Kickstarter page.
Pictures complements of Rossling & Co.
