On Tuesday, May 30, Fin Watches will open a Kickstarter campaign for their first model, a delightfully old-fashioned number called The Spire. Prices are not yet final, but expect early bird rewards around $200 USD and an MSRP of about $400 USD.
The Spire is a trench watch design with a 41mm wide stinless steel case and wire lugs, much like a converted pocket watch although the lugs actually contain modern 18mm spring bars. Buyers may may choose brushed or polished steel, PVD gold and rose gold, or matte black.
The dial is brushed with a guilloche center and three indexes separated by beaded rings. An antique serif typeface enhances The Spire’s vintage style. Hours are Roman, while the others are Arabic, and the 24-hour index is italicized. A railroad track index surrounds the perimeter. Delicate blue skeleton hands span the dial, the fourth hand is red, as is the Fin. I have not seen it in person, but the renderings and photos look lovely.
Inside, a Ronda 515.24H quartz marks the time, but not in a manner you might expect. You see, that GMT hand isn’t used for a second time zone at all. Instead, it ties to a 24-hour countdown index terminating with the French word “Fin” as in “end,” or in this case, the end of one day and the start of the next. Is it useful? No, of course not. It’s just a different way of looking at things and a rather clever way of seamlessly incorporating the brand name onto the dial.
Speaking of curious timers, The Spire also bears a pulsometer scale. Common on old doctor’s watches, it allows you to calculate your (or your patient’s) heart rate. This may have more practical applications than the countdown index, but I like it primarily for its novelty.
The watch comes with two straps, an 18mm minimally stitched leather two-piece and a 20mm NATO. The wider NATO is a good call, as pass-through straps can sometimes betray the spring bars on wire-style lugs.
It is always tough to judge a watch on pictures alone, but The Spire by Fin looks quite promising. I’d encourage you to check it out yourself on Kickstarter. (I’ll update the post with a link when it goes live). Update 5/30/17 Here it is! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/finwatches/fin-watches-take-back-your-time
Photos courtesy of Fin
