Review and photos by Mike Razak
“How many Basels do I need to wait through until I find my perfect watch? Either I wait forever or make one myself. So, I decided to make my own brand.” And thus was founded Soldat Watch, a new brand out of Jakarta founded by frustrated lifetime collector Jesse Prawiro. Taking inspiration from the vintage racing chronographs of the 1960s and 1970s—in particular, the Heuer 1153—Soldat presents the Promessa, a surprisingly wearable Japanese-made watch featuring the Seiko NE88 chronograph movement.
The Soldat Promessa is not a small watch—but very few automatic chronographs are. The Seiko NE88 is, in fact, thinner than the industry standard ETA/Valjoux 7750, and the tonneau case of the Promessa is just 14mm thick, with a diameter of 42mm and a lug-to-lug of 50mm. But the heft remains, and were it not for the case’s gentle curvature and some other excellent design choices, it would be an issue.
If you look at the Heuer 1153, the midcase is quite thin, leaving a protruding caseback. Instead, the Soldat Promessa has thickened the case to swallow that depth. While it gives a thicker profile, the watch has a graceful curve that allows it to hug the wrist nicely.
Drilled 20mm lugs make swaps a snap. One nice additional touch is a bit hidden: to allow for all sorts of straps on the short lugs, they’ve cut under the case, providing extra clearance.
The Promessa is brushed throughout, save for the ends of the push-pull crown and pushers and the beveled portion of the bezel. I especially like the brushed finish on the crown’s grooves and the shafts of the pushers. The split finish is mirrored on the bezel, which has a short, brushed portion before beveling to a polish and surrounding a delightfully flat sapphire crystal.
Looking through the crystal—easily, at any angle, thanks to it being flat—there is a dial with lots of texture, layers, and color. The Soldat Promessa comes in green, red, and blue dial options. The main dial is a sunburst finish and richly colored, with the Soldat name and logo (which looks conspicuously like the ‘Stussy S’ I used to draw in middle school) at 12 o’clock.
At 3 and 9 are sunken, radially-grooved, pie pan subdials. That sounds like a lot—it’s basically all you can do to a subdial—but it works extremely well here. The chronograph hands are all yellow, a nice pop that is matched by the 6 o’clock register and tachymeter text.
You’ll note the date at 6 o’clock. It’s one of the points of pride with the watch—in addition to all-Japanese manufacturing. 4:30 dates are terrible, and the brand decided to cut out the window from the 9 o’clock 24-hour counter.
If the 9 o’clock sub looked like the others, this would be hideous. But instead, the register is printed on the green dial itself, so the disruption that might have been caused is minimized. Note too, the metallic quality of the date wheel—it’s deep beneath the dial, but the luster helps it read as it reflects light.
Another favorite feature of mine is the tachymeter ring (what a boring, watch nerd sentence). Matched to the dial color and raised considerably off the dial, the tachy ring adds great depth to an already multifaceted dial.
Finishing out the dial are polished sword hands and applied hour markers, which are lumed with Swiss Super-LumiNova. The lume is bright enough and easy to read, though not perfectly even between hands and markers–it could be improved, but it’s not a dealbreaker (how often are you timing in the dark?).
A simple brand engraving graces the screw-down caseback, along with some text around the outside (including the 50m water resistance indication). Underneath lay the Seiko NE88. Released several years ago, this watch has all the neato-keen features you want in a chronograph, including a column wheel mechanism that makes operation smooth.
For whatever reason, this still remains a bit of a rare movement. Yema and Vostok have used them recently, but I think consumers still prefer a Swiss movement, even if they can’t explain why. Seiko’s QC and ability and willingness to engage and work with brands is well known. I hope to see more of this movement in the future.
As mentioned above, the 20mm lugs accommodate a wide variety of straps thanks to the hidden undercut. By way of example, I put on my Mercer brown leather and a single-pass from Cincinnati Watch Co. Simply due to the thickness, I’d steer clear of standard NATOs, as they would lift the watch too high off the wrist.
The stock racing strap coordinates with the dial: high-quality green leather with yellow thread and yellow backing leather. The red dial comes with a red/white NATO, while the blue dial has a similarly matched leather strap. While the leather on the keepers seems a bit thin, the quality is tops with no break-in period and a feeling of sturdiness. To cap everything off, the custom buckle has a very streamline moderne vibe to it, and I want to steal it.
The Soldat Promessa brings some freshness to the realm of NE88 watches. Thus far, it’s been equipped in reissues and entry-level brands, and mostly with some over-the-top or underwhelming design. I think The Promessa delivers not just a good option in the NE88 family of watches, but for any automatic chronograph. The only concern I would have is with smaller wrists. While it worked well on my 7-inch wrist, anything smaller would be a challenge.
The vintage racing vibe, the bright colors, the dial details—it all adds up to a great watch. At $1,250, the Promessa is priced right where it should be and well within the range of its competitors. If you’re interested, head over to the Soldat website for more details or to buy your own. Update: After we published this review, we reached out to Soldat coordinate the return of the Promessa. They let us know that they’d like to offer readers a 15% discount code to be used on their site. So now you’ve got even more reason to grab one! Just enter “TimeBum2021” at checkout and the discount will be applied. ⬩
