Waldan Heritage

Waldan is an interesting brand. Established in 1979 in New York City by Polish watchmaker Oscar Waldan, the eponymous brand for years produced rather high-end timepieces that could be found at establishments such as Tiffany & Co. After a 15 year hiatus, Waldan returned in 2016 under the guidance of the founder’s son, Andrew, and continues to make watches for the luxury market, with a “Classics” line of five models in gold cases starting at $8,000. More recently, the brand has sought to capture the other end of the market with their Heritage line.

The newer models see the younger Waldan reposition the company for broader appeal and accessibility. Coming in two dial designs (Professional and Sportline), the new Heritage family lets the brand accomplish its goal of offering a watch that is as American as possible. And with that, they’ve chosen to use a quartz movement from AmeriQuartz–this is the first watch I’ve had with such a movement, and I looked forward to trying them out, if only to say that I did (on the wrist, a quartz is a quartz is a quartz).

The two Waldan Heritage models are presented in an identical case and differ only in their dial and handset. The Professional, on the left, features applied Arabic numerals, leaf hands, and a raised chapter ring against a solid center dial; it’s available in four colorways. The Sportline features a pressed “linear style” dial with applied hour markers and baton hands; it’s available in black or white, with a matching textured strap.

I took more to the green Professional dial than the white Sportline–and prefer the Professional models in general. The cases are identical, though, and wear well on the wrist. The top-down view lets you enjoy the stepped, rounded bezel and the brushed lug tops. Telling the time is easy on both models, but more so on the Professional, which I’ll discuss more in a bit.

This case is pure Art Deco goodness. While the finishing could be sharper (the edges are a bit soft, the push-pull crown engraving is underwhelming), the brushing on the lug tops and the multiple sections, especially on the lugs, make it a real pleasure to look at. Have you ever seen someone who almost has a six pack? They just need to add another day or two at the gym each week and then they’ll get there? That’s kind of how I feel about this case: the design is great, but it lacks the definition for which it’s striving.

Coming over to the other side, I want to point out the shaping of the lugs, because I think it’s fantastic. The outer portion imitates a somewhat standard dress lug and abuts the more dramatic main lug, which cuts back toward the case and then curls under. An exceptional design that verges on “fancy lug” without being too much.

On the Waldan Heritage Professional, what won me over is the matte green dial with the white peripheral ring. More broadly, I think the Professional line is superior with its applied Arabic numerals and leaf hands. That said, I wonder if the leaf hands may have been more fitting on the Sportline, and the baton on the Professional?

The issue with white dials–especially silvery white dials–is that hands and indices have a bad habit of getting lost on them. It’s just a notch more difficult to tell the time at a glance–not a challenge, just more difficult relative to dials with more contrast. I do like the smart decision to keep the “USA MOVT” text flat against the striped dial, as opposed to the curved text on the Professional models. The blued seconds hand is also a nice touch, and making it a sub-seconds means the tick tick tick is a bit less obvious (for those snobs among us).

Both dials feature peripheral lume pips (in an undisclosed grade and color of Super-LumiNova). However, I think the Professional models have the advantage in design, as the pips are further segmented by the white outer rim, allowing them to stand out a bit more. In each case, the lume is adequate but not exceptional; it will shine if in a very dark room but does little in real-life low-light situations.

There’s nothing to see here. At this price point and given their goal of accessibility, I would’ve expected quick release spring bars. The screw-down caseback is a nice touch, and shields the AmeriQuartz movement from damage. AmeriQuartz, as far as I know, is the only modern U.S. manufacture of quality quartz movements, and several brands have started using them to get a more American Made watch. The movements are all-metal and jeweled, meaning you aren’t getting some cheapo fashion quartz here; these are fully serviceable and should last quite a while.

I didn’t much care for the white textured strap, so I swapped the two and was much happier. The straps are ostensibly identical except for color and texture, but something about the texturing on the white strap made it feel a bit cheap to me.

The Waldan Heritage line is a valiant effort by a luxury brand to reach out to a wider audience and tap a more affordable market. The Art Deco aesthetic is delightful though the case would benefit from improved finishing. For my part, the Professional line is the clear winner–it even makes the white strap look good, in a very “Anyone for tennis?” sort of way.

At $299, the price may present a challenge to some. Certainly, there are other quartz–and even some automatic–watches to be had at this price point that may be a bit more versatile. But I think there’s value in having an American movement–quartz or otherwise–in a decidedly American-looking watch that is assembled and tested in America. If you’re interested in finding out more about the Waldan Heritage or the brand in general, you can head over to their website.⬩