Look, before you even think it, let’s be clear that the Fifty Eight Watches Geneva Tribute is just one watch. Sorry, Lionel Hutz, but there are not 57 others in the box. While 57 more watches might be nice, I was rather pleased with just the one I sampled for this review.
The Geneva Tribute is the first release from Fifty Eight, a London-based brand named for the year, not the number. It is a mid-sized, modern men’s watch and its proportions are dead-on for that purpose: 41mm wide, 47mm long, and most importantly, just a scant 10.2mm thick. I found it worked well on my 6.75″ wrist and tucked neatly under a buttoned shirt cuff.
A brightly polished finish and a tastefully modest crown (8mm wide and not at all tall) underscore its dressy aspirations. Of course, dressed-up does not mean delicate. With a sapphire crystal, five layers of internal AR-coating, and 50m water resistance, the Geneva Tribute will handle most of your daily routines.
Any watch that calls itself “Geneva” had better be Swiss and the Fifty Eight comes through on this point. It is produced, assembled, and tested in Switzerland. Its heart is a Sellita SW200-1 automatic. The tribute aspect is detailed on the caseback, which shows the interior of St. Pierre Cathedral.
All of this is very nice, but a proper dress watch must have a pretty face, and this where the Geneva Tribute really shines. In addition to the Lucent White shown here, Fifty Eight offers it in Midnight Blue, Jade Black, Black in a Rose Gold case, and the dazzling Kokanee Salmon, which I suspect will be the real breakaway hit of the bunch.
Applied and polished bar markers pop against the matte-finished dial, as does the shiny Fifty Eight logo crest, but really, all eyes will be on the Côtes de Genève pattern. Unless they are distracted by the handset, that is. Those long, faceted alphas have been heat-treated to a glorious Cerulean Blue, as has the second hand with its distinctive hollow diamond counterweight. The dial text (a well-balanced combination of traditional serif typeface and the lean and lightweight sans-serif branding) shares the same hue. Note that for obvious reasons, only the white and salmon dials get the blued hands. Between the texturing and the color, it is a blast to watch the light play across this watch.
Any let-downs? Well, there is not a speck of lume, but that is the norm for dress watches. Really, I am hard-pressed to come up with a gripe. I wish the date window was beveled, but as it is, it hardly looks unfinished.
Fifty Eight will ship the Geneva Tribute with two 20mm quick-release straps that taper to signed 18mm buckles. The review sample had a lightly padded blue alligator print and a slim saddle brown. I liked them both, although you may notice in the photo that they rub the edge of the case. This will be corrected in production by slimming the straps by about 1mm. The blue was an ideal match for the handset and definitely the more formal of the two. The brown presented a warm and pleasant contrast to the dial’s cooler tones, creating a more relaxed look.
The Fifty Eight Geneva Tribute goes live on Kickstarter on May 5. Early pricing will start at £460, or $636 US. For more information and to sign up for Kickstarter notification, head over to fiftyeightwatches.com.
