Another new release from RZE? You bet. This year, the brand has been exceptionally busy, cranking out one top-notch titanium watch after another. I recently sampled a prototype of the Fortitude pilot’s watch, which launches today, and I can report that it continues RZE’s winning streak.
Like all RZE models, the Fortitude is a titanium tool watch made tougher by the addition of ULTRAHex coating to raise its hardness to an impressive 1200Hv. It has a brushed finish, sapphire crystal, screw-down crown, and 100m water resistance. Unscrew the unadorned caseback, and you will find a sturdy Seiko NH35A (21.6k bph, 24 jewels, Diashock) automatic movement merrily going about its timekeeping business.
And suddenly, the Fortitude departs from RZE tradition (if you can really ascribe tradition to a company not yet two years old) by largely abandoning the angular shapes and flat planes that defined previous collections in favor of a round case with narrow lugs. Granted, those lugs have crisp edges, inward cuts, and clipped ends, but the overall effect is less F-117 and more F-35, if I may use an aviation analogy.
Measuring 40mm wide, 48mm long, and 12.5mm thick, the Fortitude sat squarely on my 6.75″ wrist and even tucked under a buttoned cuff. These are nice proportions for the head, but as I have noticed with other RZE watches, the bracelet’s dimensions really bring it home.
It’s 20mm at the lugs, tapering to just 16mm; a tight taper that makes the whole unit feel trim and light. All three links are individually articulated – always a big plus in my book. The outer segments are trapezoids, their angles pointing downward like a chevron. A 20mm stainless steel, push-button, flip-lock clasp secures it. This is a top-quality bracelet, but if you really want to remove it, the drilled lugs will help you make short work of it.
To my eye, its most striking elements are the bezel and crown. The bezel is fixed but richly textured with slated cuts that recall the fins of a jet turbine. As befits a pilot’s watch, the crown is large (about 5mm tall and 7mm wide) with a grippy coin edge and fabulously embossed head.
Unscrew that crown, and it pops well clear of the case; likely the longest extension I’ve seen this side of my Sinn 103. I presume this is yet another feature to help you set it with gloves. Does that happen now? Are pilots still synchronizing their watches with gloved hands? I have no idea, but I do like that wild pop of anodized red.
Finally, we get to the dial. I sampled the watch in a glorious full-lume white. Did it work well in the dark? You betcha. You lose the date and the chapter index markers, but that’s it. everything else is displayed in crisp contrast.
Cool at that may be, it was the daylight look that really impressed me. I loved the depth of that black layer under the marker cutouts and the bold black-on-white handset that is almost a negative image of the usual instrument-style hands. RZE founder Travis Tan told me he found his inspiration in commercial aircraft cockpit instruments and it certainly has an instrument look, but there is something to the white dial, the fine printing of the minute and second tracks, the reticle design, and the numbers’ typeface that reminded me of laboratory instrument. The 24-hour index further blurs the lines because when I see that, I think “field watch.” Is there such a thing as a pilot/scientist field watch? Maybe there is now. Whatever. Labels, be damned! I like it.
While we are zeroing in on the dial, check out the date. It’s at 6 o’clock, it uses different sized portholes in both layers to form a frame, and it matches the color scheme. It is all just as it should be.
The Fortitude is yet another dandy tool watch from RZE. It ticks all the usual boxes: hardened titanium, useful water resistance, distinctive design, and a reliable movement. The only left is for RZE to sell it for an affordable price, and with the watches starting at $459 in the presale, I’d say they ticked that one too. That price will rise to a higher but still reasonable $599 for full retail. If you are looking for a clever titanium tool watch, I’d recommend literally everything in the RZE line-up and as of today, I’ll add this one too. For more information or to place an order, check out the RZE Fortitude page.
