When I go into a watch fair, I first glance and take a circuit around the room to see what catches my eye before approaching the tables for a closer look and to talk to the brand representatives. Walking into Watches, Whiskey, and Wine in July, my initial survey of the room told me that there were lots of interesting watches to be seen but there was only one table that made me do a double-take. “Could it be?” I thought. “Yes…I think…it IS! A 36mm watch from a microbrand!” And that was my initial impression of the Tsao Baltimore Legacy 36.
We’re big fans of Tsao here at The Time Bum, Loren and Mike even braved the perils of streaming video to do a live unboxing of the original Tsao Legacy for the launch of that watch this past February. I am a fan of the Legacy design, but trying on the 40mm version in July cemented for me that the angular case design language at that size was not a good fit for my 6.5” wrist or personal style. So, seeing that Alan Tsao had chosen to build on the success of the Legacy by making it smaller, I was immediately interested. Lucky for me, Alan provided three Legacy 36s to play with, packaged in a sleek orange leather Tsao watch roll.
First, let’s go over what the original Legacy and Legacy 36 have in common. The proportions of the case and bracelet are exactly the same, the Legacy 36 has the same sandwich dial design, same 200m water resistance, a double domed sapphire crystal, great C3 Luminova on the dial, hands and crown, a sapphire display back, and the customized Tsao Maryland flag rotor on the movement. Both watches are assembled and regulated at Maryland Watchworks in Hagerstown, Maryland. Holding the two watches side by side, they are very much siblings.
Aside from the 4mm difference in diameter, the Legacy 36 differs from its older sibling in a couple of ways. First, there’s only a single crown. Due to the size limitations of a 36mm case, a rotating internal bezel was not feasible. But the bezel does have the arrow at 60 to echo the design of the rotating bezel on the Legacy three-hand and GMT models. Secondly, the movement is a Miyota 9015, beating happily along at 28800 bph. Again, this change is due to the space available in the case, the Miyota is just a bit more compact than the MD-01 used in the Legacy models. Finally, the milled clasp on the Legacy and Legacy GMT bracelets has been replaced with a double deployant butterfly clasp, crisply engraved with the Tsao logo.
As previously mentioned, the Legacy 36 case and bracelet are shrink-rayed versions of the Legacy. They share the same fantastic brushing, chamfers, and edges; it’s all just proportionally smaller. The watch measures a very svelte 43mm lug to lug and 12mm thick. The bracelet flows from 18mm at the lug to 16mm at the hidden clasp. The uniform brushing between the case and bracelet makes it look like it’s integrated, but you have all the fun and options of swapping straps. It will be easy too, as the production version of the Legacy 36 will have quick-release tabs on the bracelet, just like the larger version. The links are very short, so it’s easy to size for a perfect fit, even without a micro-adjustment available. The bracelet can accommodate wrist sizes from 5.5” to about 8”, so it’s a great fit for anyone.
Tsao branched out to a rose gold PVD case and bracelet option, as well as a two-tone case with a, rose gold PVD bezel and steel case. The PVD coating is really well done. When sizing the bracelet, I noticed that all surfaces of the link are coated, with no bare steel to ruin the effect. Also, the same surfaces that are mirrored, frosted, or brushed on the steel case are the same on the rose gold case. I think this is a great addition to the line as it adds a touch (or a lot, for the full PVD version) of dressiness to the watch. For some people who aren’t pathologically driven to switch watches every day, this could be their one watch.
Alan carried over the Raven dial from the Legacy to the Legacy 36, and also introduced a Salmon, Sky Blue, and Mother of Pearl. The Sky Blue is similar in tone to the Raven dial, with a brushed finish and gradient that radiates from the center pinion. The Salmon dial also has a brushed finish and ranges in color from bright copper to rose gold, depending on the angle of the light. The mother of pearl has a lovely opalescent finish and texture, but each dial will be unique, due to the nature of the material. The dials all have cutouts at the hour markers to show the C3 lume underneath and a beveled date window at 6. The arrow on the color-matched bezel is lumed and the handsets have a strong application of lume to match the dial. The metal of the handsets are also matched to the bezel of the watch: silver hands with the steel bezel and rose gold hands with the two-tone and full rose gold cases. If that’s not attention to detail, I don’t know what is.
In case it’s not clear by now, I’m completely in love with this watch. I had the three Legacy 36s in my possession for a grand total of 72 hours before I decided I was buying a Legacy 36 steel Raven. It’s exceptionally proportioned, extremely well finished, and a really fun watch to wear. The Legacy 36 is currently available for pre-order at $475 for any of the available variants, 20% off of the full retail price of $600. Legacy 36 pre-orders opened on November 18 and Tsao is targeting a shipping date in mid-December. So, if you make strong enough hints to the right person or want to treat yourself, there is a decent probability you could find yourself with this watch on your wrist come New Years Day 2022. I know I’ll be wearing mine.
