Intention is the word that springs to mind when I consider the Héron Gladiateur. Intention of design, of purpose, even of brand. This is a simple watch but a bold one, a brash diver that’s still elegant enough to wear for dressier occasions. This watch has no business being this good, and yet it balances its conflicting natures with clear intention.
Héron, a young microbrand operating out of Montreal, Canada, claims inspiration from the Colosseum and mythologized fighters of Rome, and there is certainly an element of grandeur to the Gladiateur. However, there is nothing brutish about this watch despite some hard angles and flat surfaces. It is a quintessential dress diver, slim enough to fit under a shirt cuff for a trip to the opera but with 100 meters of water resistance in case you sit in the splash zone. It feels very much a product of the city where it was designed. Montreal is a place where modernity embraces the traditional and the two coexist in harmony. Similarly, the Gladiateur feels like a union between modern trends and classical design cues.
The case is 316L stainless steel; the sample I reviewed is PVD-coated rose gold although plain stainless and black PVD will also be options. In person, the rose gold has a rich finish, highly polished across the case and coin edge of the bezel, giving some of the harder edges an almost liquid quality. 41 mm is just right, given the watch’s aspirations to fit most wrists, and in practice, it wears a bit smaller, especially with the black silicone strap. At 12 mm thick it’s also average for a dive watch, and the flat sapphire crystal helps it feel more compact than a tall dome would. In profile, it looks tall but graceful, thanks in part to the downward curving lugs. Those lugs are also short and tapered, which further helps visually shrink the watch so it even works nicely as a unisex piece for more slender wrists. That’s a pretty impressive balancing act to pull off. On my 6.5” wrist it looks just right.
Running the sample is a Seiko NH35 movement although the production version will switch to the Miyota 9039. In practice, the two movements are both reliable, likely known to anyone familiar with the microbrand world. The key differences are Miyota’s unidirectional winding mechanism and a higher beat rate, which will result in a slightly smoother seconds hand sweep. The movement features a 42-hour power reserve and hacking seconds.
The dial is plain, and that is no bad thing: simplicity is the rule here. Matte black, it allows the delicate applied indices, bordered in rose gold to match the case, to really pop. Dial text is also minimal: just the Héron name and the elegant logo below 12 o’clock, and “Automatic” above the 6. There’s no date window, either, giving the watch a clean symmetry that I definitely like. The minutes track is printed in white hashes, and the minutes and seconds hands reach just to the edges of the markers for a nice sense of proportion. Héron could have gone for an over-stylized dial but they kept it clean. I think this watch would work beautifully with a fume or sunray dial, as well. Maybe in future iterations.
Back to the handset: I’m used to diver watches with broad arrows or outsized hands for legibility, but here Héron opted for slim, pointed baton hands for the hours and minutes. They are joined by a lollypop seconds with a counterweight that reminds me of a tailfeather. The hands are generously lumed as are the hour markers. Héron informs me that they will be adding more lume to the mass production models, but the sample is just fine.
We’re not going to get much further without discussing the Gladiateur’s signature feature: its Roman numeral bezel. Unidirectional with 120 nicely tactile clicks, it seems pretty conventional until your eyes or your fingertips brush over the embossed Roman numerals. Maybe it’s a missed opportunity not to have gone with an inward-slanting stadium bezel (Colosseum bezel?), but the matte finish and the embossed numerals are a welcome contrast to the highly polished case.
This may not be the world’s first Roman numeral bezel, but they are always unusual and this is certainly the best looking that I’ve encountered. One thing worth noting: there’s no lume on this bezel, not even a pip at 12 o’clock, but given the clean look they are going for it works. If you’re actually looking to time a night-time dive, this might not be the watch for you. There is a bit more backplay to the bezel than I would expect, but that will be resolved by mass production. I have to say, given how fun and clicky the bezel is to operate, I would actually gladly trade off the accuracy. I doubt anyone will use this one to time dives or even biscuits in the oven. It could be used as a basic GMT by any fashion-conscious legionnaires looking to conquer the ancient world.
The crown is easy to operate, standing out just the right distance from the crown guards, which are noticeable but restrained. I like that. Many watches that feature crown guards can’t help but go all in, creating a Millenium Falcon-like profile that to me at least always looks off-balance and a little ungainly. Here they are understated by comparison, further cementing the Gladiateur as a dressier option for a diver. As I noted earlier, water resistance in the finished product will be 100 m; although the prototype does not feature a screw down crown, the final product will.
As for the caseback, it features a highly stylized and quite beautiful depiction of a heron surrounded by laurel leaves. It’s wonderfully executed both visually and in terms of how it feels, especially how elegant it looks in rose gold. Again, the finish lends the relief an almost liquid quality that is just beautiful.
Let’s pause on the strap. The Gladiateur arrived on a black rubber strap – extra points for the fitted ends which give it a nice upscale touch. A nifty, angular buckle that echoes design cues from the case is inscribed with the company’s H logo. The brushed finishing doesn’t match the polish on the case or the matte finish on the bezel, but that’s a minor quibble given how nice the overall strap and buckle are. One particularly nice touch is the method by which the first keeper is kept in place: a pair of little rubber teeth on each side hold the keeper in a consistent spot, which is a feature I wish more straps employed. A matching bracelet is available as a stretch goal for the campaign, and the sample I received is very nicely finished, including the stamped clasp. The outer links are brushed while the inner links are polished, creating a nice contrast. However, the bracelet does change the character of the watch quite a bit, taking it from subtle to in-your-face in a flick of the wrist. I’m honestly torn as to how I would wear it.
The rose gold version is the dressiest of the options, which will include stainless with white or blue dial, as well as the black PVD, but that doesn’t mean it feels formal to strap on your wrist. The Gladiateur has a very approachable vibe, especially on the rubber strap, and looks as good with jeans and a t-shirt as it does with a jacket and tie.
One last note on the preproduction sample I was sent: The packaging is being finalized and the watch will ship in a custom box that includes a watch roll. The sample did include the watch roll, which is a handsome black leather affair embossed with the Héron brand name. It’s a very supple, pebbled grain, and I could actually see myself using it when traveling.
There you have it, folks: We’ve got another up-and-coming microbrand to keep our eyes on and I couldn’t be happier. In fact, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and buy one the moment it’s available on Kickstarter, February 28th. Retail pricing for the watch is set at $475 (USD), but early birds can get it for as low as $250, which makes this watch an absolute bargain. To learn more about Héron and the Gladiateur, as well as sign up to learn more about the launch, visit https://www.heronwatches.com/
