Today, I’ve got two examples of the new Houtman Murchison, a 40mm tool watch available in four attractive and sometimes surprising dial designs. We first encountered this new Australian brand in 2021 when Mike reviewed the Pilbara diving watch. He found it to be a well-designed watch that offered excellent value, so I was eager to get my hands on the new release, particularly the wild River Lume variant.
The Murchison’s 40mm stainless steel case is conservative and workmanlike: flat sides, longitudinal brushing, drilled lugs, and a polished sliver of a bevel to break it up. Its most radical element is the polished concave edge on the flat, brushed bezel, which is a pleasant, if subtle, surprise. A 48mm lug-to-lug length and 11.5mm thickness offer a nice fit on my 6.75″ wrist.
A grippy, screw-down crown (signed, of course), a sapphire crystal with six layers of anti-reflective coating, and a 100m water resistance rating round it out. It is a sensible unit that can host a variety of dials, which is exactly how Houtman employs it.
There are four Murchison variants, each with its own dial, handset, and personality. Want an old-school diver’s look? Try the Seiko 62MAS-inspired Murchison Sport. Does a vintage patina float your boat? Then have a look at the lovely, if somewhat apocalyptic, Burnt Earth model. If you dig pilot’s watches or if you are really, and I mean really, turned on by lume, then read on because I’ve got the lowdown on the Murchison Aviator and River Lume right here.
Of the two, the Aviator is the more traditional. Its black dial sports white syringe hands, a paddle second hand, and Art Nouveau numerals. In true military fashion, a railroad track seconds index rings its perimeter. It has an almost pre-war look to it, except that the numbers are slim, and the dial is refreshingly open. You would never mistake it for an antique because it pays tribute to the aviators of yesteryear in its own very modern way.
Houtman’s founder and designer Jason Liddel could have stopped with three solid dial designs, but he dug deep and pulled out an absolute fever-dream concoction: the River Lume. The man wanted to do a full lume dial, and I totally get that. Full lume is awesome. But he took it a step further. One lume is nice, so how about two lumes, like green and blue, on the same dial? Now, using two colors on a full-lume dial is pretty cool, but that was not enough for Jason. He bridged the two by adding a pale bluish-green that softens the contrast and adds dimension. Moreover, he didn’t just mash them up. He imparted structure in the form of a lattice that weaves them together, nothing rigidly geometric, mind you, but undulating like currents in the water.
With the dial done, he needed hands — leaf hands to keep it organic. They are blued, of course. Clearly, he couldn’t fill those hands with any of the three lume colors that were already on the dial, so he did the logical thing and added a fourth. That’s right, a fourth lume color. Purple.
It’s madness! Madness, I say! And yet, it is magnificent.
“But,” you might reasonably ask, “is it legible?” Well, mostly. In daylight, you don’t get the effect of the different colors as it all looks white or near-as-makes-no-difference. Instead, you tend to focus on the dark undulating lattice, and it is very easy to lose the hands in there.
At night, the multicolored SuperLuminova gets busy, and the purple hands become more apparent as the whole thing bursts to life. Perforated hour markers help a bit, but it still is not the easiest watch to read. Here is the real question: should you care? On the one hand, watches are time-telling instruments; on the other hand, they are jewelry. The Houtman Murchison River Lume looks like a glorious stained glass window full of the purest moonlight. It may take a second look to read the watch, but what time is it? It’s gorgeous o’clock, that’s what. Can’t take a moment out of your busy day to appreciate art? Then buy one of the other ones. The Aviator, for example, offers no such challenge, just a clean layout and a single lume color.
Whichever Murchison you choose, you will get a Swiss Sellita SW200 automatic inside. It’s an ETA 2824-based unit with 26 jewels and a smooth 28.8k bph sweep. Hard to go wrong with that one.
You have a choice of two casebacks. The samples both wore the decorated version that features a detailed, high-relief stamping of a kangaroo. If you are a monster who hates kangaroos, or if you simply prefer a thinner, lighter caseback, you can request a plain, flat one instead.
Each Murchison will come with two 20mm straps as standard, leather and suede. I tried the leather on both samples, and they were perfectly fine, if not particularly inspiring. Quick-release bars are a nice touch. I’d recommend buyers grab the optional beads-of-rice bracelet. I did not have one in hand for the review, so I can’t give you my impressions. Still, it’s a Time Bum rule that when a bracelet is offered, you should buy it. At the $61 pre-sale price ($119 after), why not? It has fitted end links, a milled clasp with a tool-free micro-adjustment mechanism, and it’s a beads-of-rice, the best of all bracelet designs.
The Houtman Murchison pre-order period is currently underway, allowing you to pick one up for $457 US. That price increases to $592 afterward. Houtman has delivered a quality piece in the Murchison, and while all four variants have their appeal, I suspect the River Lume is the one most likely to win your heart. For more information or the shop for your own, visit Houtmanwatch.com.
