When we chose our 2022 Microbrand Watch of The Year, I mentioned our rule that judges could only nominate watches that we had personally handled, and I cited the Möels & Co. 528 as an example. I hadn’t had the chance to review it, so it was excluded even though I really, really wanted to consider it in the completion. The watch looked fabulous online, and the fact that had won multiple European design awards was a pretty good indication that my instinct was correct, but I made the rules for a reason. You simply cannot understand a watch from a photo.
Well, here we are, almost a year later, and I have a 528 on my wrist. I’m glad I waited. Not because the watch isn’t every bit as good as I thought, but because it is so different than what I expected.
Designer Betina Menescal was a 21-year-old university student in London when she launched Möels & Co. with a successful Kickstarter campaign and near-universal acclaim, winning a Gold Award in the A’ Design Award & Competition in the Jewellery, Eyewear, and Watch Design category; a Silver Award from the International Design Awards (IDA); and, the European Product Design Award in the Lifestyle and Travel/Luxury Goods category. Clearly, her asymmetric, mid-century aesthetic had found its audience.
The 528’s stainless steel case is rectangular and an imposing 45mm wide. I know many potential buyers will be tempted to stop reading right there, but don’t! Think of it as a tank watch in landscape orientation; the biggest number in the dimensions is only a starting point and not representative of how the watch will look on your wrist. Lug-to-lug length is just 41.5mm, and the lugs are unobtrusive, allowing you to focus on the mere 33mm from the top of the body the the bottom.
The watch occupies shockingly little space on your wrist, making it suitable for even my 6.75″ paw. It also ensures that the Möels can be a true unisex watch as the proportions blur the lines between traditionally gendered timepieces. It has more than sufficient presence to be a statement piece for either sex, yet it is a comfortable fit on even the smallest wrists. You’ll have no problem wearing it under a buttoned shirt cuff, either. It is only 11mm thick, and the long case and offset dial make it easy to sneak a peek at the time.
For comparison, here it is on my wife’s 6″ wrist (worn destro).
The Möels 528’s size, unusually broad shape, and asymmetric spindle placement remind me of the late 1960s and early 1970s when watch designers embarked on a period of wild experimentation. I’d call the shape a TV dial, but I have realized entire generations have grown up knowing televisions (do they even call their screens “televisions” anymore?) only as those perfect, wafer-thin plates of glass that float on your wall. We GenXers remember when they were squat boxes with convex screens bulging from their faces. Those old cathode ray tubes had rounded edges and corners, and that seemingly futuristic shape was briefly popular in watch design.
Möels captures that general look. The watch is undeniably rectangular, but it’s a pleasantly soft rectangle. Mirror polishing on the upper surfaces further blurs the edges, making the overall case appear slightly smaller. Where a 45 x 33mm rectangle with hard edges and a brushed surface would have looked severe, the 528’s mellower lines are inviting and approachable.
The crown is sensibly sized and deeply fluted; however, in keeping with Möels’s clean look, it is otherwise unadorned. You may be surprised to discover that it screws down, helping the 528 achieve a 100m water resistance rating. With that and a double-domed, AR-coated sapphire, the 528 will handle even vigorous daily wear with ease. It may not look like a tool watch, but it’s good to know that it is as tough as one.
The 528’s dial is stunning. Radiant lines making the hours recall the spoked clock designs of 1950s modernism. The Möels & Co. logo is in the bottom left, arguably in the least likely space on the dial. The numbers are applied, polished, and exaggerated in width, echoing the width of the case. As mentioned above, those long and lovely skeleton hands are positioned to the right of the center, which more than once prompted me to check if the lugs were mounted to the left. They are not; it is just an illusion.
These elements are already intriguing enough before you notice the fine, horizontally brushed surface, the 528’s secret weapon. There you are, admiring the space-age layout when you tilt your wrist and — boom! The light catches those micro-grooves, and the color gets dramatically darker, or lighter, or you suddenly see the texture pop, further exaggerating the 528’s proportions. It was great fun taking these photos to show the differences.
The downside is that you will occasionally lose the hands and numbers as a shadow falls across them. Such is always the case when you have a reflective element over a dark surface. Still, I would not change a thing. While I can envision a 528 with painted or lumed hands, it would be a very different watch.
Several different colors are available, including Satin Moss green and Thunderhead blue. I rather liked the subdued tone of this Metallic Fir gray.
Watch straps are often an afterthought for many new brands (and all too many established ones, I might add), so I am pleased to report that is not the case here. Rather than commissioning one of their own, Möels opted for an off-the-shelf strap from Hirsch. It is 22mm in lightly padded buffalo leather with quick-release spring bars. No, it is not signed by Möels and Co., and that is fine by me. Other straps are offered as well, including Vollmer bandolier bracelets and Staib mesh bands.
At the 528’s heart is a Swiss Sellita SW200-1, a reliable, 26-jewel, 28.8k bph automatic. You can get a glimpse of the unit through the porthole sapphire exhibition window. Like the top side, the case back is an exercise in tasteful restraint. The expected specifications and serial numbers are engraved back there, along with the designer’s name. And why not? She deserves to be immensely proud of her work on this piece.
Betina Menescal’s watch evokes the same feeling as a Hamilton Ventura or Omega Dynamic. Her design looks nothing like theirs, but they could have been contemporaries, all displayed in the same jeweler’s case in 1969. That’s the beauty of the Möels 528; it’s a contemporary watch that is entirely faithful to mid-century modern fashion, without being a copy of a particular watch from that era.
The Möels & Co. 528 is available now at moelsandco.com for £946 ($1,149 US). Every so often, you can find one in their Outlet section for a considerable discount, but be warned, these disappear quickly.
So, could the Möels have been our Microbrand Watch of the Year? I’m not going to second-guess it, but the 528 certainly would have had my vote. However, the Möels story does not stop there. Betina is preparing to release the new Möels & Co. 369, a 39mm sports watch that will take the brand’s design language in an exciting new direction, and we will review it.
Stay tuned…
