It has been a long time tince we last laid hands on a release from the Tool Watch Company TWCO). I reviewed the Arctic Explorer in November 2021, so I’d say it is about time for a look at something new, like the TWCO Rally.
TWCO says the wild and wooly years of Group B rally racing, which makes a chronograph the natural choice. The Rally employs the beloved Seiko VK64 MechaQuartz hybrid movement that mates a mechanical chronograph module to quartz timekeeper. It’s a smart choice for an affordable microbrand as it gives us crisp button and reset action with quartz convenience and price.
Fans of the brand will appreciate the similarities between the Rally’s stainless steel case and that of the Arctic. The brushed tonneau is 38mm wide and 46.4mm long with an arched profile and clipped lugs. That aggressively toothed crown is also very much like that of the previous model. A tall, double-domed and AR-coated K1 mineral box crystal lends a vintage look and brings the overall thickness to 12.5mm.
It adds up to a tidy fit on my 6.75″wrist.
Oddly for a product of company with “tool” in its name, the Rally resists water intrusion like a dress watch. It’s rated for a surprisingly low 3 ATM, or 30m. Granted, auto racing is typically not an underwater event, but rally racing is famed for its brutal environmental conditions. Mud, snow, and water are par for the course. I know most modern watches can handle water far better than their ratings let on, but it’s hard to justify such an anemic rating for a tool watch in this day and age. It’s even more baffling because the Rally has a screw down crown. Now, I can list a dozen watches with push-pull crown and 100m ratings. So, again, 30m? I don’t get it.
TWCO offers the Rally in black or silver brushed dials, both ringed by a PVD black tachymeter bezel. The real color option is the second hand. Like the Arctic, it resembles a flag, but this time, a checkered flag. You can choose blue or red on the silver dial or yellow on the black dial. The other two hands are also interesting, as TWCO went with a sword hour hand and an arrow minute hand, both filled with BGW9 Super-LumiNova that also graces the markers.
Of course, this Rally watch comes fitted with a 20mm rally strap. It’s the big hole variety, equipped with quick-release pins. I rather liked it, as the highly textured Saffiano leather gives the strap a slick, modern look.
TWCO decorated the caseback with a nicely etched illustration of a woman in racing gear and what closely resembles an Audi Group B rally car. The execution is fine, but the subject matter rubs me the wrong way. You see, the name of the model, the brand’s description of its Group B influence, the female driver, and the Audi all bring to mind Michèle Mouton, who drove for Audi in the 1980s and was the first woman to win a World Rally Championship event. When I asked about the caseback art, TWCO described it as inspired by both Mouton and the posters popular with the teenage boys who were fans of the sport.
I understand the nostalgia, I know that the car is not a licensed Audi Quattro, and the driver is not actually Mouton, but a winking, saluting pin-up sticking her tits out is not a tribute to her accomplishments in the sport. It’s juvenile and insulting.
The TWCO Rally is available now for $395, and while it looks handsome enough (from the front) I would hesitate to spend that much on a tool watch with less than 100m water resistance. Of course, if you are taken with its vintage vibe, you can order one now from toolwatchco.com.
