Today we will be looking at another Thomas Earnshaw piece, and this time I think it is far most the best-looking one they sent me. This one is called the Cornwall Retrograde. You can get it in 5 different variations: silver case/white dial, silver case/black dial, gold case/dark blue dial, silver case/dark blue dial and the one we have here which has a gold case and white dial. They let me choose which one I wanted, and usually, I don’t like gold colour watches, but this time I chose this one and damn it looks good! The gold case, white dial with those red date accents, blued hands and Roman numerals all together just works so well!

The watch arrived in the classic Thomas Earnshaw box, nothing very special, but a good quality box. Inside you will find the watch, warranty card, instructions and cleaning cloth, pretty much every Earnshaw watch comes with these. First impressions were wow, it looks much better in real life, I really like that red accent on the retrograde date wheel. The watch came on this black genuine leather strap with alligator pattern on it, I switched it for a better-looking cheapestnatostraps.com brown suede strap, it just suits the watch better in my opinion.

The case is made from a 316L stainless steel. The machine work is quite good, all the lines are sharp and can’t see any rough machine work. The gold ionic plating is also pretty good. I can’t see any uneven plating or runs. Also, it is pretty durable, I banged the watch on a couple of doorknobs and other places, it came out with no scratches or dings. And that basically is why I usually tend to not choose the gold plated watches, as I had bad experience in the past when the plating rubs off after 4 years of use and despite the watch running perfect, the case looks awful, but it looks that with the Cornwall Retrograde it won’t be the same case. The diameter of the case is 42mm, from lug to lug it measures at 48,5mm, the thickness is 10,2mm and the lug width is 22mm. Yes, the watch maybe is a bit big for a dressy watch, but I think it works, but of course, 40mm version would be just perfect. On the wrist it actually doesn’t look that big, it wears pretty comfortably, it also is on the slimmer side. On the right side of the case, you have the push/pull signed crown. On the other side, we have the thing that I dislike on all Earnshaw watches, it is the engraved Earnshaw logo. I just think it ruins the whole look. The screw down solid case back is also gold plated. On the case back you will find some specifications and Earnshaw logo engraved on it. On top of the case sits a slightly domed mineral crystal with the AR coating which in some light shines in blue colour. The water resistance is 5ATM (50m), so it means you can’t swim with it, it can withstand some rain or splashes of water.

The dial on the Cornwall Retrograde is super cool looking. I really like that classic look. The whole dial is white and it looks like it has 3 layers. On the first layer, the outer ring has the seconds track running around and the applied Roman numerals in silver colour. And I like that they did the 4 in IIII (IV is the regular version) which is sort of a tradition in watchmaking when you do the Roman numerals, that is a very cool touch, and not so many microbrand do this. Now lets come on the second layer which is the most important, it is the inner circle with this wavy pattern. The top half is the so-called retrograde date window. It isn’t the classic retrograde as we know it, it is basically a ring with two red triangles showing the right date, and it just goes around so I wouldn’t call it retrograde. But any case it is a very cool and interesting way to show the date. And underneath at 6 o’clock, you will find the day window and under it the Earnshaw logo. I really like that they kept the dial symmetrical, for me who is a designer and with OCD on perfection I really like it haha. The hour and minute Breguet hands are blued and really fit the design and overall look of the watch. The second’s hand is also blued and has a Thomas Earnshaw logo counterweight which is a nice touch.

The movement inside the Cornwall Retrograde is some kind of Japan quartz movement. If I could guess it is probably the Miyota or Seiko quartz. Anyway, any Japan-made quartz movement will be great and will work flawlessly. The battery life on this one is about 2,5-3 years which is standard for quartz movements. The strap is thin and good quality. The thinness of it helps it to be very comfortable on the wrist. But I kind of doesn’t like the faux crocodile texture on the genuine leather strap. I would like them to put just a plain black strap with stitching or something different, these fake pattern straps are getting old. The strap has another slight flaw  – the buckle. Whilst it looks good as the top bar is in a shape of the Earnshaw logo, that usually ends up wrecking the centre of the strap due to the strain on it. The brushed top bar has the Earnshaw logo engraved, with polished flanks. The buckle is also gold ion plated.

Overall this is a very cool and affordable dress watch. I really like the looks and how the date and day are displayed. Yes, there are some slight flaws, but no watch is perfect, even the high-end watches have some flaws or thing that people don’t like. If you are looking for a cheap dress watch that is out of the ordinary, then this is it! At price of £250.00 which is around 287 euros is pretty cheap + you can find promo codes which some fellow watch review Youtubers offer and get a great deal!

Price: £250.00 (∼287€) @ www.thomas-earnshaw.com

MODEL : ES-8077-03
MOVEMENT : Japan Quartz 3 Hands with Date and Day
CASE MATERIAL : Stainless Steel
CASE DIAMETER (mm) : 42
CASE THICKNESS (mm) :10
CASE SHAPE : Round
CASE COLOR :Ionic Plating – Gold
DIAL COLOR :Silver White
BAND : Genuine Leather Strap
BAND COLOR : Black
BUCKLE : Strap Buckle
BAND WIDTH (mm) : 22-20
WATER RESISTANCE : 5 ATM
WATCH WEIGHT (g) :65
WARRANTY : 2 Years International