One of the perks of being a watch reviewer is that you not only can take a look at a lot of different watches but also that you can check out prototypes before the company even started the production. Today we are looking at Tempore Lux V One Classic prototype which is a dive watch that will see it’s light on Kickstarter after some time.

Before we take a look at the prototype let’s do an interview with the founder of the Tempore Lux watch company:

1. Introduce yourself

My name is David Ramírez born in Madrid, resident in the beautiful island of Mallorca and a great passionate about watchmaking.

2. What started your watch passion?

Since childhood I have always liked watches. I remember those first Casio of the 80’s so advanced to their time, the pioneers of smartwatches! But especially the watches that fascinated me most were those of mythical brands like Seiko, Omega or Rolex. These brands have influenced me a lot. The years went by and in 2005 I saw the opportunity to buy and sell some watches online to get a little money in line with my work then, so I started selling SEIKO watches on EBay. What began as a hobby that allowed me to get an extra, became my profession in 2010 when I decided to quit my job in the telecommunications sector and dedicate myself completely to my passion, watches.

I continued working for a few years with EBay, Amazon and other international markets and also created my own watch sales website, offering more brands and expanding my experience in the sector.

3. What makes a good wristwatch for you?

For me a good watch has to have several key points, mainly the design that is what attracts us at first sight and then It have minimum qualities, of minimum qualities I refer to a construction of high quality steel or titanium, a good mechanism Swiss or Japanese preferably mechanical, sapphire crystal and quality straps. I do not agree on a good watch without these requirements, and of course it does not cost a fortune, so in recent years I’m focusing a lot on the microbrands as they offer a lot for very little compared to the big traditional watch brands.

4. Why did you decide to make your own microbrand watch company?

After more than a decade selling watches worldwide, in 2015 I felt that I needed to change course in my professional career, the sale of watches was very monotonous, and there was more and more competition on the internet and it was more difficult live of this. A strong desire arose within me to create my own brand of watches, to design and manufacture my own watches I was filled with that illusion that I was losing and it was the next evolutionary step in my profession.

So with many ideas in mind in 2016 I decided to get down to work, I contacted a design team and we started working on the first Tempore Lux watch, the VINTAGE ONE AUTOMATIC series.

5. How much watches do you have in your personal collection? And maybe you could list them? 

When you have been surrounded by watches for so many years, the desire to collect is tempered, the simple fact of going to the warehouse and being able to hold one of these wonders in my hands satisfies my thirst for watches.

I have SEIKO and CASIO watches of all kinds, mainly diver that is the watch style that I like the most, I also love Omega and Rolex, but I have not yet been able to afford any of those machines, although with SEIKO I am happy for much less than one of them costs.

6. Who is your ideal customer?

With our first   series we focus a male audience, the case is large 44mm, but is mainly focused on people looking for a high quality watch and good design at a good price.
The watch is a diver of high performance, but I do not want it to only serve for professional divers. My idea in the V ONE series is that they are all-terrain watches, which serve you both for diving and extreme sports, such as going out to dinner at a luxurious restaurant simply by changing the bracelet on the strap, thanks to the system that has built-in change Easy strap.

Our philosophy can be appreciated in the V ONE EXCLUSIVE series with the combination of gold / rose gold tones, this makes it a more elegant and luxury watch.

7. Tell about what you like to do outside of watches. Where do you find inspiration for your work?

I am a very familiar person, I like to go with my children to the beach, in my spare moments, that are very few, I also like to listen to my favorite music I am quite nostalgic in that sense I still listen to my favorite bands of the 90`s as Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp and a long etc …

I also love cinema, mainly science fiction, my favorite movies are the first films of Alien and Star Wars.

I love vintage watches, the VINTAGE ONE series is inspired by diver watches from the 60s / 70s. The watch is designed and built with great care. My main inspiration has come from the hand of SEIKO, people tell me that the V ONE has the air of DOXA, but after so many years selling SEIKO and my great passion for this brand is what has most influenced this first series.

8. How do you see TemporeLux watch brand in future?

I am realistic, so that the Tempore Lux project is a reality first we need to be validated by the people who give us their support through the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that we will start in September, then continue working on more designs and become a microbrand of Spanish watches.

Right now I am working on the V ONE version with chronograph and in mind I also have a vintage style Racing watch. My idea is to gradually incorporate more watches into the Tempore Lux catalog and also work a lot on limited editions with titanium or bronze materials with Swiss movements from Sellita and STP.

So let’s look at the Tempore Lux V One Classic prototype.  As this is a prototype it has some things different, for example, this prototype has aluminum bezel insert and quartz movement, but the one that will go in production will have a ceramic bezel insert and Seiko NH35 automatic movement. They will be launching their Kickstarter campaign soon, so look out for it!

There will be three series, the first is that we have here for the review, the V One Classic with black, blue and white dials. Then there will be V One Black which features a black PVD coated case with also three dial colours: black, orange and blue. And the third series is the V One Exclusive, these ones will be special. They are only in two colours Rose golds or gold and will feature only black dials. Each colour will be limited to 500 pieces and will feature the Swiss Made Sellita SW-200 automatic movement. The prices of each series you can check here on their website. 

The watch came in a nice wooden box with orange accents, I don’t know if it will be the final design for the packaging, but it is definitely a great box. The first impression was that I have seen this design already, not only in popular brands but in a couple of microbrand too, like Espresso Watches and many others. It is nothing bad as we have Rolex Submariner homages from almost every second microbrand coming to Kickstarter.

The case is made from 316L stainless steel with brushed finishing all over the watch. The case is cushion style and very similar to the Panerai cases in terms of design. The case is very well machined, I can’t see any flaws or anything that would catch my eye. The finishing is quite good. The watch is pretty big. The width is 44mm (47mm with crown), from lug to lug it measures at 53mm, the thickness is 13mm and the lug width is 24mm. On the wrist it sits quite big, for me it isn’t a problem as I’m a big guy, but for smaller wrists that could be a problem. The bezel is 120 unidirectional with an aluminium insert right now, for the final version it will have a ceramic insert. The bezel action is really nice and the clicks are sharp and precise. One of the best bezels I’ve seen on a dive watch from what I’ve had reviewed this year. The signed screw down crown is big and easy to grab. On the side of the crown, you will have a nice and deep engraving of the Tempore Lux logo. The solid case back is held on with 6 small screws. I actually would prefer if it had the regular screw in case back, but this one works too. On the case back you will find the specifications and the Tempore Lux logo engraved. On top of the watch sits a flat sapphire crystal. The water resistance is 300m (30ATM) which is more than enough to do any water-related activity like swimming etc.

The dial is pretty simple. I chose the blue version as it looks the best in my opinion. The colour is matte blue with white hour markers in Arabic numerals which are lumed, also the white dots by the numerals are lumed. At 3 o’clock we have a white date window, I would prefer if it was in blue colour just like the dial. At 12 we have the Tempore Lux logo and at 6 o’clock we have the water resistance specifications written. The index hour and minute hands are polished with lume in the middle. The lollipop style seconds hand has lume too into the dot. Lume on this one isn’t the best one as it doesn’t last long at all, so there is an improvement to make there. Overall the dial is pretty simple and easy to read at the first glance.

The movement we have inside the prototype now is one of those Swiss made quartz ones. But the finished one that you will be able to get from Kickstarter will feature Japan made Seiko NH35 automatic movement. It is a pretty good movement that is used in almost 50% of microbrands under 500$. It has hacking seconds, it ticks at 21,600 BPH, has 41-hour reserve and 24 jewels.

 

The strap that came with the watch is pretty thick with Panerai tank style buckle made of stainless steel. The leather is pretty thick and smells really good. The top side is kind of suede-like soft and the underlining is done in rougher leather. The strap is also signed with Tempore Lux logo. There are a lot of holes so the strap will fit small wrists and big wrists too. The strap also features the quick release spring bars so the strap change will be super easy.

Overall I really liked this watch. It is pretty good looking, the quality is there and the price is really good. The V One Classic (which is this one we look at) will cost 229€ (regular price 379€). The V One Black will cost 249€ (regular price 399€) and the V One Exclusive will cost 399€ (regular price 549€).

temporelux.com