Today we are gonna take a look at another 1815 Chronograph from About Vintage. 2 years ago we already looked at the same watch just in rose gold case colour with white dial. The previous watch was really good and was with me for 1,5 years and then I sold it with a couple of my other watches that companies left me so I can donate all the money to the animal shelter. Anycase the watch was really good and this brand definitely is really legible as the quality and designs of their watches are spectacular!

The About Vintage Company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company was founded by two guys who were watch enthusiasts and wanted to make their own watches. Since the last About Vintage watch review, the company has grown a lot. They now have many other watches with just time complication, a couple of automatic watches and a pretty cool collaboration between Frederique Constant and About Vintage where they created a limited edition watch of 100 units with moon phase complication. The design combines Frederique Constant’s in-house FC-702 Manufacture calibre with an elegant new dial design by About Vintage. So yeah, they have been busy for the last two years.

Each of About Vintage watch is named by a particular year. For example, the watch that we are looking at today is the “1815“, that is the year when the chronograph technique was invented. So that is a pretty interesting and cool story as they pay homage to the old artisans of watchmaking and the wristwatch history overall. The 1815 Chronograph that we have today is a pretty special one as they are limited I guess to 1815 watches (not sure, maybe the unit numbers are lower) and mine has the 673 number on the case back and on the paper in the box. And this one features a dark blue sunray dial.

The watch came in a very beautiful signed wooden box which is custom made. And you immediately can see from that dark wood and shape of the box that this is classic Danish design. Inside the box, we have the watch of course and instructions manual. The first impressions are good and I immediately noticed how nice that dark blue sunray dial looks, the dial looks almost black in bad lighting situations but when you take it out in the sun, it just shows that deep blue colour.

The case of the 1815 Chronograph is made of 316L stainless steel. The machine work is really good, all the angles and lines are sharp. The whole case has a polished finishing and it is done to the highest quality! The case shape is classic round with nice small lugs. The diameter of the case is 41mm, the thickness is 12,5mm and from lug to lug it measures at 46,6mm. The watch wears and feels great on the wrist, it isn’t too big or too small, it is just in perfect size! At 3 o’clock we have a push-pull crown which is pretty well sized and easy to grip and use. The crown is signed with the About Vintage logo. The chronograph pump style pushers are located at 2 and 4 o’clock. The pushers have a nice mechanical feel to them when you use them. The one thing that I really don’t like is the solid snap off case back. I really hate when modern brands do this as the watch loses the water resistance, it is hard to remove and place it back without scratching it and everyone now is using screws to hold it in place or use the screw in case back system, but this one is just last century thing. On the case back, we have a nice engraving Copenhagen cityscape, limited edition number and specifications. On top of the watch sits a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. The water resistance on the watch is 5ATM (50M), but I wouldn’t take it in water in any circumstances. Yes, it can withstand rain, handwash etc. but nothing more.

The dark blue sunray dial on this watch is amazing looking. The colour play in the sun is just crazy. When I wore it on the wrist and I wanted to check time, I always looked at the dial, put down the wrist and forgot to look at the time as I was looking at that blue colour. Around the dial, we have an applied minute track with Arabic numerals in a small font which are in silver colour with polished finishing. At 6 o’clock we have the small seconds subdial which has that circular pattern. At 12 o’clock we have a 60 seconds counter subdial also with a circular pattern and a small About Vintage logo where the “60” should be. At 3 o’clock we have a square date window with a white date wheel. I really would’ve loved colour matched date wheel and I really don’t understand why companies do this? At 9 o’clock we have white printed writing “About Vintage by Skov Andersen“. The hour and minute hands are polished and have almost like Spade shape. The second’s hand for the chronograph is just a stick shaped polished hand. The dial is very nice looking, but I really wish they matched the date wheel as it would look a bit better.

The movement that ticks indie is Japan made Miyota 6S11 Chronograph. Yes, it is a quartz movement, but it almost feels mechanical as the second’s hand is sweeping when activated by the pusher and pushers feel very mechanical, similar to the Seiko VK64 meca-quartz movement. I have had this watch in my collection in the past and it was running perfect and as I heard from the owner of my previous 1815 Chronograph it still runs on the original battery after 2 and something years. The battery life usually on the ones is around 2-3 years, but I heard there were some examples from another brand that ran much longer even to 4 years.

The strap that the watch comes with is super well made. Mine came with a dark brown stitched leather strap. The leather is very buttery and smooth to touch. The leather is supple, but it still needs that wear in a period of week or two. The stitching is done very nicely, can’t see any loose threads anywhere. The underside is lined with a soft beige material and it is signed with About Vintage text, but I think they should use a different font for that as it looks pretty cheap in my opinion as the whole watch is so well designed and here it looks like they were lazy a bit. The signed tang-style buckle is made of stainless steel and it has a polished finishing. All About Vintage strap are fitted with quick release spring bars which make the strap change very fast.

Overall I really like this watch, I had it in past and it was sold for a good cause so I guess this is where I get things back for a good thing I’ve done, haha. The dark blue dial just looks killer and is pretty legible. The price for some is maybe a bit too big, but I think it is fair for what it is. Yes, it has some things I don’t like: snap on case back, white date wheel and some maybe will have problems that they are made in Hong Kong, but it is said on their website and they are pretty transparent about it, plus they have high attention to quality control and detail. So what do you get for a price? A well-machined case, sapphire crystal with AR coating, nice Japan made chronograph movement from a respectable brand in the watch industry, nice strap and a beautiful unboxing experience!

Price: 335€ @ aboutvintage.com