Today we are taking a look at a very interesting looking watch from a company called Valimor. Since I saw them, I immediately reached out to them as it looks super cool. Valimor is a Hong-Kong based watch company which was founded in 2017 with the goal of creating unique and original designs for watch enthusiasts the world over. Their 15 years of watch industry experience, spanning watch design and development as well as watch servicing and repairs, lead to the initiation of Valimor, automatic hand-tooled watches with a patented design. The meaning behind the name Valimor comes from a combination of “valiant” and “armor’. With that notion, Valimor launched their first collection called Caliburnus at the end of last year, which takes its name from the legendary sword of King Arthur – Caliburn.

The watch we are looking at today is from Caliburnus collection called Black Galaxy and you can see in the photos why it is called like this.  Also the Caliburnus collections you will find 3 other date versions and 6 no date dial versions. So there is plenty to choose from. I chose the one with the black dial as it gives it more of a “galaxy” look than others, plus it looks good.

The watch arrived in a cardboard box. When you open the box you are presented with a leather wallet with a warranty card and instructions manual. Then you lif up a cardboard part and here is a very interesting display case for the Caliburnus. The plastic box has the same pattern as the bezel of the watch has and is nicely signed. The plastic box actually will be great for storing the watch on display or just keeping it away from dust. The first impressions of the watch are that it looks like something out of Game of Thrones where there are dragons and medieval times. I really like this look and actually, Valimor has patented the case an dial design so that no one can copy their work. You will get a truly unique watch and won’t see this design on any other watch anywhere else. I also liked the “dragon” leather strap and the Swarovski crystal in the crown. which kind of reminds me of the Cartier watches with their crown cabochon.

The case of the Caliburnus is made of 316L stainless steel. The case is very well machined with those very fine details (Valimor calls them “Dragon Scales”) on the bezel and case back. The watch has this aged look which I guess was achieved by coating the case in light PVD coating and then taking it off on the high points. I actually quite like that aged look as it goes with all that philosophy that Valimor has behind its brand with the armours, medieval times and dragons. Also, a big plus with this kind of finishing is that you won’t see scratches that easily and you won’t be that sad about scratching it. The diameter of the case is 42mm, the case length from lug to lug is 50mm and the thickness is 13mm. The proportions, in my opinion, are great as the 42mm size is very versatile and the watch isn’t that thick. On the wrist it wears pretty comfortable as it isn’t too big or even heavy, the look of the watch gives an impression that it is pretty heavy, but in reality, it is really light, I actually was surprised how light it is. At 3 o’clock we have a push-pull crown surrounded by nice crown guards. The crown is engraved and looks really nice. On top of the crown sits a black Swarovski crystal which goes together with the dial. The crown is big and very easy to grip due to those engravings. The exhibition case back is without the aged process to it and looks pretty nice continuing the Dragon Scales also on the back. The crystal they used is a flat sapphire crystal and around it, we have some engravings with Valimor logo and other specifications, also there you will find that it has EU design patent so no one else can copy this unique design! On top of the watch, you will find a flat sapphire crystal with AR coating which does a decent job but could be better as from the photos you can see that it wasn’t easy to photograph the dial. The water resistance is 5ATM (50M) so I don’t recommend you go swimming with it. But it can withstand rain or handwash without a problem.

The dial on this watch is something special. You won’t find anything like this on any other watch! The dial is made of stone and this is a very fragile part of the Caliburnus and needed delicate cutting, sanding, and drilling by expert craftsmen. I can only imagine how much trial and error it took to make them perfect. Also, each watch will have a different dial as it is made of stone so the pattern won’t be the same, making it unique. The dial on my sample is called Black Galaxy and it truly looks like there is a whole galaxy there. Especially n the light it shows how deep it looks and all those crystals shining in the sun just makes it a very stunning looking watch! The applied hour markers are silver and with polished finishing with some lume in the middle. At 3 o’clock we have a round date wheel with a white date wheel which is acceptable as I think it would be very hard to see it if the date wheel was black. The partially skeletonized hour and minute hands are shaped like swords with some lume in the middle. I really like the look of the hands and I can definitely say that they nailed the design of them! The second’s hand is a stick hand with a very nicely designed counterbalance which all together also makes it look like a sword. At 12 o ‘clock we have the Valimor logo which actually is a very well designed logo! The dial overall is really great, but the lume on the hands and hour markers is very poorly applied and doesn’t glow that much at all.

The movement that is inside the Caliburnus is Miyota Caliber 821A. It has 21 jewels, it beats at 21,600 BPH and the power reserve is 42hours. The movement is automatic, but you can also wind it with the crown. The movement is pretty precise, my example runs at +8 to +9 seconds a day which is pretty good for these movements. I have many watches with this movement and they run very well, they are reliable and don’t look that bad as it has a pretty nice finishing with those Geneva lines. And surprisingly this one has a pretty silent rotor as Miyotas are known for noisy rotors. And talking about rotors, the Valimor makers also swapped the Miyota rotor for something much more special. They put on a custom rotor with a really nice knurled design which is in gold colour and has the Valimor logo engraved on it.

The strap is a black genuine leather strap with this hornback look. The strap is really interesting and goes very well with the medieval theme that the watch has. The strap was very supple right out of the box and will fit your wrist without the wear-in time. The stitching and everything are done really well. The tang style buckle also has the same finishing as the case. The tang style buckle has a really nice engraving on it with the Valimor logo. The strap is 22mm at the lugs so you can easily swap the strap if you don’t like it. The strap has also built-in quick release spring bars which make a ton of difference when changing straps.

Overall I really like the watch. It has a unique design, unique dial that you won’t see anywhere else. Of course, it also is a pretty good looking watch! The dial is really what attracted me to this brand. The price for my exact model is $494.00, but if you want to get it on a bracelet it will cost you $569.00. For some, this price would be a lot, but I think it is a fair price as it is a limited edition, unique design, stone dial which is really hard to cut perfect, automatic movement, sapphire and cool packaging. While I was writing this review this exact model is already sold out and I can see why as the watch is gorgeous, but they still have this model with no date still for sale! So I highly suggest you get one until it gets sold out! It is worth it!

Price: $494 @ valimor.com