Today I’m introducing a new brand called Timus, which just launched their first two collections on Kickstarter! They have two collections called Timeverse and Classic, in each collection they have two colourways. But the most interesting thing is the concept they call “Restoration”, basically if you bought one of these two watches and in the future, they release a new dial or case, you can send in your existing watch and they re-case it or redial it for 25% of the watch value and your new watch is born! This isn’t anything new, Patek Phillipe and many other high-end brands have done it with customers watch where they took only the movement and gave it a new case, dial etc. But we haven’t seen it in microbrands and I think this is a very cool idea!

The watches that they sent me are the Navy Blue from Timeverse collection and Rose Gold from Classic collection. Both of the watches are basically the same watch, just different dials and colours, but all the other parts and specs are the same. I didn’t take photos of the boxes as they are still in the prototyping stage, but I can assure they are pretty good for the price. The super early bird price on the Kickstarter is 263$, the early birds price is 278$ and the special price after early birds will be 293$ and the retail will be around 403$!

Now let’s get to the watches! The case of both watches is made of 316L stainless steel. The machine work on both cases is really good with nice smooth lines and angles. Both of the cases have a high polished finishing. The rose gold colour coating on the Classic is pretty good too and seems to be pretty sturdy and would last a long time before rubbing off. The case size is 43mm, the thickness is 12m, from lug to lug it measures at 51mm and the lug width is 22mm. While on the paper it looks big, in real life it wears more like a 41mm watch. Of course, I would like them to be smaller at maybe 38-40mm as I think it would fit more to that classy style, but I guess the market demands bigger sized watches! On the Classic we have more rounded edges on the case, slightly different lugs and almost round/onion crown. On the Timeverse we have a bit more modern case with sharp edges on the bezel, slimmer and shorter lugs and different crown. Both of the watches feature a slightly domed sapphire crystal with AR coating on the front and a flat sapphire on the back. The screw-in case back has some specifications and other information around the exhibition window. The water resistance is 5ATM (50M) which is decent for a dressy watch. It will be ok for washing hands, rain etc., but no swimming!

The dials are very similar on both watches, yet different. The Timeverse has a blue sunburst dial, they also have the black dialled version, but the blue one I think is the most interesting and definitely will be the one which will attract more people than the black one. Around the dial edge, we have a blue sunburst ring with a minute and hour tracks in white, then we have a silver ring with seconds increments. And then we have the main inside where we have applied Roman numerals going from 11 to 3 o’clock. At 9 o’clock we have a 24h subdial. At 4:30 we have small seconds subdial. The open heart window is at 7 o’clock and has a silver polished frame around it. In my opinion, the watch has too many things going on the dial, it is a bit cluttered with too many details, I would remove the roman numerals and at least one of the minute or tracks on the outer edge. The hour and minute hands are very sharp and straight,, similar to the case design they look modern, the inside of the hands are lumed. At 12 o’clock we have the Timus logo.

On the Classic we have a more understated and minimal dial, which in my opinion is the one that needed to be in blue sunburst. The dial is in white, almost cream colour. On the outer edge, we have a minute track in this railroad style. The applied rose gold Roman numerals are looking very sharp in my opinion with the dial colour. The middle/main dial where we have the same subdial and open heart is placed a bit lower and is kept very simple featuring just the subdials and Timus logo in black colour. The hands are very similar to the Timeverse model but are filled with more lume. The subdial hands are also in different shape and also are lumed. I also quite like that they didn’t do a date version, as I personally really don’t like date complication, it is frustrating to set each morning if you have more than 4 watches.

Inside the Timeverse and Classic collections, we have Japan-made automatic Miyota 82S7 movement. The movement has a 42-hour power reserve and beats at 21600 BPH. I have this movement in one of my Xeric watches, the Halograph II to be exact and I have only positive things to say about it! It is a workhorse of a movement. Both of the examples given were running at +7 average a day which is really good for these affordable movements. I also have to say that you just can’t go wrong with Miyota or Japan movements in general as they have proven their reliability throughout the years. Also, Miyota movements are pretty popular in microbrand watches because of how much you get for a relatively low price if you compare it for example to the more expensive Swiss counterparts.

The straps on both watches weren’t anything special, but they were pretty good! On the Classic we have a dark brown alligator pattern leather strap. On the Timeverse we had a smooth blue leather strap. Both of the straps were very well made and stitched. The quality was pretty good. Both of the straps featured a tang style buckle. Both of the straps were pretty supple and didn’t need the usual break-in period. The watches on the wrist felt very comfortable! 

Overall I really think these are great watches. Right now I really like the Classic Rose gold version as it is the simplest and looks very classy! I hope they get funded as I can’t wait to check with what designs they come up to and how will they make their concept work! The retail price, in my opinion, is a bit too high, but on the Kickstarter, they are really cheap and it is a really great deal! You get a well-made case and dial, Automatic Japan movement, sapphire on both sides and a decent strap and all that starts at just 263$ on Kickstarter! 

• CASE MEASUREMENTS (TIMEVERSE): 43mm Diameter, 51mm lug to lug, 11mm Thickness, 20mm lug width
•  CASE MEASUREMENTS (CLASSIC): 42mm Diameter, 50mm lug to lug, 11mm Thickness, 20mm lug width
•  MOVEMENT: Japanese Citizen (Miyota) Automatic Movement – 82S7
•  CASE MATERIAL: 316L Surgical Grade Stainless Steel
•  CASE BACK: Sapphire Crystal Transparent Display
•  FRONT AND BACK GLASS: Sapphire Crystal Glass with Anti-Reflective Coating
•  WATER RESISTANCE: 5ATM/50 Meters
•  LUME: Standard Swiss Luminous
•  CROWN: Push/Pull
•  STRAP MATERIAL: Italian Genuine Leather