Today we are gonna look at the latest watch from a company Roue. Maybe not the latest as it has been out for a year now, but for me it is relatively new! If you want to read more about the brand and story behind it then go to my review of their first watch they released the CHR, there you will also find an interview with the companies founder Alex Iervolino. The watch that Roue sent me is from TPS collection which a couple of month ago was updated with new colour ways. I already liked the CHR they had before and it is happily being worn by my father! And just as last one, I already knew I will like the TPS too before I even got it! In my opinion it is a beautiful chronograph for the price! The Roue TPS, which stands for Tachymeter and Pulsometer. The watches are a tribute to the Porsche 910, winner of the 1000-kilometer race in Nurburgring in 1967, which is engraved on the back (more on that in a minute).
The watch arrived very fast and well packaged. From the outside Roue box is small and very simple looking, but I didn’t expect that the watch comes with a watch roll and second watch strap. The watch roll is meant for 3 watches and is very handy when you need to pack some watches for a trip or maybe watch enthusiast meet. The watch roll is made of very soft suede like material and is very well made. The TPS came on a light grey silicone strap and also there is a perforated leather strap. The first impressions of the watch were great, I liked the highly domed crystal, the square shaped hands and the colours, I like when watch companies use bright colours.
The case of the TPS is made of 316L stainless steel. The case consists of three parts, the bezel, middle case and case back. The bezel is high polished, the mid case is satin brushed with polished edges of the lugs. The machine work and the quality of the finishing is really good for the price, I have had some really expensive watches for a price that is 3-4 more and they have the same level of finishing as this one. The diameter is 40mm, the thickness is 13,9mm and from lug end to lug end it measures at 48mm. Overall the size of the watch in my opinion is perfect, I wish it was a bit slimmer, and in all honesty it is possible with a Seagull ST19 manual movement and it would make a great watch in my opinion, but that is just me throwing ideas, I doubt Roue has thought about making the case slimmer and putting mechanical movement in there. At 3 o’clock we have a signed push-pull crown which is really well executed with nice grip and action. At 2 and 4 o’clock we have pump pushers which have a very mechanical feel. The screw in case back is definitely one of the best ones in a long time. I really like the high polished embossed Porsche 910 on the case back. Around the Porsche 910 embossing we have specifications engraved. I also have to mention that each colour way is limited to only 1000 pieces and as you can see mine is number 350. On top of the watch sits a double domed K1 mineral crystal with AR coating on the inside and sapphire coating on the outside. The water resistance is 50 meters which is decent and good for light rain and some hand wash.
The dial on this watch is kind of a mix of vintage and modern designs. The dial is a 3 layer style. Around the edge we have a Tachymeter and Pulsation. The dial mainly is in this blue/grey colours. The tachymeter portion from 0 to 60 is in silver colour. Then comes a minute track ring which is applied on the main dial. And each 5 minutes it has an orange accent. The we have a printed hour markers. The subdials are placed on 9,3 and 6 o’clock. The subdial at 9 is 60 second counter and it has a yellow accent hand. The subdial at 6 is running seconds and the subdial at 3 is a 24h dial. The square shaped hour and minute hands are in white and I love the shape of them, they are easy to read and they look good. The chronograph second hand is yellow. The Swiss Super Luminova is applied on hour markers and hour, minute hands. The lume isn’t the best on this watch and it glows for about 30 minutes. But in all honesty I kind of don’t care about lume on chronographs, of course it is good that it is there, but if I ever know I will be in a situation where I will need lume I always choose a diver anyway. Overall the dial is very well designed and made, all the printing is pretty crisp for the price and the dial is very legible!
The Roue TPS is powered by the Seiko VK63 mechanical-quartz movement. Yes, I said quartz. Please don’t stop reading as it isn’t your typical quartz. There is no slow and awkward clockwise reset here. The smooth chronograph seconds hand and elapsed minute sub dial instantly “snap back” counterclockwise to zero. The exposed pushers pop and snap with classic tactile feedback. Of course it still a quartz and some may not like, but if you want a quartz piece, then this is the movement you need to have in your quartz piece. Of course, it would be very interesting to see a TPS version with the Seagull ST19 movement. It would be very cool if they did that or even a Valjoux 7750 or a cheaper Sellita SW500 version for maybe a very limited run. Anycase, the possibilities are infinite for these designs.
Roue TPS came with two straps which is very handy as I love to use leather straps in winter time and silicone straps in the summer. The watch came with a brown rally style leather strap with perforated holes and the second strap was a light grey silicone strap with a dotted pattern on the top. Both straps are fitted with the quick release spring bars which are handy to switch straps on the go without any tools. Both the straps have a very nice taper with 20mm at the lugs and 16mm at the buckle. Both straps come with a signed tang style buckle finished in brushed surfaces. Both the straps are really well made and very comfortable to wear, I actually put the silicone strap on one of my divers as it is so good! And the TPS as I received it was put on the perforated leather one as I think it works so well paired with it.
Overall I really like the watch, at 310$ you just can’t go wrong, yes of course I wish it would have a sapphire crystal for this price, but many of these type of chronographs don’t have a sapphire crystals. Anycase the TPS is a solid watch and come with a great package, for the money you get a stainless steel case which is very well made, nice design, reliable mecha-quartz Seiko movement made in Japan, two great straps and a watch roll for 3 watches. Can I suggest the watch? Without a doubt!
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