Some time ago I reviewed a watch from a new Chinese company called Boderry. That watch was so good for the price with 72h power reserve, sapphire crystal, titanium case and all that for 199$ which is nothing. But today I’m pleased to announce the Boderry Elite Micro-Rotor watch and Boderry claims it is the cheapest Micro-Rotor in the world! Right now the watch is on Indiegogo and you can get it as cheap as 199$. The micro-rotor comes in 3 dial colours (black, green, white) and 3 different case colours (stainless steel, yellow gold and black pvd). I chose the classic looking black dial with stainless steel case. It kind of reminds a Patek Philippe and some of them also use micro-rotor movement.

The watch came in a pretty good looking clam shell style box. Inside the box you will find the watch, warranty and instructions manual. The first impressions of the watch is that it feels and looks like it costs a lot more than it retails for. Boderry really found their niche that isn’t filled: which is cheap, interesting watches with cool Chinese movements that aren’t used a lot in other brands. I actually am surprised how they can build them so cheaply and also make money.

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The case of the Elite is made of 316L stainless steel. The machine work is done pretty good with nice lines. The whole case is polished and the finishing is done really good without any blemishes. The case diameter is 40mm, the thickness is 9,8mm, from lug tip to lug tip it measures at 46mm and the lug width is 20mm. The dimensions in my opinion are perfect, of course I would love a 38mm version, but this is good enough too and maybe 40mm is even better as it covers wider range of people who have maybe bigger wrists. The thickness actually surprised me as usually these affordable dress watches are over 10mm in thickness rather than slimmer, especially if they are automatic like this one. At 3 o’clock we have a signed push-pull crown which has a decent action and is easy to grip. The exhibition case back is held on with 6 small screws. One thing that is suprising is that on the case back we have a flat sapphire crystal and on the front we have a slightly domed sapphire crystal too. I have seen some 700$ watches that has sapphire only on front and on the back a mineral crystal. But here we have sapphire on both sides which is really impressive at this price. The water resistance is 5ATM (50m) which is good for splashes only (hand wash, rain etc.).

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The dial is also pretty nice in black colour with white printed minute track on the edge and applied polished arabic numerals which kind of remind me the Breguet numerals. At 7:00 o’clock we have a small seconds sub dial with white markers. The subdial sits slight lower than the main dial itself. At 3 o’clock we have a rectangular date window with white date wheel which kind of ruins the dial. I think a dress watches doen’t need a date, but then some people like them, but I would’ve made the datewheel with white on black. At 12 o’clock we have the Boderry logo and at 6 o’clock “Automatic”. The polished dauphine hands are quite nice and fit the style of the watch.

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Inside the Boderry Elite is a decorated Hangzhou 5000B movement. It is an automatic self-winding movement made in China by Hangzhou Watch Company. Usually, self-winding movements have a rotor that covers about half of the movement and sits on top of the movement. As you move, it rotates. As it rotates, it winds the watch. A clutch mechanism prevents the movement from being overwound. A micro-rotor is, as you might expect the same thing, just a lot smaller. It sits within the movement itself, therefore, allowing for a much thinner case. The Hangzhou 5000 movement ticks at a high-beat 28800bph and has a 42-hour power reserve. Those are pretty good specs. Mine example runs at about +7 to +8 seconds a day which is really good. I have been allowed to keep the review watch, so I will update the review if something breaks or anything! The last Boderry watch is still ticking away nicely after a year of wearing it. The movement looks great behind the glass case back, looking much more expensive than the price would suggest.

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For a $199 watch, costs have to be cut somewhere and as you would expect, the strap on the Boderry Elite is pretty basic genuine leather strap with alligator print. It’s not the worst one, but it also ain’t the best one. I would highly suggest changing it as you get the watch. The clasp is a standard butterfly deployant, but Boderry went extra step and it has a perlage on the inside of the clasp. The clasp is signed with Boderry logo on top. The clasp does it’s job pretty well securing the watch on your wrist.

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Overall the watch I think is worth every penny. It has an automatic movement that is quite interesting and pretty decent, it has sapphire crystal on both sides, nice and simple design, quite good finishing and well made. I bet you won’t find a watch this good with micro rotor movement at this price range anywhere as there just isn’t one. The closest we get is maybe the one from brand Solas, but that one is around 650$ which is way more than the Boderry Elite. In my opinion this is a very interesting watch that won’t break the bank! I for example am keeping it and right now it will stay in my collection of microbrands and I will enjoy it for now, so maybe this review will get updated in some time of how it is running, or something broke etc.

Price: 199$ @ boderry.com