Left of right? The Subdelta Quattro
If you love watches, I mean really love them in the sense that they are in your head all the time, you have probably learn that there are a few ways that a watch should look like: round for sure, 2 or 3 hands? of course… and usually with the crown to the right. If you ask a kid to draw a wrist watch I bet it would look something like a Rolex Oyster Datejust, that's not a coincidence because when you ask an average person who is not into watches Rolex and its classic oyster case is the first that comes to mind. As an enthusiast at some point you will try to find your way in different styles, somehow regular watches start to look boring and you crave for something different, it is human nature, people usually wants to stand out.
There are many brands who differ from the rules on how a watch should look like, in the case of military watches the brands have even less to play with as they have to trade looks for specification, flair is not an option. So how to re invent a military watch? How to create something that has legibility, toughness and reliability, well here is when I came across with Subdelta a luxury tool watch brand which believed they had a good concept to take a shot at this, and you know what? I think they hit the nail in the head. The watch that we are reviewing is the Subdelta Quattro, a military watch with so many hidden features as an arcade game, from the dial to the way it wears (and how you can wear it) its just something that any watch lover will go for, this ain't no Rolex this is something else, lets begin.
Specifications:
Well yes the watch has a round case but that's it, that’s the only common watch trend in the Quattro, the case is 40mm sand blasted, the grey matte color gives a military appearance with many lines as in a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the Quattro looks like is made to avoid radar signals. The dial is like anything I've seen so far and this is when the piece starts to depart from traditional watches, this is a one hand watch. The dial has 12 large markers which look like Excalibur swords to indicate the hours, inside these markers there are 3 indicators for the 15 minutes intervals. The whole watch is a perfect symmetry and in the world of watch lovers (I think we all might have a bit of OCD) its just haven. You might be thinking like I did : '' if is just one hand then the watch would look like is not working right?…'' but you'll be wrong as the brand logo in the centre turns! This small detail creates a visual impact that doesn’t distract from the main propose which is to tell time. Regarding the power unit under the hood we can find a reliable modified in house Sellita SW210-1 powering the Quattro, it feels a joy to wind and also to set via the octagonal (hope I am counting right) crown, you can really hear the crunch while using it giving a feel of quality that at this price point is un heard of.
We mentioned that legibility is a necessity among military watches and the Quattro doesn’t disappoint, the sandwich dial is a torch and it has Swiss Super-LumiNova C3 X1 Grade A applied , when I saw this watch in the dark it just made me smile thinking that they haven't cut corners whatsoever, even the logo is present in the dark, just sitting, turning and glowing.
On the wrist:
You can see that I really loved this piece, but here comes the best part, how it wears or let's just say: ''however you want to wear it''. You probably noticed that the watch name is Quattro which is ''four'' in Italian but why? Well you can wear this watch in four different ways, crown in and crown out on each wrist, you only have to flip the watch and change the hours to suit left or right hand. When I was speaking to Lennart (founder of the company) and he explained that to me it just blew my mind, so simple but yet so different, legibility was the last thing on my mind after receiving the watch but I can see it was the first thing on the design team at Subdelta, you can really read this watch while doing hammerheads on a plane. The watch comes on a very cool green Barton canvas strap with quick release so you can swap the buckle end in case you want to switch wrists and everything lines ups like a charm (yes I am that guy).
Conclusion:
Its amazing how a small thing on your wrist can be interpreted in so many ways: how it should look like, what is important on the design or what is going to be commercial or not.
The Subdelta Quattro fells like an exercise of creating a tool watch that can really withstand abuse on tricky situation while keeping all the things we love on an everyday piece. After spending time with the Quattro that kid in me who drew the Rolex has begun to explore more and more on different designs, different watches, I am so glad that he is now thinking outside the box, we love the Datejust but we definitely do not need another one.
For more information please visit www.subdelta.com
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