From outer Space: The Collins Hyperion Meteorite
There are many dial finishes in the watch world, you have sunburst, matte, mother of pearl, sandwich and even skeleton dials just to name a few, for many enthusiast the dial is one of the first things that stands out and it is no surprise, we eat as much with our eyes as we do with our mouth but that’s another topic. There are 2 types of collectors, the one that his taste is based sole on the aesthetics of a watch and the other one that focus on the technical specifications, to me is a mix of both but the design and uniqueness of a watch (I must confess) plays a bigger role in my mind. Over the past years I have seen brands like Omega really taking advantage of their connection with space, having a piece of your wrist with the same specifications as the ones which have been worn on the moon is a great conversation starter but, what if your dial really came from outer space? To me that's far more impressive, I was so drawn into this idea that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a meteorite dial. As everyone I started searching on Ebay, then I moved out to Chrono24 and I did find some interesting pieces but none of them caught my eye until a classic google search revealed the Hyperion from the Collins Watch Company. There it was, that lovely stone like pattern in grey with a ''flieger'' appearance, aged lume and a price that was not crazy like the GMT Master II meteorite in white gold, yes I love that watch but not enough. The Hyperion ticked every box that I've could think of so I reached out to Jimmy Collings (the founder of the company) to see if he would be kind enough to send me the watch for review, he agreed and here we are with this beautiful piece that in my opinion not many come close, lets begin.
The Specification:
As mentioned before the Hyperion is a ''flieger'' inspired watch, everything screams German pilot but it has it's own design language. The case is a 40mm with a lug to lug under 49mm which fits perfectly with my 6.25 wrist, it’s a 13.5 mm thick making it very wearable and a perfect companion as an everyday watch.
The case has a sapphire exhibition case back which houses a robust Sellita SW200 with a decorated rotor, good old swiss time keeping which gives confidence every time you wind up the signed crown. The specs are beyond on what you expect from the price but as you can see I am trying to list them so I can focus on what I believe is what we are here for which is the dial. The dial is a Muonionalusta Meteorite which contrast beautifully with the old aged lume, the light grey and unique pattern gives this watch something that I haven't experienced before, it is strange to have a material on your wrist that some point it was floating somewhere in our solar system, how is that for a conversation starter Omega? I have seen (in pictures) meteorite dials that do not work well, legibility is an issue or sometimes they look cartoonish, in the case of the Hyperion the watch looks like it
was meant to be, legible with large beige numerals, hands with black borders and a large (very large) seconds hands which can almost touch the chapter ring, the result is a great minimalistic dial with almost no writing letting you enjoy the surface of your unique piece. A great thing about the Hyperion is that every dial is different because you cannot mimic the meteorite pattern, if it was me I would probably wrap up the project at this point and call it day, think about it, you already have a refined movement with a great design but there is more.
It's great that I am no watch designer because with the hypnotic power of the dial I forgot that being a pilots watch it has to be legible, here is when the Super Luminova kicks in, the whole watch is visible even in the darkest room, the four numerals are perfectly marked and the hands illuminate the dial as hard as possible, you can even see the meteorite dial because of the hands reflections, yes is that potent, even the seconds hand is lume, I wonder why don’t watch companies do that more often?
On the wrist:
With a great lug to lug, perfect thickness and case size, the watch wear like a charm, it doesn’t look small it doesn’t look big. The brown leather strap is perfect for this kind of watch, it feels as luxurious as the whole piece, it feels bespoke.
With its monochromatic scheme the watch is a strap monster, currently I am wearing it with a green nato strap, it looks as great as anything. The legibility is clear at first glance and even with the sun hits the dial the big sword hands with black boarders are easy to spot to tell the time. I found myself more than often just staring at the dial thinking the full journey that the meteorite took to land on my wrist saying: ''this is the coolest watch I have on rotation..'' . The watch wears exactly like and IWC Mark VIII and you do not need me to tell you that this is a great fit.
Conclusion:
I found my time with the Hyperion unique, very attached to it, more and more every day. Collins did a great job covering the basics on the movement and design so you can focus solely on the dial and forget about the rest.
The specs found in the Hyperion are worthy of a watch which costs 3x the price but thankfully this is not the case. If you list all boxes that you will tick while using this watch you will definitely understand that is an irresistible package, Swiss movement regulated so it performs admirably, dimensions of an everyday watch and an unique story that you can tell to everyone even if they are not into watches. I've told to my colleagues the origins of this dial every time I encountered them and not even once I managed to keep the watch on my wrist, they just wanted to see it. I felt a real connection with this meteorite beauty, to me Collins has a unique proposition than I am not sure yours truly will be able to resist.
For more information visit www.collinwatch.com
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