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Editor’s Note: Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH) has moved online and Baselworld 2020 is canceled, but that hasn’t stopped watch brands large and small from debuting their new wares. Stay on top of this year’s best new watch releases here.
Due to the proliferation of inexpensive but relatively robust mechanical movements — and the spreading love of the watches they power — more and more “microbrand” watch companies seem to spring up every year. Alkin was established in 2018 in Bristol, UK by a furniture designer and watch collector named Charlie Fowler with the desire to produce simply designed, functional products that stand the test of time.
To that end, Fowler’s latest watch utilizes a case type that has indeed stood the test of time, despite the fact that its genuine usefulness is probably secondary to the attractiveness of its design: namely, the “super compressor.” (Of course, the genuine utility of a watch with hundreds of meters of water resistance and a dedicated, rotating dive bezel in 2020 is probably questionable at best to anyone other than a genuine horophile, but I digress. We like dive watches, here.)
The Model Two — which will be available for purchase on June 30th in one of three colorways — is a super compressor-style diver housed in a 41mm stainless steel case, powered by an automatic Miyota 9039 movement. Notably, it updates the vintage specs of an original compressor with 300m of water resistance and screw-down crowns, making for a more robust package. The watch also comes equipped with sapphire crystal featuring anti-reflective coating, an internal, bi-directional dive bezel controlled by one of the crowns, and a brushed, matching steel Oyster-style bracelet.
Available colors on the Model 2 include black, blue, and fully-lumed white, each of which features Super-LumiNova BGW9 illumination on the hands and bezel indices. The Arabic dial indices, which were designed by British typographer Gareth Hague, are screen-printed in a multi-layer process that raises them above the dial somewhat, much like vintage radium or tritium-filled indices. These are flanked by cutout hour indices revealing a lume-coated dial beneath, produced in a “sandwich” design. Overall, the process makes for a dynamic look that betrays an eye for both aesthetics and utility.
Impressively, MSRP on the Model 2 will run just $499, with a pre-order price of only $399. You can nab yours at 11AM EST on June 30th.
