French microbrand Baltic consistently shows up in rankings of the best affordable watch brands on the market, and after recently checking out the brand’s handiwork in the metal for the first time at Windup New York, I see what all the fuss is about.
The brand’s styles are drop-dead gorgeous and its finishing and execution both feel elevated for the price point. After playing it safe with its early vintage-inspired pieces like now-iconic Aquascaphe and Bicompax, lately the brand has flexed its creative muscles with weirder releases like the difficult-to-categorize Prismic and micro-rotor-powered MR.
But perhaps Baltic’s most unique watch — and one of its best — is the Hermétique Tourer. Ostensibly a field watch, it looks like no other watch in its category with its bold floating markers made of solid lume, its integrated crown, and the polished steel “blades” encircling its multi-layered dial. First released in stainless steel last year, the Hermétique quickly stood out in a sea of same-same field watches.
Now, a year later, Baltic has introduced a new model to the Hermétique line that makes the quirky field watch feel even more original.
Bronze Age
The Hermétique has officially entered its Bronze Age.
Baltic has rolled out three new versions of the contemporary field watch in blue, green and brown, each with a 37mm case made of bronze CuAl8 (a copper-aluminum alloy).
