The new classic – Straton Syncro

I see, more and more in the last years, a comeback of the classic watches designs. I could not be happier to have the opportunity to choose between a wide range of new, modern ideas and reiterated classic designs, most of them iconic, especially when these come with an affordable price tag.

A modern watch with a classic design comes from the Straton Watch Co., a company that already had two successful campaigns on Kickstarter and made a new one which raised more than 250,000CHF with a watch named Straton Syncro.
Following a classic chronograph design, inspired from the successful names from the 70’s as the Seiko Speed-Timer, Bulova Deep Sea or Breitling TransOcean Blue Dial, this watch has the advantages of the modern technique and a warm, vintage look. I consider this look the main reason of this campaign’s success.

A useful choice is the case sizes: available in 40mm or 44mm diameter with 14.9mm thickness, with adomed sapphire crystal and screw down crown with Straton’s logo embossed and high polished push buttons for the chronograph function, both cases offering 20atm/200m of water resistance. The case shape follows the 70’s lines without being boring and the choosing size opportunity makes this watch wearable at any wrist size – a big plus. The 316L stainless steel case has a fine brushed finish with nice beveled and highly polished edge that together with the polished and brushed combination of the bezel edges leads to a nice contrast and a modern look.

There are two types of movement options available: the Seiko NE88 Automatic movement or Seiko VK64 meca-quartz. The NE88 is an automatic chronograph with column wheel introduced in 2014 and is part of the ‘Premium Mechanical’ series having fine finishing and high accuracy. A special feature is the Seiko’s signature triple-tipped hammer for a simultaneous reset of all the sub-dial’s hands with vertical clutch for the chronograph engagement. The NE88 has a diameter of 28.60mm;it has 34 jewels, a standard modern heart beating with 4Hz or 28800vph which offers 45 hours of power reserve.
The Seiko VK64 is an hybrid movement: a quartz base, having the clear advantages in matter of precision and usability (just a battery to change), with a mechanical chronograph module on top, offering the nice feeling and behavior of the mechanical movements.
The Syncro Automatic comes with see-trough case-back and the SyncroMeca-Quartz comes with a steel case-back.

So, two case sizes, two movements to choose from… For the dial there are five versions available, named from A to E. The E version has a black DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coated case. Every version comes with its own strap type: one of them is a beautiful Milanese steel strap, the others are racing inspired leather straps. The dials have a warm color combination between blue, black and silver with applied steel baton hour indexes with Superluminova insertion, skeleton hour and minutes steel hands with generous Superluminova and gorgeous orange painted hands for seconds and sub-dials. And I almost forgot – you can decide if you want a date window or not!

The watch comes with two possible bezel types: an Automotive inspired design with chequered racing bezel and a Diving look with block minute dive bezel. Both designs are interesting and I cannot decide which one I like most since the racing style looks very good, but the diving bezel contributes to the classic look. Nevertheless, both sapphire bezel variants have a great Superluminova insertion that makes a great impression in the dark. Just look at the pictures bellow:

For every pre-ordered watch, you can choose, additionally, two racing inspired NATO straps with interesting combinations of colors and stripes. It all comes in a very nice watch case, well build, that can keep not only the watch but also the extra straps, being useful for travelling.

The entire campaign is very well conceived offering not only a whole palette of watch variations, but also very beautiful and useful racing inspired striped duffel bags that are also available in different color variations. This type of highly customization between a watch and other accessories is met only on much more expensive brands.

Another important aspect, sometimes the most important one when it comes to a purchase, is the campaign’s price.There are many available combinations, the most notable are: 599CHF for the SyncroMeca-Quartz plus one bag or two Meca-Quartz watches, 699CHF for a Syncro Automatic, 949CHF for a Syncro Automatic plus one duffel bag or just 299CHF for a duffel bag.
Please visit the Straton Website for more information.