Kickstarter is picking up speed again with some pretty impressive watches, and one of them is the Tempest Carbon2, the brands second watch crafted from forged carbon. An impressive accomplishment, especially from a microbrand like Tempest, and even more so given the quality of the watch.
Saying that a watch is perfect goes very far, but given what Tempest presents with the Carbon2, it comes close, very close. Of course there are not many watches available in forged carbon, especially not at this price level, but Tempest doesn’t cut any corners to get there. The case is shaped like a dome, and topped of with a domed Sapphire Crystal. To avoid distortion and reflections Tempest fitted it also with an inner Anti-Reflection Coating, double domed for reduced distortion.
The forged carbon gives each case a nice and unique texture, like a ton-sur-ton camouflage. The dial is all business, clearly legible, with a military kind of look. The inner diving bezel can be turned with the upper crown. Both crowns are screw down, and this results into a water resistance of 200 meters or 660 feet.
With a diameter of 42.5 mm Tempest kept the size of the Carbon2 nicely in check. Not an overly large watch that couldn’t control its hormone injections, but a well proportioned sports watch. The case back is black PVD coated steel, secured with six screws to the case itself. Nice detail is the engraving of the carbon element as in the periodic table.
Inside the case of the Carbon2 ticks Miyota caliber 9015. This automatic movement is not the most exciting caliber on the planet, but it gets the job done, and done well. It has hacking seconds, offers manual winding and comes with a 42 hour power reserve. A solid workhorse movement for a well made watch.
The Carbon2 comes on a water-Resistant Nylon strap with leather liner, featuring a steel, black PVD coated buckle with Tempest logo. At time of writing there are still some early bird specials available at US$765,- which is an extremely competitive price for such an well crafted watch made out of this exotic material. Like I said, on all fronts the Carbon2 is very close to being the perfect carbon watch.
More information about the Carbon2 can be found on Kickstarter
Worth checking out the forged carbon Neonos Holland//01 watch just up on kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neonos/forged-carbon-dive-watch
Hi Simon,
Thanks for pointing this out to us, but we already reviewed the Neonos: http://www.watchisthis.com/neonos-holland01-forged-carbon-ireland/
Indeed worth checking out!
All the best,
Martin