Independents

Zeitwinkel 273 - a mini review

 

So what's in a name??

In this case, Zeitwinkel means a unit of measurement used to calculate the "true local time."
I understand that to a few members the name causing some hilarity and amusement, while other think that the name makes no sense at all! Even the model numbers are named after angles, as well a personal meaning to the two founders of the company are Ivica Maksimovic and Peter Nikolaus.

So, I thought that it was time to write a mini review on the Zeitwinkel 273.
Please forgive my poor iPhone photo skills!

I was fortunate to meet Peter, earlier this year as he was passing through the UK, meeting the founder of the company, is always a positive when you are, imo, thinking about buying one of there watches

I discovered the brand, completely by accident, while I was looking through an issue of the QP magazine. You know what it is like when you see something that you like, you come immediately attracted to it. Well, this is what happened to me, and so I start to research the brand in ernest.

They started in 2006, but didn't release there first watch until 2009, in total they make approx 500 watches per annum and have 15 members of staff.

The retail network is very small and unfortunately they have no UK dealers.

Before, I finally decided to buy a 273 in August this year, I had the opportunity, as previously mentioned to meet Peter and inspect the collection.
The finish on the watches and the movement imo are beautifully made.

The case, as you can see appears to be in three sections with a matte glass blasted middle, with top & bottom polished parts. Which I think works very well. The diameter of the 273 is approx 42mm which is about as large a watch that I can wear, the crown is quite large, but does sit slightly recessed into the case, which makes it east to get a nail underneath to pull out the crown. Which has two functions, one to quick set the date and the other to set the time, it also comes with a "Hack" facility.



Now, I have been fortunate in my life to exam and wear many different brands of watches and I have to say, hand on heart, that I am very impressed with the craftsmanship and finish on the movement. Which features their own in-house calibre's, the ZW -0103. All of the bridges and plates are 100% German silver, there are 49 jewels, the movement has 387 parts and a power reserve of 72 hours which can be seen by the PR indicator fitted between the 1-2 markers.


The hands on both the PR and the large 2nd hand are blue, which adds a nice touch, though to be honest, I would have liked the hour & minute hands also to have been blue. Though these hands are so designed and angled, so as to create the maximum legibility. With such a clear dial, telling the time is pretty easy in all but the darkest of conditions.

The date, which you can see is very large, changes within a few minutes of midnight passing and is only one of four companies, so I am led to believe that has the large patented. What I particulary like about the set on the date is that when you are in single figures, there is a 0 in the L/H box, like the Glashutte Original has. The company probably most famous for it's large date is Lange & Sohne and something that always niggled me, is the fact that their L/H box was always blank, which gave me the impression that something was missing. The date when you look closely at it, the section on the L/H side sits slightly lower then the R/H number, I guess that this is how they prefer to set up their date, whereas as the large date on GO date is level with each other.


The accuracy of the movement is very good and easily passes the COSC standard.

The watch comes fitted on a, I think, titanium deployant with a choice of different coloured straps. You also get the option of having a rubber strap fitted.



Though the crown is not a screw in, it still has double seals and is WR to 50M.


The watch, though giving the impression of sitting high up of the wrist, is surprisingly very comparable with the diameter of the watch and I am yet to knock it, which is very good for me!!!!
And you do have to watch the polished smooth bezel!


The watch is my daily wearer and fulfills all of my requirements.

If there is one slight fly in the oil, as some members are aware, it's the price, at around £7,000 for this model it is not cheap.
But I did take this into account, before deciding on buying.
What helped me decide, was the exclusivity of the brand, limited production, the in-house calibre, the beautiful craftsmanship. And not the least the excellent communication that I had not only from the company but also Peter himself.

When my watch failed to arrive as I had expected, Peter rang me on that day and apologised to me. In fact the issue was not with Zeitwinkel, but with the international Courier company, who forgot to dispatch it!!

I hope that you like my mini review and photos of a brand that you don't read very much about.

Thank you for looking

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