Damasko DK10 & Stowa Flieger Klassik 40 Order

iim7v7im7 · 2017-02-11T19:22:31Z

Collector iim7v7im7 shares his experience ordering a customized Damasko DK10 with an in-house A35-1 movement and a Stowa Flieger Klassik 40 Handwinding No Logo Limited. Discover German micro-brand value.

I have owned a number of German watches across the years by Chronoswiss (3), Glashutte Original (1), Sinn (3) and Stowa (1), but all have passed from my collection for a variety of reasons (some photos below but missing Stowa and a Sinn). I recently dove back into the German "watch pond" and ordered two German pilot style watches from two different micro-brands. They are both being built to order, so delivery is out some months (one in March/April and the other in May/June).

Damasko DK10: I ordered a slightly customized version of this watch (benefit of a micro-brand). It is very much a 42.0 mm x 14.2 mm tool watch with a nickel free ice hardened case, bezel, crown and bracelet. The version that ordered is stock other than a white bezel bilight (upper right) instead of the red one shown. I also ordered it with a 60-minute bezel instead of the 12-hour shown. It is very much an "engineers" watch chock full of interesting technological innovations.

The watch has a rather novel in-house movement (A35-1) for small, independent company that has been in production since 2010. The movement has a silicon balance spring, lubricant free escapement and an interesting winding system (if you're a technical geek read their website). The bracelet is also rather novel in its design. It is not an expensive watch for what it is (<50% of a Rolex Sub for example) but is quite feature rich. It should arrive in March or April and I will share my impressions when it arrives.

Stowa Flieger Klassik 40 Handwinding No Logo Limited: I last ordered a Stowa about 10-years ago (I had it for about 2-3 years). Stowa produces very nice watches that punch way above their "price weight" in my opinion. I have been wanting a simple dialed, manual wind watch with central seconds, no date that hacks for a while. Stowa is making 90 of this style (other versions with ETA 6498-1 and ETA 6497-1 as well as automatics with ETA 2824-2 as well) to commemorate their 90th anniversary. It is small for a Type A Flieger (40.0 mm x 10.2 mm) which tend to be in the 43-45 mm range which is a positive for me. They are using an ETA 2804-2 which is the manual wind version of the venerable ETA 2824-2. The movement has a date wheel so I suspect when setting the time I will feel a "click" passing midnight.

The Stowa website doesn't show the handwind version just the automatic version (right) but the dial, case, case back, crown and strap are the same. The dial lume is a Luminova version designed to look like the old radium used in the past. I am showing an older Stowa Flieger (right) with an ETA 2801-2 which is the same movement minus the date wheel. I suspect that it will look similar. At ~$1,000, it really was a "no brainer" for me. It should arrive in May or June and I will share my impressions when it arrives.

Damasko DK10 & Stowa Flieger Klassik 40 Order

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