Laine Watch Acquisition and Review

Jay (Eire)'s post introduces his latest acquisition, a Laine watch, highlighting the unique satisfaction of unplanned purchases in a collection. He shares his journey of discovering Torsti Laine's work and the experience of seeing these independent watches in person. This article delves into the appeal of Laine's craftsmanship and the considerations collectors weigh when acquiring pieces from independent watchmakers.

So, sometimes watches just appear.  

I’ve found that over the last 20+ years of this journey that it’s often the unplanned purchases which are the ones that endure in the collection.  Usually this is not completely blind, by that I mean it’s not a watch / brand that I am completely unaware of.  Rather, these are watches I wasn’t chasing, actively targeting or even actively considering as a future acquisition.

There are several watches which I acquired over the years that fit this bill.  Recently, I added another which (in time) might fall into this category. 

With the help of the watch friend, who provided both the introduction and some translation services (a man of many hats, and business cards, he is), several weeks ago I visited the Japanese representative for Laine.  

Torsti had recently been in Japan for one of those regular watch shows the big department stores often host.  Because of the show there were three models of the Gelidus now at AD.

Long story short, seeing the watches in the metal I was smitten.  And while Torsti offers a wide level of customization (both dial and movement) I couldn’t see how I could improve on one of the off the shelf models.

Perhaps I could have added something personal to the movement side, but honestly, I can still do that if I want.  

More to the point, the dial was what captured me. 

Perfect simplicity, with a little personality and sparkle via the sandblasting and circular grained finish (all done by hand).  I found that this colour, anthracite or grey (honestly I’m not sure what he’s calling it), was most versatile and unlike anything else I currently owned.  That was the deciding factor. 

I’m sure we’ll see more of these here.  Although production is still relatively limited as Torsti is a one man show, I believe he may look to add some bodies which might bring production to the 50-70 watches annually.

Some movement shots to finish up.  It’s a Unitas base, a workhorse perhaps but there’s nothing wrong with workhorses.  A similar finish is applied to the movement (sandblast, with choices of rose, yellow gold and anthracite) and a reasonable level of hand polish is also present.  It’s pretty, and it’s pretty dam good at the price point.