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alex
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Direct from Helsinki: My Sarpaneva Korona RG

Sometimes there are watches and brands with whom you immediately fall in love with and others where you go “WOAH what the hell was this guy smoking?” when you see the watch. Often you get bored of the first category quite fast whilst the second category can grow on you. Sarpaneva falls in the latter.

I had seen his watches and even though his first creations had caught my attention I had found them not only too bizarre but also too brute and industrial. However, as my tastes in watches evolved and became more acute I started looking at his creations with a different eye. The Supernova was the one that really caught my eye, I loved the open dial where you could see the gears and pinions and especially the funky off beat notched case. Unfortunately the Supernova was made in extremely limited numbers and quickly sold out.

About a year ago Stepan Sarpaneva brought out what would be his version of the Royal Oak or Reverso: an instant icon in dissociable from the watchmaker: the Korona. A model with a grid like dial available with closed dial, open dial or the famous gothic sculpted moonphase. The case was also reminiscent of the Loiste and Supernova with discreet notches. A fantastic watch but I found the case to be too “tame”, Stepan is a wild one and I felt in a way that he was holding back.

I was struck at Basel this year when I saw Stepan’s new reiteration of the Korona , in a gold case (either rose or white) with the now traditional grid like dial and engraved moonphase but with a more vicious notched case, I didn’t need much persuasion that this watch had to be on my wrist in a not too distant future or my life would not ne complete.

I chose the rose gold version which I found to be more dramatic and to highlight the dial and moon more.

The fun part was that I actually went to Helsinki for a week end to pick my watch and visit Stepan. I have to say that Stepan is not only a gifted watchmaker and designer but one hell of a nice guy who went out of his way to show me life in Helsinki, and believe me Helsinki is one hell of a great place but that’s another story.

So without further ado here is the presentation of my Korona RG

Today if you want a design oriented watch you either get the entry level fashion stuff or pieces from Vianney Halter, Urwek or MB&F but which come with an immense price tag What I particularly like about Stepan’s work is that you get design + real horology at a rather decent price, you get your bang for your buck and that’s kudos to him.

  My Korona RG has not only been getting an immense lot of wrist time in the past month but also a lot of positive comments even from those who have no interest in watches. The case, the dial and especially the moonface attract people.

It is a great watch to wear; I love the fact that the moonphase function can be set via the crown and not a pusher on the side.

Today if you want a design oriented watch you either get the entry level fashion stuff or pieces from Vianney Halter, Urwek or MB&F but which come with an immense price tag What I particularly like about Stepan’s work is that you get design + real horology at a rather decent price, you get your bang for your buck and that’s kudos to him.

  My Korona RG has not only been getting an immense lot of wrist time in the past month but also a lot of positive comments even from those who have no interest in watches. The case, the dial and especially the moonface attract people.

It is a great watch to wear; I love the fact that the moonphase function can be set via the crown and not a pusher on the side. The movement is a Soprod but which Stepan completely reworks keeping only the gear train and escapment!

I have a special feature on my watch: the moon on the rotor is in white gold and not in the same metal as the case: 

the bucke is in the same shape as the notches on the case:

the crown is a smaller version of the case:

some scans of the "underdial" moonfaces: