Horological Meandering

Stepan Sarpaneva S.U.F Komentaja Review

 

Much has been said about the watches that bear the Sarpaneva signature. Stepan Sarpaneva’s bold designs such as the Supernova, Loiste, and Korona series of watches are all attention grabbers. Less well known is his S.U.F line. S.U.F stands for SarpanevaUhrenFabrik. The core model of this collection is the Komentaja, or Commander, which is one of many watches in the crowded and competitive marketplace for military-style watches.

Stepan started this line to give himself a sideline business that was separate from his Sarpaneva labeled watches, with the goal of making high quality but inexpensive watches to allow him to make watches under his own name rather than having to make watches for others to earn his living (In the past he has worked for Michael Parmigiani, Vianney Halter, and Christophe Claret). In order to keep it simple, he has outsourced everything but the assembly of these watches, which he does himself. It is obvious that the suppliers Stepan has chosen do high quality work. The case has a nice satin finish, the dial is cleanly printed on a matte black base, and the movement is attractively finished.

Stepan has offered other, limited edition watches under the S.U.F label.





The Komentaja is a comfortable and fashionable 40 mm in diameter, excluding crown, and 9.7 high. The caseback is held down by five screws. The watch is water resistant to 10 atm. My watch comes on a Kevlar strap. Leather straps are also available. There is an alternative set of hands that the buyer could choose:



The buckle is different from any that I have come across before:



It took a day to get used to it, but I quite like the symmetry of it on the inside of my wrist.

There are some qualities the watch does not possess. The crown does not screw down. The date on the Soprod A-10 does not jump instantaneously at midnight, but rather slowly switches over to the next date after about 30 minutes. However, there is a quickset function for date correction should the watch not be worn for some time.

Stepan used to use the ETA 2824 inside his S.U.F watches. He switched to the Soprod A-10 last year due to concerns about ETA not supplying movements outside of the Swatch Group. Soprod made the A-10 as a  direct replacement for ETA 2892. The width dimensions are the same between the 2892, 2824, and A-10, so the same hands and dials one used for ETA movements can also be used for the A-10, but the A-10 is 1 mm thicker than the 2824, so casing modifications may be necessary. It has a 42 hour power reserve and hacking seconds. I cannot speak to its reliability yet, but I think that the A10 is a more attractive movement than the 2824. The movements are finished by Soprod. Stepan will adjust them if neccessary.



A note about the serial numbers: the top numbers engraved into the caseback - 23.50 on my watch - mean watch number 23 out of 50 total. The bottom number is the serial number of the watch. In my case, I have the 489th S.U.F produced, Komentaja and others too. There has been previous series of S.U.F Komentaja watches, with the ETA movement, and there is currently a run of 20 with a carbon fiber dial.

The watch comes in a nice Beco leather case and carries a two-year warrantee. It took less than a month between ordering the watch, with full payment due at the time of order, to delivery.

The S.U.F Komentaja is priced between IWC’s Mark XV on the high side and the Sinn 556 on the low. I find it to be a compelling value, and I am happy that in buying it I have supported a watchmaker whose vision I want to see furthered.


Bill