Horological Meandering

I can’t get enough when it comes to watches ! I don’t mean buying - even though I wish I had a tree with leaves made of 1000 dollar bills growing in my back yard – but rather in searching about them. And nothing gives me more pleasure than finding a new, small brand which strikes the right chords.

ZZ Watches is one of them.

I stumbled on a photo in Feb or March while surfing the net and I was immediately struck by the visually strong design and most of all the alternative time display with jump hours (at noon) and wondering minutes via an aperture at the bottom.

I found their web site and emailed asking about the watches and price. I rapidly got a response saying that the brand would officially be launched mid April but that they would be happy to show me their pieces. What got me really excited was that it was actually a watch I could afford without having to sell any vital organs (not that said organs actually have any function left it my body J ).

Anyway to make a long story short I met for lunch with the founders of ZZ Watches (a husband and wife thus ZZ being their initials) and what was supposed to be a rapid presentation ended up being a most pleasant 3 hours lunch.

What I find appealing in a watch is obviously the object in itself but also the people behind it and the latter is almost as important as the former and this can make or break it.

With ZZ it was definitely a maker!

The founders are a young couple who love and collect watches but were not from the watch world – which probably explains their crazy venture into horology in these troubled times but also the fact that they had totally fresh ideas!

Without further ado I present to you my Tornado from ZZ Watch

I was first attracted to the Cyclone hereunder with a 39mm case but after trying the larger Tornado (43mm) I opted for the later

theunderdial, notce the circular Geneva waves

The Tornado uses a Soprod base movement with an additional jump hour / wandering minutes module. Thechange of hours is really smooth with no play

 

The dial is multi layered with an outter honeycomb metal pattern with two bridges on top holding the hour and minute wheel which can bee seen through a blue tinted saphire crystal

A crown guard protects the crown giving the Tornade a rather sporty look

The inevitable wrist shot


The two watches having gotten the most wrist time in the past weeks

ZZ Watches obviously are not a haute horlogerie brand and those who know me know the utmost respect I can have for the Dufours, Voutilainens and Ferriers of this world but its also good to have some fun and the Tornade is that…a watch that is made with great care with lots of details you don’t see in watches of this price range but it definitely is fun and has not only been getting a lot of wrist time in the past week but also putting a great smile on my face each time I strap it on

This message has been edited by WHL on 2014-04-14 09:21:35

mixing and matching in the world of horology Alex and the last photo exemplifies it all. When something comes along that ticks your fancy and does not involve a huge sacrifice, why hold back? This ZZ brand looks promising and incorporates a distinctive and unique design that could have come from one of the bigger brands but obviously at a different level and price point.

Please tell us more about it and ownership experience when you have the time. In the meantime enjoy your fabulous new acquisition!

Best

fernando

good sign

this over the 39mm? Does the 43mm look better on the wrist or is there another reason?

a bit too small or a bit too calm. I'm fine with wearing 35mm watches as well as 47mm watches so not a question of size but of fit

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That is a cool watch, it looks to be quite well made.

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I really fancy the dial layout, and the asymmetrical location of the hour disc, while maintaining the aperture at 12.  Very creative design.

e

Preview Post

bezzel but true that the lugs look similar

The Admiral's Cup actually has a dodecagonal bezel (12 sides). The ZZ has a dodecagon inner ring around the dial. Therefore they look pretty much the same as in both case the dial looks/is dodecagonal. Also the same type of crown protector has been used by Corum in the past... If you add the lugs and other elements the resemblance with different iterations of the Admiral's Cup gets obvious/disturbing in my opinion. It is actually sad because the dial itself is very appealing and original.

Just my two cents and enjoy an otherwise good looking watch.

Best,

Goldenlutin

I finally found their website after thumbing through ZZ top tribute pages and professinal storm chasers only to find no details of distribution or pricing.

Sevenfriday which is made in China (I have the P3 and love it!)  

The bridges while being beautiful don't actually look functional as the photos seems to show the base movement using screws to secure the hour and minute wheels and therefore not needing an end jewel for the pinion.  Is this correct?

I think your point is very intersting. Sevenfriday is assembled in China with Chinese components (movement is from Myota thus Japanese) and offered at around $1000 which is pretty hard to beat if you make your watches in Switzerland with Swiss parts and have the disadvantage of making small quatities and thus have to pay mega prices as you have no volume.

For many consumers Swiss made is very important.  Having had my fair share of Swiss watches of questionable quality it is not a designation that holds much weight for me personally and the leaps in quality displayed by many of the HK micro brands and Seagull of mainland China show what can be done at reasonable cost.

I loved them honestly and interesting dial display

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in the city of magic and love

 

 

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I like it a lot, as a sported wearer on a sunny day it ticks all the boxes.  The design and crown are very good, I hope they manage to break into the market.

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