I like that there isn’t much of a bezel. Most of the circumference of this watch is made up of the dial. A large, matte black dial is the perfect backdrop for all of the lovely color to pop its way off of this dial.
There’s a lot to love on this dial that I don’t even know where to start. The yellow, blue and red colors work so incredibly well together. These colors allow for such a quick glance readability which is so ideal for a tool watch geared for adventures. See Post
Took the North.er deep into the forest, three days in a row! This watch performed perfectly as I would have expected. For all my pics, I like to reset the time to 10:10 just for the balance of the dial and so that you can see all of the lovely details on the dial.
This crown is a push/pull style which is something that I don’t typically gravitate towards. I have to say that the clicks of pulling/pushing on this crown are some of the strongest I have ever felt. It feels so incredibly sturdy. I hate when a crown has the wobbly feel like it can snap off with one wrong jostle. The shape and design of this crown is ideal for easy access to pushing/pulling, winding and for setting the date/time. It’s exactly how I want my crown to be on a watch, precise, aesthetically pleasing and with that ease of functionality when out & about. See Post
I also want that ease when it comes to reading a watch dial. The North.er dial has some great legibility because of the colors TWC used and because of the hands. When I was shooting this watch from some good distance, I could still easily read the time, even the GMT hand too. These hands are sized so appropriately in terms of length and width, and are proportionately ideal for this dial. It’s so disappointing when a watch has disproportionately sized hands. It ruins the dial completely, from both an aesthetics standpoint and from a functional standpoint.
The functional standpoint is more important because a watch of this nature should be extremely easy to read at a quick glance. What I mean by “of this nature” is this watch was designed with the idea of being an adventurer's watch. I have unique dial watches that aren’t easy to read at quick glance, but it’s all a case of using the right tool for the right job. See Post
As I delve into this watch and my review of it, I had a revelation of sorts. Usually I mention personal preferences of what I would tweak to make the watch more me, but this is where my revelation came into play on the North.er. Tweaking details on this watch would mean tweaking its personality.
I posted a pic on FB of this watch and someone had a negative comment about the water resistance. They said it should be more….to put it in a nicer way. I responded “there’s the right tool for the right job”. If I was going to dive I’d grab one of my dive watches. I wouldn’t change anything on this watch…..except for drilled lugs. More on that later.
I definitely would make suggestions on this watch if there were quality issues, which I can say there aren’t any. I have to say that this watch has made me step back and reevaluate my approach to viewing a watch in terms of looking for personal preferences vs. accepting the watch company’s vision of the watch. I feel like watches are horological art. I never critique art because the artist has a vision and their art is their personal interpretation of that art. Making personal preference suggestions on art changes the vision and the interpretation of that vision. See Post
My adventures with the Towson North.er continues. Did you know that you can use this dial as a compass?!? How you ask?!? Well if you line up the yellow hour hand with the 10H marker and then line up the blue GMT hand with 10H marker on the 24 hour-ring. When you line up the yellow hand that’s pointing to the yellow 10H with the sun, the blue GMT will show you the direction of North. Pretty damn cool tool to have on your wrist.
All of the hands, including the GMT hand can be manually adjusted via the crown. The beautiful oversized crown. The way that TWC machined this hand makes for gripping and operating it so incredibly easy. The finish on this crown catches the light so brilliantly. While I am speaking of finish, the case itself is a lovely combination of polished and satin finishes. The majority of this case is satin, leaving the top of the lugs and the fixed bezel with the polished finish.
As for the case-back, it’s an exhibition case back that allows you to peak at the 24 jewel Caliber 2893-2 automatic GMT movement. TWC adjusted the movement in 5 Positions. The reliable workhorse movement has a 46-hr power reserve and for any ASA you apply to this watch there’s the Incabloc shock absorption to add some reassurance.
TWC finished the movement in accordance with ETA Decor Code #6 N/D/R. They get their movements from their proprietary partner in Switzerland. They don’t just slam them right into their cases either. Towson reassembles the movements, modifies & decorates them and finally they adjust the movement using their own watchmakers in Baltimore, MD. See Post
I can’t get enough of this dial and its colors. Like I have mentioned before, I truly appreciate how this dial is not only aesthetically pleasing but it’s also incredibly functional. The blue GMT hand and the corresponding 24hr blue markers are beautiful and extremely legible. I love how TWC uses that consistency of design details to allow the wearer of the watch to have an easy time reading the dial functions.
What I mean by this can be seen with the colors that TWC used on the dial. If you want to read the GMT hand quickly, the GMT hand is the same color as the 24H markers are printed in. If you want to read the time quickly you can because TWC used that same color matching logic for the hour & minute hands and same as the 12H markers. It’s that beautiful shade of yellow. I absolutely and completely appreciate that attention to consistency of details.
Since the second hand doesn’t feel left out, TWC matched the red second hand to the red date wheel. This is how you do a date wheel. This is one of the less obtrusive date window that I have experienced on a watch. Typically, I prefer a no-date dial not because I necessarily hate the date window, it’s the placement and design of it that I hate. I am not a fan of lazy watchmaking. As you all know, I appreciate the unique, original and the consistency of details. When a watch company removes a large cardinal hour marker for a date window and then uses the same old generic white date wheel with black printed numerals, this is what I hate. It just ruins the dial flow and harmony.
This dial still has flow, consistency and harmony with the date window and all! I really like the TWC logo and having it on the dial is a very welcome detail. It’s printed in that lovely shade of blue that matches the GMT hand, numerals and minute track. North is also printed in that blue, and the “er” is printed in red. A very small detail, but an excellent example of how a small detail can have a “HUGE” impact. See Post
