Interesting, Upcoming Releases

I am most intrigued by the upcoming releases from Time Factors and Dagaz, such fine looking watches!

The Precista PRS-82, a 200m dive which will be powered by NOS ETA 2783 movements. 

There is no official designation yet, but it is known as the Smiths diver for now. It is an homage to the Seiko 6105-8110/8119 dive watch, which will possibly be powered by a Miyota movement. Not much more is known at the moment.

The famous Precista PRS-2 Dreadnought will soon be coming in GMT! The original Dreadnought, well-known for their extremely high resale value, was released some 10 years ago. People have since then been waiting doggedly for the GMT version, which has been in development for almost as many years. The GMT variant will be powered by an ETA 2893-2 and 100 of them will be made available in the first run, with the possibility of a second run if there is enough interest. Most of the 100 initial slots have already been secured, so do be sure to show your interest in the Dreadnought GMT to make that second run possible!

Before the PRS-2 Dreadnought was released, a watch that had so many features yet went for less than a grand was unheard of. Big and well-known watch companies would have charged exorbitant prices for such a watch. At the risk of sounding a little dramatic, Time Factors changed the game forever. Nowhere could you find a watch that had anti-magnetic protection, a German Fricker made case and a top grade ETA 2824-2 movement that had been professionally regulated to chronometer standards for such a reasonable price (GBP 450). That is, until the Dreadnought was released.

You could say that the PRS-2 Dreadnought sparked a revolution thereafter. People started to realize that they did not not have to fork out loads of cash to get a well-made, high quality watch that was packed with features; thus began the era of microbrands.

To this day, the PRS-2 Dreadnought is thought of as the grandfather of microbrand watches to many.

Dagaz Thunderbolt, a 150m military watch which will be powered by a Miyota 9015. Dagaz have been aggressively changing their market positioning of late, creating whole watches instead of mods based off Seiko watches. The Thunderbolt is a handsome looking military piece, 39mm in diameter, 46.5mm lug to lug and has a 20mm lug width. It boasts very impressive specifications: domed sapphire crystal with underside AR, triple sealed screwed-down signed crown, C1 lume for the hands and dial, drilled lugs and much more. Retail pricing at US$375, superb value in my opinion, given the specifications. 

Dagaz Aurora, an upcoming 200m dive watch which will be powered by a Miyota 9015. It will be 43mm in diameter and 45mm lug to lug, with 20mm lug width. Features are similar with the Thunderbolt: domed sapphire crystal with underside AR, signed crown, but comes lumed with C3 instead of C1 which I always prefer. Retail price will be around US$500, which is a very competitive price given the specifications. I'll definitely be keeping the Aurora in view.

The Time Factors watches can be found here when they are eventually released. The Dagaz Thunderbolt and Aurora can be found here.