The original vision for the Solent series, designed in 2019, was a bi-crown design. There’s something about the symmetry of two crowns at those jaunty angles that just feels ‘right’. However, it wasn’t to be: the original Solent was launched as a single-crown design as we continued our exploration into the Timer and the construction of this unique design.

Fast forward 4 years and we're finally able to bring to life the original concept - the Solent Timer. It’s much the same as the Solent at first glance, retaining the nautical aesthetics and maritime colourways, but we’ve improved things across the board - improved sealing screw-down crowns, iterated case design, dial design and new colourways build upon the feedback we’ve received over the years, whilst keeping the rock-solid Miyota powerplant at the heart.

Iterative design inherently produces things that look familiar yet still feel new, and we’ve done our best to keep parts of the original Solent, the elements that are celebrated, and improve upon the aspects that fell short. That’s what’s exciting, and daunting, about our unique way of design - we put out into the world products we feel are unique and listen to what people think. Then, where possible, we take those thoughts and feed them back into the process, improving and tweaking.

The Solent Timer is at that point. We’ve taken the strong case design, bespoke and aggressive, and kept it just as it is. The super-matte case finishing, a polariser for the original range, gives way to a fully polished set. The grippy crown remains, but now there are two of them. Double-sided anti-reflective coating is standard on our watches now, but is improved with additional coatings to suppress more reflections and boost clarity. The case size is still a bold yet eminently wearable 42mm at bezel and, despite the additional complication by adding an internal mechanism for the chapter ring, remains a surprisingly slender 12mm, with a continuation of the 22mm strap width.

Internally, much is the same - we’ve used the Miyota 9039 once more because, not to put too fine a point on it, it’s the best movement around. The dials and rear-side chapter ring are improved, as are the hands, which now enjoy luminous fill and refined design. It all adds up to a watch that feels familiar, yet intrinsically new.

It’s been a while coming, but patience is rewarded with a refreshing new take on what has been a fantastic series in our history. We hope you love it as much as we do. To the future and whatever it may hold.