Horological Meandering

alex
7334

• Show profile
• Show other posts

A new brand and a (really) great watch. The Tornade by ZZ Watches

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

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

Site Info.