Few different watch manufacturers provide as a lot inventive enjoyable in as reasonably priced packages as Hong Kong’s Undone — so many who aBlogtoWatch even struggles to maintain up with all of them. Undone and types prefer it perceive that a lot of the facility in in the present day’s timepieces is expressive versus merely useful. The formulation they observe is that a fascinating timepiece in the present day should first function a snug, legible timekeeper. And second, it should additionally inform a narrative to the wearer, and ideally in regards to the wearer. This leads me to one in every of Undone’s newest new collections — the Zen Cartograph.
The idea of the watch from the Hong Kong-based firm is acceptable on condition that its inspiration comes from a fixture of feng shui from Chinese language tradition. The Zen Cartograph’s dial is predicated on a Luopan, which is also referred to as a geomantic compass. An precise Luopan has a compass within the heart and is utilized by a skilled practitioner of feng shui to find out how objects in an area ought to be oriented. That is accomplished utilizing plenty of formulation and particular perception that’s alien to somebody similar to me, who merely understands feng shui from a superficial perspective.
What conventional Luopans do not need is the yin/yang “Zen” image, which is positioned within the heart of the watch’s dial as a spinning seconds hand. Despite the fact that this can be a quartz watch, the seconds hand ticks extra like a standard mechanical watch. This has the impact of constructing the yin/yang disc spin as soon as every minute, which is a cool impact over the backdrop of the Luopan-style dial. I’ve lengthy appreciated the yin/yang image, and it’s so good to see it fashionably built-in into such a beautiful and reasonably priced wristwatch.
On the rear of the watch, Undone can use the proprietor’s personal birthday to have a custom-made set of characters printed that check with the corresponding “celestial deity.” It’s a good contact and goes to the bigger customization theme of the model on the whole. I additionally like that, design-wise, Undone was capable of do one thing very difficult right here. It was capable of adapt a non-horological system (the Luopan) and make it really really feel like it really works on a watch dial. It might not add performance, however nobody is anticipating this to be a software watch. Somewhat, this can be a contemporary and fun-feeling tool-inspired watch, as many nice timepieces prior to now have been.
Undone additionally makes use of a brand new case design for the Zen Cartograph, which is 40mm-wide and thinner than the chronograph fashions. It has a 45.5mm lug-t0-lug distance, is 12mm-thick, and has 50 meters of water resistance. Over the dial is a K1 mineral crystal, and contained in the watch is a Japanese Seiko Instrument caliber VH31 quartz motion with a mechanized “sweep-style” seconds hand (which is was the spinning disc hand).
The case is a chic base for the watch and will likely be used for future Undone merchandise, for certain. An attention-grabbing design ingredient is that the crown is positioned at 12 o’clock, providing a completely symmetrical look to the case, which I like. Oddly, the crown is so diminutive that it can’t be operated simply whereas the strap is linked to the case. That is an odd design quirk. Undone will level out that it isn’t a giant deal as their straps are designed with quick-releases that certainly make accessing the crown straightforward. Extra so, as these are quartz watches, so adjusting the time incessantly isn’t all that mandatory. Ideally, the crown would look this slick but in addition be operable whereas the strap is hooked up to the case, however for me, this isn’t a deal-breaker.
At launch, Undone presents two variations of the Zen Cartograph with the polished metal Zen Cartograph MK-1 Prototype (which, as offered, isn’t a prototype, in fact), and the PVD-coated black metal Zen Cartograph feng shui Grandmaster with crimson palms. This latter mannequin is a restricted version of 500 items. Costs are $199 and $249 USD, respectively. Study extra or order on the Undone web site right here.
