Collins Watch Firm is a part of a contemporary breed of “small-batch” American watch firms began by timepiece-enthusiast entrepreneurs — this time based mostly out of my native Los Angeles. Collins Watch founder Jimmy Collins has a day job within the music recording trade and has tried to drag some inspiration from recording tools, one thing I imagine he needs to do extra in subsequent watches. For his debut timepiece assortment — the Hyperion — we see a crown designed to appear to be a volume-level knob. The Hyperion is available in a number of flavors, with this text specializing in a model I notably like, often known as the Hyperion Meteorite.
Because the identify implies, the Hyperion Meteorite has a pretty pure meteorite dial for the in any other case pilot-watch model design of the Hyperion. Collins even goes as far as to have its Hyperion watches assembled and examined right here in the USA (in Ohio), which I feel is a vital a part of the worth proposition. What the Collins Watch Hyperion would possibly lack in sheer design originality, it does make up for in good worth and good-looking enchantment. The story to share if sporting a timepiece comparable to that is, “A watch-lover in Los Angeles made a small model, and the watches are assembled within the U.S. with a Swiss motion.” For the demographic Jimmy Collin’s is making an attempt to succeed in, that’s sufficient. Wanting forward, my really useful aim for manufacturers like Collins is to more and more apply their very own design DNA to their merchandise so that somebody seeing their watch on somebody’s wrist throughout the room can say, “Hey, isn’t Collins watch?”
The Hyperion Meteorite is identical as the traditional Hyperion watch assortment, save for the case ending and the pure meteorite dial. The case ending here’s a “gunmetal grey” PVD coating, and the metal case itself is 40mm-wide, 13mm-thick, and has a 48mm lug-to-lug distance. That makes for a really wearable “on a regular basis measurement” that I feel will look good on extra wrists than not. The case is topped with a double-domed sapphire crystal and has 100 meters of water resistance. The caseback additionally has a sapphire crystal window for viewing the automated motion inside.
For the motion, Collins Watch Firm has determined to make use of a dependable Swiss Sellita SW200 computerized. This is kind of the identical because the Swiss ETA 2824-2 computerized. It operates at 4Hz with 38 hours of energy reserve. The unfinished motion surfaces really match the brushed ending of the caseback, so the supplies a minimum of match aesthetically, which is good. On the automated rotor is a customized Collins plate, which provides a small extra stage of distinctiveness to the general product presentation.
As a seasoned watch collector, what I like concerning the Collins Hyperion Meteorite is its easy fashionability. The gunmetal grey metal case together with the grey meteorite dial and heavy cream-colored hour markers and lume make for a good-looking total look. The black-lined arms are legible towards the dial and provide a pleasant combination of familiarity with some added persona. You don’t have to be a watch collector to understand the Hyperion Meteorite’s enchantment, and as a watch collector, you may respect the usage of high quality components and the cheap worth proposition of the product.
Connected to the case is a Gunny Caitlin eight mannequin distressed brown leather-based strap. It makes use of a Collin’s signed buckle and has an total good, worn-in look. That mentioned, the very first thing I’d do if I had been going to put on this watch on a extra common foundation could be to exchange the strap. For one factor, I don’t put on a lot brown so I’d take into account a gunmetal or gray-colored strap as a substitute of the brown. Extra so, the Gunny strap is comfy, however I’ve by no means been an excessive amount of of a fan of straps that look “too handmade.” On the subject of straps, I like the whole lot to be “machine excellent,” and I don’t just like the “natural look” as a lot as another individuals do. The strap is 20mm-wide and, in case you choose one thing else than the inventory strap, swapping out the band on the Collins Hyperion Meteorite is a quite simple matter, offered you could have one thing to exchange it with.
Always, the arms on the dial are completely legible, however relying on the sunshine, the hour markers and different printing on the meteorite dial should not. That isn’t an enormous deal to me, however those that prefer to see the hour markers on a regular basis, in all gentle conditions, ought to take into account how the cream-colored lume printing on the dial typically merely blends in with the look of the dial. The hour marker design is identical throughout all of the preliminary Hyperion watches, so for a barely extra historically legible dial, you may go for one thing else that Collins affords. For me, the Hyperion Meteorite is essentially the most fascinating of the debut Collins Watch Firm merchandise and blends a well-known look, ornamental but masculine dial, and nice emotional connection to my hometown. In response to Collins Watch Firm, the Hyperion Meteorite could have a debut worth of $585 USD with simply 20 items initially made after which ultimately go as much as a retail worth of $775 USD. Study extra on the Collins Watch Firm web site right here.
