The HODINKEE Store’s New Associate initiative is a direct results of our founder Ben Clymer’s current letter to the watch neighborhood, which touched on just a few actions that HODINKEE and the HODINKEE Store will probably be enterprise to handle and finest serve the present watch panorama.
In that letter, Ben wrote that the HODINKEE Store would open up its doorways to extra manufacturers seeking energetic retail distribution throughout this time, and at present’s announcement is the most recent in our sequence of these introductions. Among the manufacturers which are becoming a member of the HODINKEE Store are outdated buddies and longtime companions of ours that you will acknowledge, whereas others are newcomers to the scene that we have come to know, whose work we sincerely imagine in. Every New Associate will characteristic all the advantages and added worth we’re recognized for, together with an additional yr guarantee on prime of the model assure and digital paperwork storage. Maintain a watch out on this house for extra manufacturers coming into the HODINKEE Store within the coming weeks, and please be part of us in welcoming our third New Associate: Merci.
Why Merci?
Based in 2009, Merci is an independently operated, family-run idea retailer situated on the Boulevard Beaumarchais within the historic Marais district of Paris. As a lot a specialist way of life model as it’s a normal retailer, the corporate shares every little thing from furnishings and cookware to clothes and niknaks, nearly solely designed by the town’s inventive class. It is on this manner that Merci operates as a industrial hub for Parisian creativity and design, however the firm’s efforts lengthen far additional than simply the Metropolis of Lights. A portion of Merci’s annual proceeds are devoted to the assist of academic initiatives and improvement within the southwest area of Madagascar.
Amongst HODINKEE employees members, Merci was already a must-visit when in Paris for its eclectic and immaculately designed choices. And after we heard that a timepiece from the corporate was on its manner within the mid-2010s, we knew it will be one thing to look out for.
Personal label watches created for retailers, particularly of the approach to life selection, are fairly widespread within the non-enthusiast world of watchmaking, and whereas we will not say they do not have their place, they’re usually outdoors HODINKEE’s remit. However the watches that bear Merci’s title are completely different; the truth is, they’re precisely the sort of watches we – and we predict you, as effectively – love and respect.
So when Merci launched its first LMM-01 watch as a restricted run of 500 items in 2017, we reported on it. And as we watched it promote out, it was clear that, even with all of the completely different aspects of Merci’s enterprise, the watches weren’t an afterthought. They have been executed with the identical thought-about and deliberate contact present in the entire model’s merchandise. Merci has been in a position to leverage its appreciable know-how in product design and improvement to create some severely compelling watches, ones that may attraction to everybody from neophytes initially of their gathering journey to dyed-in-the-wool lovers. And hey, if it is ok for the president of France, then we predict it will just do high-quality for the remainder of us.
The Watches
Merci adopted the success of its inaugural launch by establishing its personal watch label, Merci Devices, which has been headlined since 2018 by the LMM-01 Projet Spécial assortment. The 4 watches that make up this line are much like the unique LMM-01 timepiece as they use design components most often related to army and discipline watches, however the brand new Projet Spécial fashions inject a touch of surprising urbanity to the model stemming from their restrained – however impactful – use of colour.
The designs change little or no among the many 4 watches, which all share the identical extremely wearable 38mm x 10.07mm chrome steel case that includes downturned drilled lugs. The stepped bezel, paying homage to numerous mid-century army watches, is probably the defining characteristic of Merci’s watches to date, as it’s the lone polished ingredient and frames every watch’s dial in a manner that highlights its distinctive persona.
There’s a tendency amongst collectors to debate watches and watchmaking as a fully critical enterprise – and to be honest, there’s a pure sober inclination to the craft – however watches, for a lot of, are merely one other method to specific each model and an appreciation for historical past. With Merci’s watches, you are getting simply that: a lighthearted strategy to watchmaking match for all genders, with engaging designs that supply figuring out nods to the purpose-built timepieces of the previous.
Which is why, though our desire for mechanical watchmaking is effectively documented, the quartz actions utilized by Merci within the LMM-01 Projet Spécial assortment do nothing to decrease their appeal. Merci has taken a intelligent strategy right here, and it is one thing we predict even essentially the most devoted of mechanical watch lovers can respect. As an alternative of using a traditional quartz motion, Merci has sourced a particular kind of motion from Seiko, through which the central seconds hand repeatedly sweeps throughout the dial in a manner that resembles the movement of the mechanical watches we all know and love; the watches with a small seconds show tick like a traditional quartz watch. Merci is ready to steadiness the user-friendliness and heightened accuracy granted by quartz-based timekeeping, whereas offering the feel and appear of a mechanical timepiece. Using quartz additionally retains the watches at an inexpensive value, completely fitted to youthful lovers or these searching for a watch to put on worry-free on the weekends. It is the most effective of each worlds, actually.
There are such a lot of little issues completed effectively within the Projet Spécial assortment that may attraction to any lover of classic watch design. The mineral crystals are double domed within the model of old-fashioned gown watches, and there is not a date to be discovered on any of the dials. Every Merci watch is shipped with a black NATO strap, however we actually love the concept of blending and matching the LMM-01 assortment with quite a lot of straps. Not like your common classic gown or discipline watch, which generally appears to be like finest with standard colours, the playful design of the LMM-01 sequence welcomes a variety of strap pairings. And with drilled lugs and the equipped quick-change spring bars, swapping between any variety of straps is a no-fuss course of.
The lug width for every watch is, nonetheless, an anomalous 19mm – however there’s some excellent news! The HODINKEE Store not too long ago acquired a cargo of a few of our hottest Italian watch straps, now out there for the primary time in 19mm. That features fan favorites just like the Distressed Gray Leather-based Watch Strap, the Honey Leather-based Watch Strap, the Camouflage Suede Watch Strap, plus many extra. Now you’ll be able to gown your Merci watch up or down in any manner you want.
Merci refrains from branding the dials of its watches with its personal title, as an alternative solely utilizing the LMM-01 script. The shortage of further textual content on the dial is a great selection, because it not solely preserves the watch’s classic aesthetic, but in addition enhances the individuality of the LMM-01 assortment. Whereas LMM-01 does stand for “La Montre Merci” (The Merci Watch), the usage of this acronym, and the dearth of additional branding on the dial, serves to impress the creativeness as if it is referencing some form of long-forgotten mil-spec normal.
Whereas the watches that make up the Projet Spécial assortment share many similarities, the dial designs do differ, so deciding on one will rely on private desire. However with a value set firmly at $269, there would possibly simply be room for a number of Merci watches in your assortment.
The Merci LMM-01 Area Watch
The LMM-01 Area Watches are precisely that, timepieces knowledgeable by the model and aesthetics of one of the crucial in style genres of watchmaking: the time-only discipline watch. Simplicity and legibility are the main focus right here, with an hour and minute hand executed within the syringe model and the dial principally naked save for the Arabic numerals, the minute monitor, and LMM-01 branding.
The LMM-01 Area Watch is accessible with both a black or white dial. The black dial is extra genuine to watches just like the Soiled Dozen, whereas the white dial has a sure degree of inherent model and can provide extra flexibility in relation to potential strap pairings. The Area Watch runs on a particular Seiko quartz motion that enables for a sweeping central seconds hand, inflicting it to seem as whether it is mechanical whereas delivering the accuracy of quartz.
The Merci LMM-01 Grand Pa
The LMM-01 Grand Pa is much less heavy on army design and extra evocative of classic gown watches that will have served as heirloom items, handed down between generations. The silvered dial is offset by the black Arabic numerals, markers, and lancet-style arms. One in all our favourite particulars on the Grand Pa is the slight pink dashes used on the quarter hours, which add a small pop of colour to the principally monotone design. Not like the LMM-01 Area Watch with sweeping central seconds, the Grand Pa has a small seconds sub-dial at six o’clock which ticks second-by-second within the conventional method of quartz timepieces.
The Merci LMM-01 Railroad
The Railroad provides a little bit of funk to the Projet Spécial assortment with out straying too removed from the established LMM-01 design language. The watch has blue Arabic numerals and a two-tone silver dial with small seconds and a railroad-style minute monitor, referencing the railroad-grade pocket and wristwatches that ruled the time on American and European rails within the 19th and 20th centuries. The trapezoid-shaped handset is full of a beige colour of Tremendous-LumiNova that ties collectively the watch’s distinctive classic attraction.
Uncover Merci In The HODINKEE Store
The easygoing nature of Merci’s LMM-01 watches is extremely interesting and serves as a reminder that gathering watches is, above all, a enjoyable and rewarding passion equally full of favor and substance. You’ll find out for your self within the HODINKEE Store.
