Transylvanian Watch Brand Peren is Back with the Hintz, a Tribute to Old School Watchmaking

Peren is a watch brand out of Transylvania that had some success a few years with the Nera, a watch funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Nera was a pretty unique sports watch with a deep green dial, rotating bezel, and a conservative sub 40mm diameter. It also said “Transylvania” on the dial, which was undoubtedly a fascinating curiosity for the watch fans who backed the project, just as it was a point of pride for brand founder Andy Bica-Popi. The general public hears the word “Transylvania” and thoughts immediately go to Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the many films it inspired, but for Bica-Popi it’s home, and in his latest release, the Hintz, he pays tribute to the watchmaking history of this region smack in the middle of Romania. Let’s take a look.

Peren Hintz

• Case Material: Stainless steel
• Dial: Cream
• Dimensions: 42.5 x 11.2mm 
• Crystal: Sapphire     
• Water Resistance: 100 meters 
• Crown: Push/pull              
• Movement: Unitas 6498-1
• Strap/bracelet: Leather strap
• Price: ~ $830
• Reference Number:
• Expected Release: Kickstarter in Summer 

The Hintz is a tribute to Eugen Hintz, a Transylvanian watchmaker. Hintz made and sold watches out of his workshop in Fagaras, Transylvania, and had partnerships with important brands such as Wyler, Junghans, and Tellus, from whom he would commission spare parts to complete his own watches. This is of course a type of watchmaking that was once common, but simply doesn’t happen on a large scale any longer, and Bica-Popi’s tribute to his town’s watchmaker is genuine and heartfelt, and also begs his customer’s to recognize the enormous changes that have come to watchmaking (for better and worse) since Hintz sold his own watches out of his own shop at the turn of the 20th century. 

The new watch from Peren is inspired by a pocket watch that was a collaboration between Eugen Hintz and Wyler in the period between the two World Wars. It’s a simple time only watch with some subtle Art Deco influenced design. The most notable design feature is likely the rotating disc at 6:00, which is directly inspired by the “Andesite Sun,” an ancient calendar found at the Sarmizegetusa Regia historical site in Transylvania.

The Hintz has an attractive, cream colored dial with complementary maroon toned Arabic numerals. It’s sized to modern tastes at 42.5mm in diameter, but is only 11.2mm thick thanks to a slender manually wound movement (a Unitas 6498-1). And the rotating disk gives the dial a sense of depth that is uncommon in watches of this style. Sometimes with watches that are story or history driven, the aesthetics can be a little mushy, but the Hintz appears to strike the right balance between certain classic style cues and some unique aspects that have real meaning to the brand and their collection of fans. 

More information on the Peren Hintz can be found on their website. A Kickstarter is expected to launch in April, with the watch following later this year. Peren