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Starting a new watch brand seems to be easily accomplished these days thanks to the success of crowdfunding sites Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Goodness knows we have covered quite a number of them here on worn&wound. Of course it is not as simple as just throwing up a Kickstarter page; there is a lot of legwork required to get started before one even thinks of that stage. New brand Boston & Stewill have spent the past several months drumming up interest on social media for their first watch release, the Tourer II.
Boston & Stewill are launching with their second watch first. The Tourer I was envisioned to be an automatic chronograph, however after researching movement options they found that the price would be above their ideal for the first watch. As such the Tourer I was put on the back burner and they moved on to the Tourer II. The II is a racing inspired, quartz powered bullhead chronograph. The design concept is based off the look of a vintage Bugatti speedometer* that founder William Boddy had seen in a magazine. Looking at the dial it looks like they have certainly captured that look. The dial markings are quite different, really going for that speedometer look with 120 marks around the dial indicating kilometers. There are triangles every 5 marks, with those every 10 slightly bigger to denote the passing of 5 minutes and each hour, read by a factor of 10. The date is located at the top of the dial right below the 120 with the cursive logo located at the opposite end above 6 o’clock.
The movement in the Tourer II is the Swiss quartz Ronda cal. 3250.D chronograph movement. This movement has two subdials normally located at 12 and 6. Boston & Stewill rotated the movement 90 degrees counterclockwise placing the subdials at 3 and 9. The running seconds for the time is located in the 3 o’clock subdial while the dial at 9 o’clock is dual handed tracking both 30 minutes and 12 hours for the chronograph. The center hand is the seconds hand for the chronograph that moves at the usual quartz one tick a second. Rotating the movement is more than just an aesthetic choice, it accomplishes the goal of making the watch into a “bullhead chronograph” by placing the crown and pushers at the top of the case. It also, combined with the dial, gives the watch a stopwatch look. The dial will be available in three colors: cream, white and black.
The case has an interesting layered look to it. The 22mm lugs look attached to a lower, thinner section of the 42mm case with the watch housed in the upper section. It may give the watch the impression of sitting higher on the wrist than it really does. The 316L stainless steel case is 14mm thick and has both brushed and polished finishes. The dial is protected by a Sapphire crystal and the watch comes on a leather strap.
Boston and Stewill is seeking funding of £30,000 (~ $46,900 USD) to successfully launch the Tourer II for an estimated December, 2015 delivery. Pledge levels start at £150 (~ $235 USD) which is limited to 50; prices move up to £175 (~ $274 USD) for the next 150 pledges and after that £225 (~ $352 USD). If Boston and Stewill are able to successfully fund the Tourer II they plan on working on a release of the automatic chronograph Tourer I, an extra incentive to get the project off the ground. You can view all the details and pledge over at their Kickstarter campaign page.
* Bugatti Type 22 photograph by Dale Chappell, flickr
