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Among the popular trends the past few years have been “stealth” watches, where the hands, markers and dial all have similar colors so as to be, well, stealthy. Bell&Ross was one of the early ones to present this style and it was picked up by a number of popular and fashion brands. Element24 is a new brand using Kickstarter to try to launch its own vision of the blended, stealthy minimal look with the Element24 ED-001.
The Element24 is clearly going after a simple, clean look which it achieves throughout the design. The Miyota 1L45 powered watch (specs sheet for those interested) is housed in a 40mm diameter by 46mm length case that comes in two subdued styles: matte stainless steel or PVD grey stainless steel. The dial finishes match the case finish with a light grey for the matte stainless and a dark grey for the PVD. The dials are very simple and clean with raised the hour numerals raised and in the same color as the dial.
That the markers are raised above the dial means they do not get totally lost, but they are subdued. There is no minute track nor a seconds track on the 6 o’clock seconds sub-dial. That is it for the dial, no text, no branding, just a simple, minimal look. Unlike other watches that go in for a similar look, the hands of the ED-001 do have a contrasting color. All three of the stick style hands are black providing some contrast to the dial and an ease of telling time.
The dial and hands are protected by a sapphire crystal on the ED-001, a nice plus on a watch of this price point. On the flip side the caseback has the branding and pertinent watch information. The 22mm lugs will house either a leather strap (matte stainless model) or an Alcantara strap (matte stainless and PVD models). Alcantara is a synthetic micro-suede made in Italy. It is presently used in a number of areas such as clothing, furniture and in automotive upholstery. From photos the material looks very soft and supple with the texture a good match for the watch.
For a simple watch the Element24 ED-001 has a number of things going for it. Given the look and price it could make a good grab-and-go choice. The team needs to raise £10,000 (~$15,122 USD) for the project to get off the ground, and they are just over 3/4 of the way there with the campaign ending December 8, 2015. The pledge prices for the ED-001 start at £65 (~$98 USD) for a model on the leather strap and £75 (~$113 USD) on the Alcantara strap. You can learn more and pledge on the Element24 Kickstarter page.
