Introducing the Stowa Flieger Verus and Antea 1919 Black Forest Editions

Masters of both Bauhaus minimalism and Flieger functionality, Stowa has just released two blacked-out watches in limited numbers. With the Flieger Verus Black Forest, Stowa gives this modern 40-millimeter pilot’s watch a sophisticated stealth; with the Antea 1919 Black Forest, the German watch house is celebrating their Bauhaus roots, but the watch itself looks entirely up-to-the-minute in black.

Both watches house a top-grade ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, generously decorated and displayed through a sapphire rear window. The individual serial number (x/200 for the Flieger; just x/100 for the Antea) is featured prominently in black on the rotor. Stowa has always offered beautiful movement treatments, especially impressive at Stowa’s reasonable prices.

Both cases are stainless steel with a fine bead-blasted treatment and black coating. The Flieger Verus measures 40 x 48.6 millimeters with a modest height of just 10.2 millimeters, while the Antea Black Forest is issued in Stowa’s versatile 39 x 47.8-millimeter case. Strap width is 20 millimeters on both watches, and both cases provide 50 meters of water resistance.

The dial markings of the Flieger Verus Black Forest are done in Super-LumiNova BGW9, which looks white by day and glows blue by night. The hands get the same treatment, and the effect against the all-black colorway is striking with the lights on or off. Stowa offers buyers a version of the Flieger Verus BF with a date aperture, but it’s hard to imagine interrupting this perfectly symmetrical dial just to figure out what day it is.

The Antea 1919 Black Forest has no lume; nonetheless, the dial’s white line markers and stick hands are minimalism personified. I thought I’d seen enough Antea colorways to fully grasp this Bauhaus masterpiece, but in all black it sheds its 20th Century aura and looks more current than most current watches. This model foregoes a date aperture option.

These Black Forest editions come on black leather straps with black stitching and a signed, blacked-out pin-buckle. These straps complete the Black Forest look, but both watches seem eager to explore all kinds of strap materials and colors, which are certain to leap out against the black cases.

For those who aren’t drawn to the Black Forest look, the Antea 39 and the Flieger Verus are available in an assortment of colorways and with a number of customer-configurable options via Stowa’s website.

Both watches are available directly from Stowa for around $860 (€747.90). Stowa