Meistersinger Expands Its Niche with Neo Plus, Circularis Power Reserve and Salthora Meta X Models

MeisterSinger is one of those brands with a strong history of dancing to the beat of its own drum, producing some of the finest, most iconic single-handed timepieces around. For Basel 2017, however, the brand has greatly expanded its niche with three diverse new models while staying true to its original one-hander ethos. The trio of the Neo Plus, Circularis Power Reserve, and Salthora Meta X take MeisterSinger into exciting new territory: a 40mm with date, 43mm power reserve and (most excitingly) a 43mm jumping hour diver, respectively. What does this expanded line mean for the brand? Let’s dive right in and find out.

The first of the three, the MeisterSinger Neo Plus, is the most traditionally MeisterSinger of the trio. Essentially just an update to the existing Neo line, the Neo Plus’ biggest difference is its growth to 40mm from the original Neo’s 36. That said, it’s still a handsome design at the new, larger size. The case is a slim, simple affair, with a so-thin-it’s-almost-nonexistent polished bezel and short, elegant lugs. The crown at three o’clock is similarly small, ensuring nothing overshadows the classically simplistic dial.

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That dial, which should be familiar to the MeisterSinger faithful, is almost gauge-like in its simplicity. Of course, the single hand also helps to advance this aesthetic. The printed indices–starkly defined Helvetica numerals–are impressively balanced by use of a zero preceding the single digit hour numbers. This balances the visual weight of the hours track nicely around the dial while appointing it with an all-business, almost-scientific instrument-like feel. The only concession to complication for the Neo Plus is a round date window at six, inconspicuously rendered in the respective dial’s color.

Speaking of dial colors, the Neo Plus offers an impressive assortment, with five different variations in all. Two of these–the off-white and sunburst blue–are carryovers from the original MeisterSinger Neo. While the standard Neo offers a black dial version as well, the black Neo Plus features new red highlights courtesy of a vibrant new central hand and date text. It’s a similar story for the green sunburst version, but here the red also extends to a subtle hash at the 12 o’ clock mark. The final version, the stunning silver dial, is all-new for the Neo Plus line. Interestingly, the new collection is listed as using either an ETA 2824-2 or a Sellita SW200-1 movement. With the current state of the movement market, it’s not completely shocking, but either we’ll know once the Neo Plus goes on sale in May.

Next up is an addition to MeisterSinger’s top-flight Circularis line, and something more of a departure for the brand. The Circularis Power Reserve, as the name might suggest, has a power reserve indicator at nine o’clock, offering an at-a-glance reading on this watch’s impressive 120-hour life.

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That, and the date indicator at three o’ clock, are the only major visual changes from this piece to the Neo and Neo Plus lines–except, of course, the size. The Circularis Power Reserve sits at a hefty 43mm, but the size should be mitigated somewhat by the short lugs and nearly all-dial appearance. Inside the Circularis Power Reserve is one of Meistersinger’s in-house jewels, the MSH02. The MSH02 caliber offers impressive hand wound accuracy along with the aforementioned 120 hours of power reserve. MeisterSinger proudly displays this new movement through the display case back, and bestows it with some beautiful finishing touches like blued screws, gold signatures and a circular pattern throughout the movement plate.

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When it goes on sale this year, the Circularis Power Reserve will be available in four different dial colors: off-white, silver, black, and a deep grayish blue sunburst MeisterSinger refers to as “sunburst steel gray.”

The final announcement is without a doubt the most adventurous for MeisterSinger, and in some ways the most technically interesting. It takes a moment to see why the MeisterSinger Salthora Meta X is so special, but once you’ve noticed this one it’s hard to ignore.

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While it measures the same 43mm as the Circularis Power Reserve, the case of the Salthora Meta X couldn’t be more different. The look here is classic dive watches: strong, wide-set lugs, bulky sloping crown guards and a wide ceramic rotating minutes bezel dominate the view, and if you ignore the dial it wouldn’t look out of place on a thousand different divers. The dial, however, is what sets the Salthora Meta X apart as a MeisterSinger. The trademark single needle hand and stark helvetica numerals are here in full force, but it’s what’s at 12 o’clock that makes this one fascinating.

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The Salthora Meta X comes equipped with a jumping hour window at the top of the dial, a complication usually left to the some of the hautest of haute horologie. For those not in the know, a jumping hour complication doesn’t advance along smoothly, but instead advances the hour window all at once, on the hour, sort of like a date window. It jumps. Ordinarily, this jumping motion causes a certain amount of uneven stress over the movement over the course of a day, which can lead to inaccuracy and other issues down the line. MeisterSinger claims to have solved this problem with their proprietary jumping hour module, first introduced in the dressier standard Salthora Meta. This module includes a snail connected to the minute wheel that allows gradual, continual tensing of the hour disk actuator rather than a sporadic jolt once an hour. This solution, says MeisterSinger, is much kinder on movement components.

The Salthora Meta X’s technical credentials extend to the case as well, boasting a full 200-meter water resistance rating. Of course, without a second hand or individual minute markers on the bezel, it’s nearly useless as an actual diving instrument, but in this day and age so is pretty much any mechanical diving watch. Overall, however, it’s a fun, interesting piece that blends iconic diver looks with MeisterSinger’s unique brand DNA. The Salthora Meta X will be available later this year at a price of $3,200.

For more information, visit MeisterSinger.

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