Norqain’s Latest Wild One Celebrates the Brand’s Ties to the Music World and the Town of Zermatt

Sometimes a brand will launch a new watch line to intense fanfare, and then seem to forget about it, letting it twist in the proverbial wind while diligently shoring up other more proven collections. It’s a big gamble to launch a new watch collection, and timing follow ups after a big introduction is an inexact science at best. Norqain, with the launch of the Wild One last fall, has taken an aggressive approach to getting the word about their new high end sports watch, with quick follow ups that expand the palate of what the Wild One can be, and rapidly familiarize the watch community with the new platform. 

The latest Wild One has a distinct aesthetic impact, and also serves to highlight a new Norqain partnership, all based around a location that is of genuine importance to the brand. The Wild One Zermatt Unplugged Special Edition celebrates Norqain’s involvement in the Zermatt Unplugged music festival, which occurs annually in the picturesque Swiss ski village at the base of the Matterhorn. Zermatt is also the location of Norqain’s flagship boutique, and as a center of outdoor sport it falls right in line with the brand’s bent towards adventure. To bolster their ties to the music festival, Norqain is offering a limited number of the new watches as part of a package that includes a two night stay in Zermatt during the festival along with a VIP ticket and a day of skiing with Olympic medalists Tina Weirather and Ramon Zenhäusern, who are also Norqain ambassadors. 

For watch enthusiasts who are less interested in hitting the slopes, the new Wild One LE is also available without all extras. What you’ll get with this edition is a case entirely in black, both the Norteq outer shell as well as the rubber inserts that provide additional shock protection (for more on the unique attributes of the Wild One case, including the new composite material that is its calling card, check our earlier coverage here and here). 

The dial on the special edition is a change of pace in the Wild One collection. Previous variants have favored heavy textures and repeating patterns, but the anthracite dial here is quite a bit more subtle. It still has a texture, which Norqain tells us is modeled after the gneiss rock found on the Matterhorn, but it’s not at all in your face, and contrasts easily with gold toned hour markers and hands. There shouldn’t be too much of a problem with legibility here, at least during the day (it doesn’t appear that there’s a ton of lume). 

In terms of specs, this Wild One has the same Kenissi made caliber as the others. The Calibre NN20/1 is COSC certified, has 70 hours of power reserve, and is identical in nearly every way to the movement found in many current Tudors. In other words, it’s likely to be highly accurate and reliable. The case measures 42mm in diameter and 12.3mm tall, and carries 200 meters of water resistance. It’s mounted to a black rubber strap that is integrated to fit perfectly between the lugs, and the whole package weighs just 84 grams. 

The retail price on the Wild One Zermatt Unplugged Special Edition is $5,590. If you want to spring for the package that includes a ticket to the music festival and Zermatt hotel accommodations, the price goes up to $6,690, which is actually not as much as I’d have guessed when I first glanced at the press release. More information can be found at the Norqain website here.