NORTH.er | Expert Review by Stephen Mazinger

As I delve into this watch and my review of it, I had a revelation of sorts. Usually I mention personal preferences of what I would tweak to make the watch more me, but this is where my revelation came into play on the North.er. Tweaking details on this watch would mean tweaking its personality. 

I posted a pic on FB of this watch and someone had a negative comment about the water resistance. They said it should be more….to put it in a nicer way. I responded “there’s the right tool for the right job”. If I was going to dive I’d grab one of my dive watches. I wouldn’t change anything on this watch…..except for drilled lugs. More on that later.

I definitely would make suggestions on this watch if there were quality issues, which I can say there aren’t any. I have to say that this watch has made me step back and reevaluate my approach to viewing a watch in terms of looking for personal preferences vs. accepting the watch company’s vision of the watch. I feel like watches are horological art. I never critique art because the artist has a vision and their art is their personal interpretation of that art. Making personal preference suggestions on art changes the vision and the interpretation of that vision. See Post

My adventures with the Towson North.er continues. Did you know that you can use this dial as a compass?!? How you ask?!? Well if you line up the yellow hour hand with the 10H marker and then line up the blue GMT hand with 10H marker on the 24 hour-ring. When you line up the yellow hand that’s pointing to the yellow 10H with the sun, the blue GMT will show you the direction of North. Pretty damn cool tool to have on your wrist.

All of the hands, including the GMT hand can be manually adjusted via the crown. The beautiful oversized crown. The way that TWC machined this hand makes for gripping and operating it so incredibly easy. The finish on this crown catches the light so brilliantly. While I am speaking of finish, the case itself is a lovely combination of polished and satin finishes. The majority of this case is satin, leaving the top of the lugs and the fixed bezel with the polished finish.

As for the case-back, it’s an exhibition case back that allows you to peak at the 24 jewel Caliber 2893-2 automatic GMT movement. TWC adjusted the movement in 5 Positions. The reliable workhorse movement has a 46-hr power reserve and for any ASA you apply to this watch there’s the Incabloc shock absorption to add some reassurance. 

TWC finished the movement in accordance with ETA Decor Code #6 N/D/R. They get their movements from their proprietary partner in Switzerland. They don’t just slam them right into their cases either. Towson reassembles the movements, modifies & decorates them and finally they adjust the movement using their own watchmakers in Baltimore, MD. See Post

I can’t get enough of this dial and its colors. Like I have mentioned before, I truly appreciate how this dial is not only aesthetically pleasing but it’s also incredibly functional. The blue GMT hand and the corresponding 24hr blue markers are beautiful and extremely legible. I love how TWC uses that consistency of design details to allow the wearer of the watch to have an easy time reading the dial functions.

What I mean by this can be seen with the colors that TWC used on the dial. If you want to read the GMT hand quickly, the GMT hand is the same color as the 24H markers are printed in. If you want to read the time quickly you can because TWC used that same color matching logic for the hour & minute hands and same as the 12H markers. It’s that beautiful shade of yellow. I absolutely and completely appreciate that attention to consistency of details.

Since the second hand doesn’t feel left out, TWC matched the red second hand to the red date wheel. This is how you do a date wheel. This is one of the less obtrusive date window that I have experienced on a watch. Typically, I prefer a no-date dial not because I necessarily hate the date window, it’s the placement and design of it that I hate. I am not a fan of lazy watchmaking. As you all know, I appreciate the unique, original and the consistency of details. When a watch company removes a large cardinal hour marker for a date window and then uses the same old generic white date wheel with black printed numerals, this is what I hate. It just ruins the dial flow and harmony.

This dial still has flow, consistency and harmony with the date window and all! I really like the TWC logo and having it on the dial is a very welcome detail. It’s printed in that lovely shade of blue that matches the GMT hand, numerals and minute track. North is also printed in that blue, and the “er” is printed in red. A very small detail, but an excellent example of how a small detail can have a “HUGE” impact. See Post