nathan griff
Apprentice WIS
She sure is beautiful. Nice job here and love that blue lume shot!
Pre-Order Borealis Sea Storm V2
- Thread starter sapcmc
- Start date
Very easy to solve. You can remove bracelet easy with the drilled lugs and purchase the rubber separately.
mike hausmann
Apprentice WIS
what will be the movement?
mike hausmann
Apprentice WIS
cool nice movement should also keep cost down, looking forward to seeing it.
I'll have to wait to see all the versions, but since I have two V1 Sea storms, I'm not seeing enough difference in the V2 versions shown to jump in. I would have liked to see a different hand set choice added. Some of the V2 versions would look real good with Cathedral hands or Sword hands, IMO. Still like you say, you can't fulfill every ones desires. Maybe I'll just have to get bracelets for my V1 Sea storms, like I did with my two V1 Estorils!
Bracelets won't be offered separately if pre-order is not a success. There are versions now in blue and ceramic inserts (blue, black)
Since I’m up early this morning on the Florida east coast, and I love what you guys do, and since I’m guessing there won’t be a lot of changes you can make to V2 now that you’ve worked up your build, here’s my wild & crazy suggestions for V3:
1. Your original Sea Storm is one of the best microbrand homages out there, maybe in the Top Ten IMO, when you consider all the factors, including value for money, quality, design and that one “je ne sais qua” factor I will call its intrinsic esthetic (some of which derives from the original designs on which it was modeled, obviously, but it’s really easy to screw that up). I would say your Cascais design falls into that group as well.
2. One of the worst things you can do with a product design (again, only IMHO, so remember that “free advice” is usually worth what you pay for it) Is begin further iterations and start to tack on various bells & whistles, trying to appeal to everyone. Truly classic designs almost always age with grace because their iterations feature only very small “tweaks” over many years. There are a lot of Diver Microbrands out there struggling (or who will be) because they are trying to appeal to everyone all the time with every new feature everyone wants. The Sea Storm is a classic. Don’t screw it up by messing with it too much.
3. Having said all that, here are my suggestions for “messing with” Version 3, should you ever decide to go there...
A... I caught some flack recently on a Forum for suggesting a preference for a higher beat 28,800 BPH movement instead of the lower beat “reliable, workhorse NH35”. It gave me a little different appreciation for that movement, but I find after considering it for a while that I still lean toward the noticeably smoother second hand sweep of the higher beat movements. And yes, I get it that the Power Reserve can be impacted, and that the cost factor is a big deal in this category. ...BUT, there is something a little bit more elegant about that smoother sweep, befitting a more elegant watch design. You recognized that with your Cascais, which makes brilliant use of the STP1-11. I would suggest a movement transplant to the STP or the Miyota 9015 in the Sea Storm V3, especially since you have already telegraphed that the V2 is going to have a higher price tag. Also, keep the Date option. Not everyone is a Dive Purist.
B...If you’re going to put a bracelet on this design, why not lead the pack with a 22mm that reduces to 20mm at the clasp, or even 18mm. I can’t tell from your photos so far whether this new one reduces in width at the clasp - if it does, great design choice. The narrowing bracelet invariably wears more comfortably, and I’d bet you’d get a lot more retro-fit orders. The clasp you’re showing looks classier with the chamfered or beveled flip-lock, by the way. Nice.
C...if you’re going to consider Case/Movement changes, pick up a cheap Sea-Gull Ocean Star and unscrew/screw the Crown a few times. If your Sea Storm felt like that, it would add immensely to that “intrinsic esthetic” I mentioned. As you well know (from sad experience I imagine) customers in this category can be, shall we say, “fussy” about little things on a watch. This is one bit of fine tuning that would get you a lot of praise, even though it isn’t a new flashy bezel change. If the Chinese can do it on a watch that cheap, whoever is making yours can too. Also, don’t make the case any thicker than it already is - in fact, if you could shave off a mm without affecting W/R, do it, but not by messing with the domed crystal - it’s beautiful already.
D...Get as much quality Super LumiNova Lume on V3 as you can afford. You’re already doing well here, don’t let it slide.
E...Dial & Bezel colors stray into that territory that just ends up being individual preference. Blue seems to be the rage these days, but I’d say just do what you think gives V3 the right “vibe” - you know the market on that way better than most of your customers....BUT, Black is always going to be the standard. So, if you’re going to do black, make it BLACK. The Bezel on V1 is an example of what I would call a deep, INKY black. Keep that. The V1 Black dial IMO could be a little deeper black - maybe that’s just a function of the dial surface treatment rather than the color, but whatever it is, I’d try to get it darker.
That’s it. Most of my “brilliant” ideas aren’t ones the average customer is going to see at first glance. Some will cost you more, and I get that there are cost-benefit considerations. But I think you would end up with a design iteration that could have a much longer life span (and perhaps allow for a larger production run at lower cost). And, if there are some customers who want a pink Bezel insert, Hey, make them happy. Seiko has about a million silly Dial color options for the Monster, but every one of them still makes that classic Monster statement.
Thanks for listening (or not, Ha, Ha)...I’ll be waiting to push the button on a new V2 Sea Storm next week with everyone else. Take Care.
1. Your original Sea Storm is one of the best microbrand homages out there, maybe in the Top Ten IMO, when you consider all the factors, including value for money, quality, design and that one “je ne sais qua” factor I will call its intrinsic esthetic (some of which derives from the original designs on which it was modeled, obviously, but it’s really easy to screw that up). I would say your Cascais design falls into that group as well.
2. One of the worst things you can do with a product design (again, only IMHO, so remember that “free advice” is usually worth what you pay for it) Is begin further iterations and start to tack on various bells & whistles, trying to appeal to everyone. Truly classic designs almost always age with grace because their iterations feature only very small “tweaks” over many years. There are a lot of Diver Microbrands out there struggling (or who will be) because they are trying to appeal to everyone all the time with every new feature everyone wants. The Sea Storm is a classic. Don’t screw it up by messing with it too much.
3. Having said all that, here are my suggestions for “messing with” Version 3, should you ever decide to go there...
A... I caught some flack recently on a Forum for suggesting a preference for a higher beat 28,800 BPH movement instead of the lower beat “reliable, workhorse NH35”. It gave me a little different appreciation for that movement, but I find after considering it for a while that I still lean toward the noticeably smoother second hand sweep of the higher beat movements. And yes, I get it that the Power Reserve can be impacted, and that the cost factor is a big deal in this category. ...BUT, there is something a little bit more elegant about that smoother sweep, befitting a more elegant watch design. You recognized that with your Cascais, which makes brilliant use of the STP1-11. I would suggest a movement transplant to the STP or the Miyota 9015 in the Sea Storm V3, especially since you have already telegraphed that the V2 is going to have a higher price tag. Also, keep the Date option. Not everyone is a Dive Purist.
B...If you’re going to put a bracelet on this design, why not lead the pack with a 22mm that reduces to 20mm at the clasp, or even 18mm. I can’t tell from your photos so far whether this new one reduces in width at the clasp - if it does, great design choice. The narrowing bracelet invariably wears more comfortably, and I’d bet you’d get a lot more retro-fit orders. The clasp you’re showing looks classier with the chamfered or beveled flip-lock, by the way. Nice.
C...if you’re going to consider Case/Movement changes, pick up a cheap Sea-Gull Ocean Star and unscrew/screw the Crown a few times. If your Sea Storm felt like that, it would add immensely to that “intrinsic esthetic” I mentioned. As you well know (from sad experience I imagine) customers in this category can be, shall we say, “fussy” about little things on a watch. This is one bit of fine tuning that would get you a lot of praise, even though it isn’t a new flashy bezel change. If the Chinese can do it on a watch that cheap, whoever is making yours can too. Also, don’t make the case any thicker than it already is - in fact, if you could shave off a mm without affecting W/R, do it, but not by messing with the domed crystal - it’s beautiful already.
D...Get as much quality Super LumiNova Lume on V3 as you can afford. You’re already doing well here, don’t let it slide.
E...Dial & Bezel colors stray into that territory that just ends up being individual preference. Blue seems to be the rage these days, but I’d say just do what you think gives V3 the right “vibe” - you know the market on that way better than most of your customers....BUT, Black is always going to be the standard. So, if you’re going to do black, make it BLACK. The Bezel on V1 is an example of what I would call a deep, INKY black. Keep that. The V1 Black dial IMO could be a little deeper black - maybe that’s just a function of the dial surface treatment rather than the color, but whatever it is, I’d try to get it darker.
That’s it. Most of my “brilliant” ideas aren’t ones the average customer is going to see at first glance. Some will cost you more, and I get that there are cost-benefit considerations. But I think you would end up with a design iteration that could have a much longer life span (and perhaps allow for a larger production run at lower cost). And, if there are some customers who want a pink Bezel insert, Hey, make them happy. Seiko has about a million silly Dial color options for the Monster, but every one of them still makes that classic Monster statement.
Thanks for listening (or not, Ha, Ha)...I’ll be waiting to push the button on a new V2 Sea Storm next week with everyone else. Take Care.
Easier with images.
This is version A (sapphire bezel plain dial). Example AA.1 means it has a date version as second letter is an A , AB.1 means it is a no date version as second letter is a B.
version B with ceramic bezel insert
and the special bio hazard version
We are also offering now a different type face for logo.
timekeeper
Master Apprentice WIS
What is the thickness of the watch?
No such option. Photos were taken by Ricardo Lamy a portuguese rising talent photographer https://www.ricardolamy.net/
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Thats a pity, cause the A1 with white/white would be an excellent “wife watch”.