Its often best to start one of these reviews with the first impression, no time to over think it, no time to edge it, and so similar to what I say in the title, and as I said to my wife when I unboxed the MT-1 “What a really nice well made watch, I am going to enjoy this”
It is being released on the 27th March on Kickstarter at a price well below its RRP as listed on their website.
Whats the back story?
Ayers Watches was born from a love of mechanical watches.
When I moved from Melbourne, Australia to Hong Kong in 2013, I quickly became familiar with all my local high-end watch boutiques.
Once the Asia hub for luxury watch making, Hong Kong is home to many established companies with their own factories, making watch parts and assembling for large brands in Europe. Switzerland included.
Upon making some contacts here in the business of watch making, I realised a good quality watch doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive, and with the communities built so readily these days on social media, we can avoid the large marketing budgets required by big brands and very high mark ups that often result.
Thus formed my desire to create an original design, premium heirloom quality, reasonably priced watch of my own.
I hope that with Ayers Watches, I can connect with people who share my love for mechanical watches and who like to surround themselves with things that they feel reflect their style and interests but don’t just pander to others’ expectations.
Glenn (Founder).
I should add to that, I have spoken to Glenn and his partner, they are really nice people.
Whats the Specs?
MOVEMENT Miyota 9015 Premium Slim Automatic Movement
DIAL & LUME Full Swiss Super-LumiNova® dial, Swiss Super-LumiNova® hour & minute hands and indices. MT-1(White BGW9 on Dark Blue), MT-2 (Dark Grey on White BGW9), MT-3 (Dark Orange on White BGW9)
CASE 44mm Stainless Steel 316L Cushion Case with Exhibition Case Back
CRYSTAL (Top) Sapphire crystal with Anti-reflective coating and (bottom) sapphire crystal
BRACELET Stainless Steel 316L Bracelet with butterfly clasps
WATER RESISTANCE 10ATM (100m)
DIMENSIONS 44 x 52mm (49mm diagonal)
THICKNESS 10.50mm
LUG TO LUG 51.20mm
LUG WIDTH Internal width 14.00mm and external width 26.00mm
CROWN Screw down
FEATURES Date window at 3 o’clock, serialised Backers’ Edition engraving
WARRANTY 2 Years
What do I think about this watch?
As I understand it the the MT-1 that I have been sent is the prototype model that is doing the circuit of watch blogs, has been used for several photo shoots, and has a few slight marks on it that it has picked up on its travels. If you see slight marks on the images, you can ignore those for now.
The MT-1 is a complete product, its looks, its build quality, its handsome 44mm size, and its accompanying bracelet. Normally I am not a huge fan of bracelets but this one is very comfortable and feels and acts like a quality product – as the market now expects. The butterfly styled clasp works well and the watch feels secure on your wrist.
The case is a really nice piece of brushed engineered steel, its certainly not too bulky, the premium slim Miyota 9015 is probably helping to keep the case slim for an automatic. Being able to see the movement through a display back is always a plus for watch people, and the Miyota is not displeasing to look at (I don’t think I have ever said that before now).
The decorated rotor and crown only help to strengthen the branding behind the watch, as does the “Ayers” on the watch dial.
The dial of the watch is a lovely piece of 3 dimension work that draws you into the face of the piece every time you look at it. The sapphire is crystal clear with its AR coating, and even the second hand is branded.
The dial has a surprise waiting when when you go looking for the Lume, I was not expecting it to be honest and it came as a very pleasant surprise.
I have had to think about the hands, they add a certain subtlety to the watch, it is possible to almost loose the hands in the face, I have argued with myself as to wether I would like more contrasting hands or not. I decided they add to the allure of the piece the way they are.
As a watch maker I decided to test the movement and put the watch on a timegraph, mainly because I wanted to see how the movement had handled being cased last year, and sent round the globe using various courier services. I also wanted to see wether Miyota had an offering for me to consider in future projects.
So bearing in mind the following:
- I don’t know how long the watch has been made
- I don’t know what abuse the watch has had
- I don’t know the QC that the watch has had.
Rate = 0 secs per day running (even though the graph suggests a gain of +5 per day
Amplitude = 257 (this is lower than I would expect from a new watch, below 280 I would suggest a service)
Beat Error = 0.9ms (this is the difference the balance swings from one direction to another, 0.0 is perfect, 0.9 is on the edge of acceptable) The reading is cleanish, but again suggests a service.
So overall after all its abuse the watch is keeping time very well indeed and anyone owning one would not notice anything except how accurate the watch is.
Summing Up
This is a really well constructed watch, very fine attention to detail and genuinely feels like a quality product, if you like the look of the watch for day or evening use you will not be disappointed, it would be a great addition to anyones collection, I love it and everything about it.
Links
Cumbria Watch Repair 
Very impressive. Would like to know about the pricing. Thanks.
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Nice looking watch Dan
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