Excluvia hits Kickstarter next month with its inaugural watch, dubbed ‘Vintage Echoes’, due to the Italian watch brand’s desire to recreate watches with a vintage feel, reinterpreted in a modern way.
Initially available in a choice of two dial colours, vivid yellow or purple, this DLC coated cushion-cased dive watch will be priced at (€279 / $299 / £235) when it launches at the end of August/early September. Excluvia was founded by Giuseppe Bua, who for the past 12 years has been working in the watchmaking industry as a supplier of parts for watchmakers with his company, Penta Watch S.r.l, based in Catania. It’s unsurprising then, that Giuseppe would want to create his own brand and combine his experience in the watchmaking world with his passion for watches. But is the brand’s debut watch any good? Let’s dive in and find out…
The case and wearing experience
The Vintage Echoes has a case diameter of 40mm, a lug-to-lug measurement of 45mm, an overall thickness of 12.3mm and 20mm lug width. I consider these to be crowd-pleasing dimensions, especially when combined with the simple cushioned-shaped case, which has a continuous downturned sweep to the side profile. Consequently, it does indeed wear very comfortably and it will suit a wide range of wrists sizes. My wife actually tried the watch on and even she felt like she could wear it, which considering 32-34mm is her sweet spot, is quite something. Having said that, the watch is entirely Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated so does come across as being quite masculine in that regard. DLC watches are also a bit divisive among watch enthusiasts. Some love the bad-ass look of black DLC coated watches, whilst others think the slightly shiny coating can look a bit cheap. Whichever side of the fence you sit, it’s certainly a cool technology that enhances durability and scratch-resistance, compared to uncoated 316L stainless steel, which at this price point is a welcome point of difference. The DLC coating also makes the Excluvia’s case feel extremely smooth and tactile, so much so that you’ll probably keep running your fingers over the case (or maybe that’s just me!). Finally, DLC is also hypo-allergenic, so if you have sensitive skin this could be a good option for you.
The case is well finished, with fine longitudinal brushing to the top side of the case and sides. The rear has circular brushing, except for the caseback which is stainless steel and features a simple engraved swimmer/freediver motif in set in relief against a sandblasted background. The 60-click bi-directional, divers-style bezel is brushed and slopes gently from the flat sapphire crystal to the grippy coin edge. The bezel diameter is smaller than that of the case, which helps make the watch appear visually compact, but does slightly impede on the ease of rotating the bezel compared to bezels that overhang the case. Unusually the marker layout on the bezel comprises Arabic numerals only for the 10, 20, 40 and 50 minute markers, with circular pips everywhere else, except for the 12 o’clock inverted triangle marker. Lume-lovers will rejoice as LumiNova C1 is liberally applied to the bezel markers and it glows brightly. I’d describe the bezel action as a bit unrefined and snappy. Although to be fair to Excluvia, this is probably exaggerated somewhat by the fact it’s a 60-click instead of the more common 120 click. Excluvia choose a bi-directional 60-click bezel because it gives more of a vintage feel akin to the early dive watches. However, they have said to me that a final decision on the bezel type has yet to be made, so this may change on the production watches.
The sapphire crystal has an anti-reflective (AR) coating applied to the inside to help minimise reflections. However, this watch would benefit enormously from having improved AR or preferably both internal and external AR coatings, as the reflections distract your attention away from the otherwise strong look that Excluvia are going for with this watch. Water resistance is 200m thanks in part to the screw-down crown and caseback both of which features an engraved skin-diver/swimmer motif. The crown is partially recessed into the case and measures approx. 6mm, which I feel is a little on the small size for this type of watch. The crown was also a bit notchy on my review watch, not always engaging easily or confidently. Another point to note is that the date wheel didn’t have a positive turnover, with no discernible ‘notch’, so it was difficult to tell when the date wheel had rotated into its correct position, something I’ve never experienced before with the 9015 movement.
At the time of ordering, customers will be able to choose between a FKM rubber strap with a carbon-fibre style pattern or a sailcloth strap with colour-matched stitching. Both options are fitted with two floating keepers, feature quick-release springbars for easy strap changes and have black hardware to match the watch. I found the FKM rubber strap to be more to my liking as it’s slightly more pliable and I prefer the look. It’s worth remembering that the Excluvia Vintage Echoes has a versatile 20mm lug width, so you’ll also have a huge selection of aftermarket straps to choose from!
The Dial and Legibility
A coarse ‘sandy’ grain texture covers the entire dial, complemented by a colour-matched steeply slopped chapter ring that has a metallic finish to it. Both the yellow and the purple dial variants are bold choices that suit the watch well and contrast nicely against the entirely black DLC coated case. Although for reasons I’ll explain later, to my tastes, the yellow dial works more successfully, and I suspect will also be the better seller.
The fantastic bold applied indices are a mix of over-sized and stylised Arabic numerals for the 12, 3, 6 and 9 markers and triangles for all other hour markers. There is a liberal application of LumiNova C1, and again the lume is excellent, with the watch glowing like a beacon. A black-on-white date window is placed roughly at 4.30, which will probably be a love it or hate it thing for some people. Lovers of symmetry will struggle to like it, but the plus side is that the dial gets no missing hour markers!
The handset comprises an arrowhead hour hand and a dagger-shaped minute hand. Both have a blackened finish with sections of lume. It’s a mixed bag here. The hand shapes work well, but I did sometimes find it difficult to read the time because, besides the relatively small lumed sections, the dark hands can disappear against the dark of the purple. The hands, or more specifically the lume sections, could do with being a bit bigger for enhanced visibility in lower light. As touched on earlier, this is one reason that I think the yellow dial could be a better option for some buyers. Sadly, and I hate having to do this, but I have to raise a quality control concern here too. I found considerable ‘debris’ on the counter balance of both the hour hand and seconds hand, which is a real shame as the applied indices seem to be very well executed.
Dial text is kept simple with Excluvia at 12 o’clock and ‘Automatic’ and ‘20atm/200m’ above the six o’clock marker. However, I understand from brand owner Guiseppe that production models will also have the model name (Vintage Echoes) printed on the dial.
In summary, legibility for the most part is excellent thanks to the textured dial and big, bold indices with liberal application of lume. However, the handset legibility and quality control loses the watch some points.
Movement Choice
The Vintage Echoes runs a Miyota 9015 high-beat movement, which should be familiar to most of our readers. I’m a big fan of this Japanese movement and it’s my favourite choice in affordable watches. It’s robust, reasonably accurate, and thanks to it’s 28,800vph / 4Hz beat rate, gives a nice smooth sweep to the seconds hand. Accuracy is rated to -10/+30s per day and the power reserve is 42 hours.
Final Thoughts on the Excluvia Vintage Echoes
Where do I start with this one?! The Excluvia Vintage Echoes is a tale of two halves.I love a 70s-esque cushion-cased watch, so we’re off to a great start. However, despite the advantages of DLC-coated watches, I’m not really a fan of the look. I concede that my aversion to DLC is entirely subjective, but I suspect a fair proportion of the watch enthusiast community will feel the same. For this reason, I think Excluvia would be wise to offer a stainless steel version of the watch at some point down the line.
I love the bold indices, lavish application of strong lume, grainy colourful dials and the use of the Miyota 9015 movement. However, whilst generally the case quality is good, I did find noticeable defects in the finishing of the hands, and improvements could be made to the crown and date operation. Hopefully some or all of these will have been addressed before production models are delivered to customers. Excluvia has confirmed that production models will be assembled in Italy, where they will also undergo water resistance testing and timegrapher checks to ensure the movements are within specs. We also have to bear in mind that this is a very affordable automatic watch (€279 / $299 / £235), so expectations have to be in line with that. However, competition in the affordable microbrand segment has become incredibly fierce in recent years, so whilst the Excluvia is a striking, well-specced watch, there are more compelling options on the market for only slightly more money, that have better quality overall. Therefore, whether the Vintage Echoes is for you will come down to how much you connect with its style and how much you want a DLC coated watch. It could certainly make a good, fun, affordable and tough watch for some, but for others it might struggle to make the cut.
