A nod to my other passion, cars.
The dial breaks the traditional logo placement rules and takes cues from the classic three-spoke steering wheel. Dial balance is very important and I take these through many variations, often tweaking by fractions of a mm. Sometimes it might look good on the screen but it fails to pass the naked eye test once completed. The Moto was 7 versions in when I settled on this layout.
Original concept was for a date at 6 dial using an ETA 2824. I will be making this version at some point, along with an NH35 one to keep the costs down. If it has to have a date, what better place than at 6 to satisfy my OCD tendancies for symmetry in design.
I’ve kept the hands simple with high legibility a priority. You might have seen the core shape in previous builds. Here I’ve tweaked the design with solid tips to help distinguish them and to catch more light.
The seconds hand was painted bright orange to replicate the tacho needles on the gauge clusters of cars. While most needles are red, I prefer the bright orange. 🙂
In a departure from the highly polished cases, I went with a brushed 36mm Oyster to compliment the brushed dial base plate and brushed hands. It’s a delicate size but the brushed finish gives it a rugged and tool-like feel.
The grey suede strap has been my favourite with these brushed cases so that was an easy choice. It was custom made by Artisan Straps who I’ve regularly worked with to complete many of my watches.
The caseback just had to be solid, further cementing the utility feel of the watch. It may not look like it but it can take longer to design a caseback (engraving art) than it does to build the watch. I usually design a few variations and test on sheets of stainless to see what looks best before engraving the caseback. The watch needs to be complete and the caseback sealed to it’s final position so that it can be engraved with alignment in mind.
Custom built for the pickiest customer of all, me. 😅
