A controversial Steinhart? Controversial when they churn out Submariner homages, ignored when they don't, but the controversy really kicks off when they smoke some crack before hitting the drawing board...
Such was the immediate interest in this watch when the release email came from Steinhart that their servers immediately crashed, stayed that way for an hour and a half, resulted in the website being taken down and put onto a turbo-charged server or whatever way they do these things. Various internet forums looked on with mild disinterest, the watch was almost universally slated yet the run of 111 sold out in ten hours, which was a nice little earner for Gunter.
Anyway, what do you get for your Euros?
Black cardboard outer box, a weird long box too... what's in that?
That's quite nice, a canvas print, individually named, numbered and signed by Gunter himself.
A nicer inner box than the usual Steinhart fare, gone is in the faux-leather and in is... erm... faux-wood. Not grained or anything, it's some sort of plastic/resin, but is really nice and solid.
Inside...
A second strap, a strap-changing tool, and a watch!
The second strap isn't something I've had before, a strange furriness to it, like a suede. I don't know what it is.
The watch then...
Ok, so the styling isn't to everyone's taste, but it's fantastically-well constructed, feels like a tank (see what I did there?). And it's this construction that is its big positive and also its big negative. You see, a watch shaped like this should be more delicate. A watch with an ETA 2892 chosen over a 2824 should have had this decision made for one reason - the relative thinness of the 2892. Yet here, this thing is like a door-stop, feeling much more substantial than Steinhart's stated 12mm.
A comparison to a couple of other big watches and a comedy comparison with a CWC G10:
How is it on the wrist though? Well, I can tell you, you know it is there. It isn't just the thickness, it isn't just the large lug-to-lug length (which works fine for me on a traditional round watch but the shape of this seems to make it longer), but it's also the shape of the PVD sections at the side. Instead of being rounded at the bottom, they're flat, pointed and sharp!
It's a bizarre design decision, leaving the spikes poking into the forearm on the left hand side. All things considered though, I bloody love it. It's the only non-round watch I currently have and the design is a nice break from the more conservative and traditional watches you'll see on pretty much any forum. On the styling, you can make up your own mind. The skull on the dial is nicely done but won't be to everyone's taste and the skulls on the strap are just awful but a strap is easily replaced... perhaps even with the one in the box! Anyway, this is the Steinhart Barrique Skull.
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Originally Posted by seikopath
I know, right?
