Reply With QuoteThe watch looks good and is value ,also lots of different options to choose from
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Well, I know there's at least one other on here, to which I can now add my xmas present to myself -
I'd had my eye on Dekla's range of pilot's watches for a while - they're a perfect fit with my collection: highly configurable, an option for hardened steel casework (à la Sinn, Damasko etc.), and all made in-house in Stuttgart aside from the Swiss movements. A forthcoming price rise, plus uncertainty over the post-Brexit trading situation prompted me to finally commit to a design and get it ordered.
You can choose between 3 case-sizes, two straps, 6 hand finishes, 6 dials, 3 different case finishes, casework engraving or not, two crown styles in each of two finishes, and two automatic and one hand-winding movements!
First impressions are that it exceeds anything that I had expected by some margin. Dekla’s website isn’t as bad as a lot of watch manufacturers, but the graphic renders used in their bespoke model builder do not do the watches much justice, and there are no photos of the blue-dialled options. My photos are not much better, but they’re a step closer to how very nice this is in reality.
Case quality is easily a match for the obvious competition - e.g. Damasko, Sinn, Archimede & Laco; not sure how it stands-up against pricier competition like IWC as I've not handled one. The bead-blasted finish on the hardened “6Steel” case is satiny smooth and perfectly uniform, even on the awkwardly-shaped crown.
The large crown is a joy to use - designed as they originally were for use by pilots wearing gloves, it’s hilariously easy to wind or adjust.
The sapphire crystal is nearly flat, but just slightly convex - which looks a lot better to me than dead-flat, and potentially spreads the load from impacts better. The antireflective coatings are internal only - a bonus in my books, as they always scratch too easily.
The dial is the highlight of the watch for me - it’s a deep - almost purple - indigo blue, except when the sunburst finish catches the light - then it scintillates a vivid sapphire-blue. It’s pad-printed very precisely with an off-white lume that tones perfectly - not too stark and bright, and not that terrible muddy-orange that is supposed to resemble aged lume.
I opted for heat-blued hands, and they are beautifully finished aside from a tiny wisp of lume overpaint visible only under magnification. Their colour, lovely though it is, does make the watch less readable to my knackered old-git's eyes. I considered the solid gold hand options, but was concerned they’d look out-of-place if the lume was the bright white shown in renders. In truth, they would have been a better choice from the legibility POV, but it won’t bother me.
The movement is an in-house regulated Sellita SW200 - it’s an automatic, but hand-winds incredibly smoothly and easily - albeit I understand this is best avoided with most of these ETA-derived units. I eschewed the upgraded ETA movement as it’s an under-£600 watch that will be worn in rotation with a ton of others, so just doesn’t justify the cost, plus there’s no window in the caseback through which to admire a well-finished movement. We’ll see how accuracy holds-up in coming days.
Lume is decent - utilising typical cooking-grade LumiNova, adequate for most purposes, but not blistering high-end Seiko grade. It’s an off-white BGW9 with a blue-green afterglow, which is a better choice than a brilliant white. Its one fault lies with the lume: there is none on the second hand - hardly essential, but a really daft omission.
I went for the lighter, tan-coloured strap, and it’s a lovely thing - soft and comfy, very well put-together, and has a very good quality signed buckle; it should age nicely.
I went for the 40mm case option - not least because Dekla’s renders make it seem that the 42mm and 44mm cases use the same sized dial and crystal as the 40mm, and so look increasingly lumpen and odd as they scale-up. 40mm is at the smaller end of what I normally wear, but this thing wears BIG - it is ALL dial, and the big crown adds to the impression. The fact that it’s not actually all that big, thick (10.6mm), or heavy (65g), plus its tapering, downturned lugs and good soft strap mean it is extremely comfortable on the wrist - it’s easy to forget it’s there at-all.
There's a few things I'd change - if I was ordering again I'd go for the gold hands, the second hand needs to be lumed - its only real fault, drilled lugs would be an improvement, and given that it's far from a purist take on the Flieger style - a date window would be good, too.
All said, I love this pretty thing, and am very glad I bit the bullet (and dodged price-rises and x-channel shipping problems too!). Even at the slightly higher prices now in place, this is the sweetest of sweetspots for me of quality vs cost. I’d even go so far as to say it’s a bargain - it’s not the usual Chinese-made stuff found at this price point, upsold and flogged from a small office in the right town - every part of it is made by Dekla in Stuttgart, aside from the Swiss-made movements.
The watch looks good and is value ,also lots of different options to choose from
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Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Nice write up thanks. Don't blame you for getting in before the inevitable increase in taxes and delivery issues. 40mm definitely the size to go for - looks good. Enjoy!
I really like that Paul and would like to see some more pics showing off the dial. Just had a play on the configurator and the 42mm with sunray blue dial with lumed gold hands is a great looking watch for only €780. Shame there isn't a bracelet option.
You sure mine the wide world of horology and find some great watches I was unaware of
Nice watch and pics.
Well, at least I know why it shouts "EXTERMINATE!" on the hour now...
Thanks for the comments chaps; I'll get some more pics up in due course
It's seven days since I carefully synch-ed the Dekla with my Casio Wave-Ceptor, during which time it has gained 18 seconds - approximately 2.5 seconds per day - which I find very acceptable indeed.
Few more pics:
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Less than a month after it was suggested that new versions of Dekla's "Turbulenz" were months away, if at-all this year, and I committed to buy the watch, Dekla has released the new versions of the Turbulenz...
Just some of the potential configs.
Oh well...
Still enjoying mine (even if the crystal is rather reflective!)
That is lovely - reminds me why I took so long making my damn mind up which options to go for with mine.Originally Posted by Joppers
Great photos of an interestint company. I have done some reading on them and may be tempetd in the future.
There are so many options on the website, that you can end up spending hours configuring different combinations!
Just ordered a TurbulenzIt's seven days since I carefully synch-ed the Dekla with my Casio Wave-Ceptor, during which time it has gained 18 seconds - approximately 2.5 seconds per day - which I find very acceptable indeed.
Few more pics:
---
Less than a month after it was suggested that new versions of Dekla's "Turbulenz" were months away, if at-all this year, and I committed to buy the watch, Dekla has released the new versions of the Turbulenz...
Just some of the potential configs.
Oh well...
Look forward to seeing how that turns out
Fantastic dial and finishing looks good.
Bottom right Turbulenz with a blue or green dial would be right up my street.
They make almost everything except the movements in-house, so will mix'n'match whatever features you want - big part of the appeal for me.
Some fresh Dekla porn just landed on YouTube...
https://youtu.be/9oNUJMe_BLw
I am very happy with this one
The EoS first tipped me off to the fact that Dekla would soon be producing some more interesting dials for their Turbulenz line. Not that plain black is a problem but I have a Muhle with this style of dial and I try to keep things different. I have always admired the Sinn 556 range.
So, which to choose? There are two sizes of case, two different materials to choose - steel or bronze - and four different dial types for each of these. You can choose your case finish, second hand colour and dial colour. And then the watch is built to the specifications you choose. Dekla's customer service was really highlighted in this process. I chose. I ordered a Type 1 40mm and paid. Then, a few days later, I re-thought and made one standard change, for a different dial, the Type 2, and also requested a non-standard no-date movement. They were happy to accommodate both these requests, which I was very happy about.
Five weeks later the watch was on its way...until Dekla noticed my no-date movement request was not the one in my watch. They emailed to explain.
A further week later I have this. It arrived in a nice wooden box
The lume is great.
The timekeeping seems excellent thus far (+2.9 seconds). The build quality is very good. It has a lovely gradient dial which my photos have not captured and an ever-so-slightly-domed glass.
Last edited by Bondurant; 20th March 2021 at 16:48.
I really do like that colour combo - need some well-lit pics of that at some point. Did you go for standard case or "6-steel"?
I will try...I'm bad at taking watch pictures.
Regular steel, brushed finish.
Edit...probably as good as I can do with a phone:
Last edited by Bondurant; 20th March 2021 at 15:02.
That is a really lovely shade of green, I'm going to have a look at the Dekla website.
Thread resurrection time…! I just received a Dekla and thought I’d add my own experiences. I’d been looking for a classic looking flieger for some time, having had, loved and traded a Stowa Baumuster B years ago - and never found anything else at the same sort of price/quality/wearability point.
Why Dekla? I like the opportunity to have an individual design, with various options for dial, case, hands, bezel and crown that meant I could specify exactly what I wanted. And all at a sensible price…
Unlike many, I rather like vintage-style lume - it seems to me to have a good combination of aesthetic and practicality. So that was a no-brainer, as was the black B-style dial. The lume is perfectly adequate at night and the printing looks great - there is a slight difference in gloss between lumed and un-lumed plots, but it’s hardly visible in daily use. I wish they’d lumed the seconds hand, that’s all.
The case is suitably slab sided and unfussy, the diamond crown lovely to use and I specified a hand wound movement (Sellita 210 I think) which is smooth, has no “phantom date” nonsense and so far seems accurate. I had all the case elements bead blasted, which looks great and will (I hope) patinate gracefully with use. The strap is thick, soft leather with flat headed rivets but I’m sure this will also look good on a Bund or leather NATO so I shall have some fun trying options.
I think my only criticism is that the case is quite deep (presumably to accommodate the winding mechanism of the auto movements) so there is quite a lot of empty volume visible through the display back.
Production took just over six weeks, VAT payable on delivery, about £600 in total which I feel fine with given the quality. Theres a box and stuff too, but I don’t really find those bits interesting…!
Pictures below - I think it’s a handsome thing and I’m glad I took the plunge.
That would be just about my perfect Type B Flieger...great looking thing
Thanks - it is a good balance IMO. About the right size for me, good looks, and things like the blued hands elevate it rather well. It certainly makes a change from the Darth Tuna which has stealthily become my go-to watch over the summer!
Very nice.Thread resurrection time…! I just received a Dekla and thought I’d add my own experiences. I’d been looking for a classic looking flieger for some time, having had, loved and traded a Stowa Baumuster B years ago - and never found anything else at the same sort of price/quality/wearability point.
Why Dekla? I like the opportunity to have an individual design, with various options for dial, case, hands, bezel and crown that meant I could specify exactly what I wanted. And all at a sensible price…
Unlike many, I rather like vintage-style lume - it seems to me to have a good combination of aesthetic and practicality. So that was a no-brainer, as was the black B-style dial. The lume is perfectly adequate at night and the printing looks great - there is a slight difference in gloss between lumed and un-lumed plots, but it’s hardly visible in daily use. I wish they’d lumed the seconds hand, that’s all.
The case is suitably slab sided and unfussy, the diamond crown lovely to use and I specified a hand wound movement (Sellita 210 I think) which is smooth, has no “phantom date” nonsense and so far seems accurate. I had all the case elements bead blasted, which looks great and will (I hope) patinate gracefully with use. The strap is thick, soft leather with flat headed rivets but I’m sure this will also look good on a Bund or leather NATO so I shall have some fun trying options.
I think my only criticism is that the case is quite deep (presumably to accommodate the winding mechanism of the auto movements) so there is quite a lot of empty volume visible through the display back.
Production took just over six weeks, VAT payable on delivery, about £600 in total which I feel fine with given the quality. Theres a box and stuff too, but I don’t really find those bits interesting…!
Pictures below - I think it’s a handsome thing and I’m glad I took the plunge.
Having 19 jewels, it's definitely the Sellita SW210 as the ETA 2801 has 17 jewels.
I am also more than impressed with the Sellita SW210. It winds beautifully and being an accurate, high beat manual wind movement, that is the finishing touch.
I'm guessing yours is the 40mm model?
Last edited by j111dja; 30th September 2021 at 21:57.
Thanks! It’s certainly doing well for accuracy: +4 spd averaged this week, which is impressive given the price point.
It is indeed 40mm - I know from experience that these B-dials wear bigger than diameter suggests and having had (and flipped) 44mm fliegers in the past I know this is the “right” size for me. Dimensions are odd - my other go-to watch at the moment is vast, but doesn’t feel it.
The thin bezel and big dial does make them wear bigger.
I have the 40mm bronze Type B (BGW9 dial and hands) manual. I really need to take some photo's of it.
I also have this bead blasted, auto 42mm Type B (old radium dial and hands).
Both have blued hands and FL numbers. They really are fantastic watches.
I have been chatting to Dekla about this. A logo dial and centre second Unitas 6497 modification. Hopefully they will find both options interesting in the future.
The Wempe is the perfect example.
Last edited by j111dja; 2nd October 2021 at 00:04.
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