A Monday morning watch review takes a long time to gear up for us at the WatchReviewBlog. Two coffee’s, a Euro’s match, and a very intriguing watch is the minimum it takes to get our creative writing juices flowing. Luckily we’ve had the new Amida Digitrend Take Off Edition in hand for the past couple weeks, and I’ve been wearing it around the house this morning which has sparked a few thoughts for this review.
You may have seen this watch recently on social media, it’s been making the rounds on popular watch sites such as Worn & Wound. If you have, you’re probably also curious about what this watch actually is, after all it appears to be a solid piece of steel with a horizontal side display. Essentially this is accurate, although there’s a few things happening behind the scene that requires explaining.
Idea Behind the Design
The bare bones idea behind the Amida Digitrend design is to allow a sports car driver to view the time easily without needing to release his hands from the steering wheel or re-angle his wrist to view it. The way the time is displayed via the side window of this watch is quite intuitive in this regard, and it’s a design that was in actual use with the original watch that was released at Baselworld in 1976.
In practice, back then, this was a really useful and nearly essential design that assisted the driver, but of course in our current modern times it’s essentially obsolete due to our advanced car dashboards, and even some watches that can be worn on the inside of the wrist. The Amida Digitrend is now relegated to a fun only, nostalgic re-issue type of watch, just like most mechanical vintage inspired watches are now anyways.
Features and Build
The two most unique aspects about this watch are its very unusual case design, and the way that it actually projects the time onto the side display. The case design is rather self explanatory just by looking at the images, and nothing additional was really gained by me as I handled the watch in person. It’s a solid piece of 316L steel with a removable caseback. The caseback has a neat engraving of a globe and a jet, along with some branding text. It also has a partial exhibition window displaying about 20% of the Soprod NEWTON P092 automatic movement.
Just by handling the watch and reading the time as you normally would, will not reveal the true uniqueness of how this watch actually displays the time. When viewing the time through the small display window it appears as though your simply viewing the face of a dial, but it’s actually displaying the time via a light reflecting display prism, in a very similar way that a pair of prism binoculars work. You aren’t viewing the dial straight on, but it’s being projected to you through a reflection. The movement is placed laterally as usual in the watch, and the mirror like prism system is allowing you to view the top of the movement, but from a side angle.
If one is familiar with how a prism works, it’s actually a very simple design, but this is the first time it’s been used in combination with a wrist watch display or perhaps any kind of time telling display ever. Through the side window you can see the jumping hour on the left side, and the minutes on the right side – no small seconds is available. Instead, Amida has placed a rather large logo in the center of the dial despite already not having much real-estate to work with.
The case does indeed have a really nice brushed finish on its entirety, except for the very front rim of the dial display section which is polished. The crown was not easy for me to grip and turn either, as it’s somewhat recessed into the side of the case and did not extend far enough when pulled out.
Actual Wearability
While I think the concept and design of the watch is really cool, I’m not overly convinced on its practical wearability. For starters, the watch is heavy – which I should have anticipated even before receiving it due to its nearly full-on steel case with smaller than average display window. The watch was top heavy on my wrist, and sits fairly high due to the 15.6mm thickness, and I was not expecting the caseback to be as uncomfortable as it was which I’m assuming is due to the entirely flat design with no curvature.
Telling the time on the watch as I went about my day proved to be challenging as well, and I was hoping to warm up to the side viewing angle, but it was simply just more cumbersome and difficult to read compared to the organic angle of a regular wrist watch.
Now, where this watch actual does excel in terms of readability is no surprise, and that’s when driving. The watch does indeed feel more at home on the wrist when behind the wheel of a car, and if you want to get into the grove of things wear it behind the wheel of a sports car like a Porsche 911 to get full appreciation. In this position, with your hands on the wheel you can read the time easily, but you do need to bring your face slightly closer to the wheel to get a proper glimpse.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, this is simply a fun watch rather than a practical one. If you have a passion for driving, and feel the need to skip the predictable chronograph options on the market, and you’re craving for something nostalgic on the wrist – this could be an interesting option for you.
If you’re looking for a daily wear watch with some heritage, I’d personally look elsewhere. The inconvenience of the side display, and the heft on the wrist, was really not worth the unique cool factor for me personally. This is absolutely a conversation starter piece though, and it could make for a fun watch to wear out casually or to a watch event, people will be intrigued to ask what you’re wearing.
The watch is currently sold out on the Amida official website, but when available it sells for 2,900 CHF.
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