Just last week I had the chance to visit New York City for the unveiling of Norqain’s Independence Skeleton Chrono powered by the in-house 8K Manufacture Calibre. It was a really great event marked by a special hands-on look at the new releases, and then an eventual presentation at Lightbox NYC. I always forget how immense this city is but I was quickly reminded when flying into Laguardia and getting an aerial view of this absurd urban jungle. While in town I also had the opportunity to visit a couple new areas for me, like East Village and its famous St Marks Place. I also booked an appointment at the AP House in the Meatpacking District which turned into a fascinating hands-on introduction of the brand and a tour of their coveted boutique location.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Norqain, they’re a very new independent and family owned watch brand founded in 2018 by Ben Küffer – that’s merely 6 years ago. It was also explained to me during our face to face interview that they opted to start from scratch with a new brand name, instead of taking over an already established Swiss watch brand. This is quite commendable when considering the clout that a storied watch brand brings to the table in order to make watches sound appealing to collectors. The Norqain brand is absolutely young, energetic, and modern in culture which is reflected not only in their founding teams demeanour but also very much so in their watch designs.
The Watches On Hand
Prior to flying into NYC I had seen press images of the two new release Independence Skeleton Chrono’s, so I kind of knew what to expect when seeing them in the metal during the hands-on unveiling. What I wasn’t prepared for was their real-world featherweight feeling when holding them in the hand or wearing on the wrist. Even the stainless steel variant is exceptionally lightweight due to the extensive skeletonization of the 8K Calibre movement. So much metal has been removed during the machining and hand finishing of the movement that even the steel version felt like it had a titanium case. Now, that probably leaves you wondering how the purple version with the grade 5 Titanium case felt, and yes it was indeed featherweight at under 90 grams.
While I’m personally not usually a fan of black DLC coated cases, I do have to say that the finishing in use on the purple variant from Norqain is something quite special due to the natural grey/black marbling effect created on the case – which is really only noticeable in person or on a high definition photo. If I remember correctly the causation of this has something to do with the special bonding process between grade 5 titanium and the specific DLC coating adherence. This was a first for me to observe on any watch, it’s very subtle which I like.
The stainless steel version brings a little more familiarity into the mix due to the more common stainless steel used, it has a little more pop on the wrist as well due to the more visible tri-finished case showing off Norqain’s watchmaking expertise with polished, brushed, and blasted textures. This neat contrasting effect is more visible on the side of the case where you can see a well defined edge on the crown side, as well as a customizable nameplate on the opposite side.
The dials on both watches are equally as mesmerizing, with the gold hands on the steel variant being easier to read on quick glance, and the purple version adding some fun flair into the mix. As ironic as it sounds, these watches aren’t designed for simple time reading, and if you’re a collector you’re probably well aware of this. These watches are designed to be works of art, they require a painstaking amount of time and a skillful watchmaker to produce, so far Norqain has only produced 600 units of their new 8K Manufacture Calibre.
On Wrist
Much of my time spent with these two new watches was in-hand, gazing at the 8K movement from the front, and back. I did however throw them on wrist at the request of the Norqain team as they snapped me out of my excessive starring at this wondrous calibre. Despite the somewhat larger size of the watches, both with 42mm cases, they were incredibly comfortable due to both the light weight aspect, but also the well thought our curvature of the lugs. There’s so many aspects that go into sizing a watch, and this is one great example that smaller wrist folk like me can pull off larger watches if the specs call for it, case size alone can be misleading.
Comfort was great, and the overall appearance was better than expected on my small 6.5 inch wrist. Naturally, with chronograph equipped watches, the cases tend to be quite thick in order to house the larger movement with more parts and this is indeed the case here as both watches are 13.9mm thick. It wasn’t overly apparent when on my wrist, but you can absolutely get the sense that this is a sportier, more modern appearing watch.
The Peak Inspired Movement
The movement itself, which is essentially the main star of the show here is an automatic flyback chronograph with a column wheel, starting and stopping the chronograph hand is butter smooth. One very unique and somewhat hidden design of the movement is the personalized oscillating weight, which actually has the 8K peaks engraved into them – this lines up with more engravings within the movement and dial to complete the look of the peaks.
The movement is equipped with a generous 62 hour power reserve and it displays a small seconds counter at 6’oclock and 30 minute counter at 12’oclock. When viewing the movement through the display back the finishing was exceptional, complete with multiple metal finishes, and I did not notice any tooling marks. As the movement is fully skeletonized, as well as the dial, one can imagine the myriad of moving parts viewable on both sides of the watch.
Final Thoughts
I’m very impressed with Norqain’s creativity when it comes to producing high quality and uniquely distinguished watches. It’s one thing to produce a nice watch with expert watchmaking skills, but Norqain takes it to the next level to inject personal flair. Their watches are truly aimed towards a niche collectors market, they make excellent propositions to enthusiasts who are seeking maximum value without having to jump into the often more expensive and established brand names, whether Swiss made or even German.
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