Melbourne Watch Co. offers a very high-quality casual/dress watch, Flinders, so named after the iconic train station in Melbourne. It’s a very versatile watch with a bit of dress and sports features, legibility at its peak and controlled elegance, making it a fit for almost all outfits and occasions. This timepiece also offers a good value its price, has a lovely look complimented by nice details and impressive finishes used throughout the watch.
We can say that the MWC has fairly progressed over the years. Let’s take a look at some of the features of this timepiece.
Slim Profile Case
The 316L Stainless Steel case plated with Rose Gold PVD, measures 40mm wide and 9.9 thick is neither too large or too small, in my opinion, it has a near-perfect size which puts it in the same size as any modern dress timepiece. It is water-resistant up to 50meters. Thanks to the curvature of the lugs and the size of the case, the watch sits comfortably on the wrist and offers good wrist presence for a dress watch.
Flinders moved away from the convention of just having a bezel, case, lugs, and caseback, to having a caseback with the lugs fixed to it, totally separating it from the midsection of the watch. With this new construction system, they were able to use two separate finishes in the main case and the lugs featuring both brushed and high polished finishes.
Classic Dial Design
One of the much-loved parts of the watch is its white dial, it features a flat anti-reflective Sapphire over it, making the watch readable on a sunny day and offers a nice hue in appropriate light conditions.
Apart from being readable, little styling elements like multi-textured surfaces with applied high polished markers and a numbered chapter ring round the dial, faceted classic blue sword hands, a date window positioned at 3 and Melbourne Watch Co’s logo in both text and icon just below the 12, gives the watch a fascinating look.
High attention to detail is shown by a faux guilloche of vertical lines found at the center of the dial and the polished steel rod-like hour markers with tiny orbs at the outer end. Also, the “M” shaped counterweight to the second hand complements its origins and preserves its source of inspiration. The dial in general, looks clean and classy, giving the watch a high-quality feel, thus making it well suitable for business and casual outfits.
Sellita Cal.SW200-1 Movement
This watch is powered by a self-winding Swiss Made Sellita Cal. SW200-1 mechanical movement which offers a smooth beat rate of 28,800bph, hacking, hours, minutes, seconds and date function, an accuracy of about -0.5 Sec/day, a 38-hour power reserve, and 26 jewels, with the 26th jewel sitting just below the ratchet wheel and slightly reducing friction linked with automatic winding.
This movement has been greatly associated with the Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement because they have similar specs, but the Sellita Cal. SW200-1 is cheaper and more readily available. It’s a good-looking movement that can be viewed through the watch’s sapphire caseback.
Flinders Crown and Strap
Positioned at 3 o’clock is a small push-pull crown with Melbourne Watch trademark “M” logo deeply engraved on it. A little potential fault in the case design may be the size of the crown (small and long), which makes a bit difficult to pull out when setting the time
Attached to the steel case is a 20mm premium leather strap available in black or brown, coupled with a well-polished stainless-steel buckle that has a distinctive shape with the Melbourne’s logo deeply engraved on it. It offers a high level of comfort and style that matches the dial. However, if you have big wrists, you might need to slightly adjust the watch to fit you perfectly.
Final Thoughts
At a glance, it might seem a bit too plain, but when you look more closely, you’ll appreciate the high level of detailing put into the watch, the slim profile case design and its overall clean look and its excellent movement regulation. These little details and features, all work together to give you a wonderful time reading experience.
Wearability is greatly improved, thanks to the perfectly proportioned size and weight of the watch and quality leather strap.
The only major issue you might have with the watch is the small crown and an uninteresting strap, but that doesn’t stop it from being classified as a successful watch. If you don’t have lots of watches and you need an affordable casual/business dress watch that fits into most situations, the Flinders might be for you.
The watch offers quite a bit more than you will find in a watch of about $975 AUD ($700 USD), It can be ordered from Melbourne Watch Company official website here.
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