Today, January 25th, marks the birthday of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, in a celebration known as Burns Night that sees people in Scotland partake in traditional Scottish comforts including food, whisky and music. In order to celebrate Burns Night this year, Scottish watch and jewellery retailer Wallace Allan have teamed up with Nivada Grenchen to create the Chronoking Mecaquartz ‘Ayr’ Limited Edition.
At its core, this is a Scottish themed version of the standard Chronoking Mecaquartz. That comes across strongest through the use of colour. While the dial has a black base for contrast and legibility, the chronograph hands and hour marker pips are blue, paired with white scales and lumed elements. What does the combination of white and blue remind you of: the Saltire flag.
The same set of three colours can be found on the five swappable bezels that the watch can be fitted with. There’s a full white, full black, blue-white, light blue-dark blue and grey-white. In order to swap the bezels, you simply pull it off of the watch with your fingers with a little pop and then place the new one in the same place and click it securely into place. Once in place it does genuinely feel secure and it doesn’t come off easily without intention to take it off, even when rotating it to make use of its scales.
As a note, because of the swapping mechanism, it is totally silent as it rotates with no clicks when rotating, creating a smooth motion that feels both satisfying and strange in equal parts. There are two scales on it that you can make use of. The first is a tachymeter scale, which is used in conjunction with the chronograph function. The second is a GMT scale featuring 12 prominent cities around the world, though London has been replaced with Ayr, the home of Wallace Allan. I suspect this is the only worldtime-style scale in the existence where this is the case. You can use the scale in conjunction with the 24-hour subdial to tell the time in a second time zone.
It makes for quite a distinctive and unusual display that’s quite attractive, blending chrono sportiness with world traveling class. Speaking of travel, the Chronoking Mecaquartz x Wallace Allan is robust in steel, measuring 38mm x 13.4mm on a beads of rice style bracelet or alternative rubber strap. Inside the case is the Seiko VK63 mecaquartz movement. Mecaquartz means that the core timekeeping functions are regulated by a quartz mechanism while the chronograph is mechanical, giving it the feel and look of a mechanical sweep chrono.
The Wallace Allan x Nivada Grenchen Chronoking Mecaquartz ‘Ayr’ is limited to just 50 pieces at a price of £820, which includes all five additional bezels and a black rubber tropic strap. It’s a fun way to express your Scottish heritage while also having an element of customisation to show your personal style. Now, time to cosy up by the fire with a glass of whisky and break out the book of Burns poems.
Price and Specs:
More details at Nivada Grenchen.
