Japanese watch brand Kuoe find their inspiration in the stunning vintage designs of the 20th century, bringing a retro sense of class and refinement to the 21st century. Following the sell out of their first automatic chronograph model, the Royal Smith 90-012, they’ve reintroduced the model in a pair of new colourways. We’ve been hands on with the Royal Smith 90-012 Automatic Chronograph panda and reverse panda to learn more about these retro chronographs.
Starting with the reverse panda, the first thing that jumps out at you as you take it out of the box is the dimensions. At 37mm, it falls into the vintage proportions trend that’s been popular for the past 24 months – seeing dress and tool watches fall to sub 38mm and sub 40mm diameters respectively. However, you would be mistaken for describing the Royal Smith 90-012 as a small watch. With a thickness of 14.3mm it sits very tall on the wrist.
That’s not without good reason: an automatic chronograph movement typically needs a lot of vertical space to accommodate its layers. You have the base movement as the first layer and then below that is the automatic rotor and above it is a chronograph module, creating three distinct layers to the movement. The calibre in this case is the TMI Cal. NE86A, a Japanese automatic with 45-hour power reserve.
Looking at the dial, it feels straight out of the 20th century with its combination of Art Deco railway track timing scales and curvaceous Breguet numerals. There’s a central vertically brushed disk surrounded by a raised ring for the hours with a grained finish. Overlapping between those two sections are the bi-compax chronograph subdials with sunray finishing, displaying small seconds and a 30-minute chronograph timer. The very edge of the display features a minute scale on the flange.
For colours, the reverse panda has a black base with champagne subdials and a matching minute scale. Swapping over to the panda shows that the colours here are inverted to a champagne base and black accents. The term panda comes from the fact that the white and black display looks like the face of a panda bear, it’s one of the most recognisable chronograph colour schemes and is particularly associated with 20th century motorsport chronographs due to its connection with icons like Paul Newman and the Rolex Daytona.
Controlling the chronograph function are a pair of rectangular pushers that flank the screw-in crown. They’re pretty firm, which has both up and downsides. It’s a little annoying having to exert energy to get the chronograph moving but then it also means you won’t ever press them by accident and stop it too early or start wasting power reserve unnecessarily. Once it is started, it has a smooth motion that looks great and it resets with a satisfying swiftness.
For the bracelet, the Kuoe Royal Smith 90-012 Automatic Chronograph in reverse panda comes on a five-link option while the panda is on three-link. It makes the panda feel like the sportier of the two. However, they are replaceable so you can swap them out for the bracelet or strap of your choice, giving you some personalisation options. They are also provided with an alternative leather strap.
It’s priced at £1,650, which is reasonable value for a fully mechanical chronograph. So long as you’re aware of the thickness, it’s a solid chrono with a retro leaning aesthetic that makes it stand out in comparison to the wealth of sporty-leaning stopwatch watches that saturate the market.
Price and Specs:
More details at Kuoe.
