echo/neutra Launch Rivanera Ros’Antico Classic and Piccolo Editions

The echo/neutra Rivanera has quickly become one of my favourite rectangular watches ever since I saw it in the metal as part of our minimalist, monochrome photoshoot a few months ago. There’s a good reason it was included in that shoot because it’s predominantly available in black, grey or white although a collaboration with seconde/seconde/ introduced a splash of colour with the first blue version. Evidently that injection of colour has inspired echo/neutra because now we have a new coloured edition off their own bat, the Rivanera Ros’Antico.

If you know your Italian (echo/neutra is an Italian brand) then you’ll be able to decipher that Ros’Antico is a conjoined name built from Rosa and Antico, meaning antique rose. A quick look on any paint chart will reveal that antique rose (sometimes vintage rose or antique pink) is the name for a specific shade of pink. Sure enough, that’s the shade used on the dial here. It’s an adjacent colour to the salmon tone that’s more commonly used on watch dials, but antique rose is fractionally darker and a bit less coppery. It also looks good with a matte finish that emphasises that darker quality.

The Rivanera Ros’Antico is available in both the Classic and Piccolo versions of the Rivanera. The Classic is the larger of the two models with a 27mm width x 40mm length case while the Piccolo is 26mm x 33mm. Both are made from Grade 5 titanium with the characteristic Rivanera case design featuring hard angles and flat surfaces which creates a brutalist architecture. That brutalism makes for a strong contrast to the dials given both versions follow Art Deco influences – a style common to rectangular watches like the Cartier Tank and Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso.

Specifically, the Classic model dial features a railway track style small seconds scale on the subdial at 6 o’clock. Meanwhile the minute and hour track is a stylised railway track scale with irregular sections that frame the dial, turning the rectangular edge of the display into a flat-sided oval around the centre. The Piccolo takes a different approach to its Art Deco style, featuring a geometric guilloché pattern. A guilloché dial is inherently not minimalist but it is certainly more minimal as the Piccolo goes without timing scales and features hours, minutes and date for a more sedate display compared to the Classic. Even the hands are more minimal in black instead of blue.

Due to the size difference between the two models as well as the differing functions on display, they also house different movements. The Classic uses the ETA 7001 manual with 42-hour power reserve while the Piccolo uses the Sellita SW1000 Elaboré automatic with 46-hour power reserve. Between the  guilloché dial and the Elaboré grade movement, that actually results in the Piccolo being the more expensive of the two watches despite being smaller.

The echo/neutra Rivanera Ros’Antico Classic is priced at €1,490 (approx. £1,285) and the Piccolo is €1,640 (approx. £1,415). At that price, it’s a really difficult prospect to say no to, offering a great balance of style and specs. The antique rose colour also makes it very distinctive within the watch space – the closest other example I can think of is the pink tone on the Oris Cotton Candy steel model, which is a bit darker than it probably should be for a candy themed dial.

More details at echo/neutra.