While Singapore has only become a hub of watch design over the last couple of decades, it has been one of the world’s most significant maritime trading ports for much longer. For more than 2000 years in fact. Singaporean watch brand Vario are paying tribute to that heritage with the launch of their new NAVI Voyage collection, which kicks off the first leg of its journey with Chapter One: Europe. A series of maritime themed watches dedicated to five prominent European countries.
The countries at the heart of this collection are England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy – the nations with historic maritime links to Singapore, with trade routes that encircle half the globe. Each of the watches features the colours of the countries’ flags across its dial and also uses their native languages for the 12-hour scale. Meaning you have ‘One, Two, Three’ / ‘Un, Deux, Trois’ / ‘Eins, Zwei, Drei’ / ‘Uno, Dos, Tres’ / ‘Uno, Due, Tre’ and so on for the complete scale.
Given the slow pace of historic maritime travel, the NAVI Voyage Chapter One: Europe encourages a slower pace of life too. There is no minute hand, leaving only the central hours and running seconds indicator. In order to give you some timekeeping accuracy, each of the hour segments are split into 15 minute zones on an inner scale. The running seconds indicator is presented in the style of a compass needle, to add to the navigation theme of the piece.
For the case, Vario have opted for relatively compact proportions of 38mm x 11mm. It’s fairly robust with 100m water resistance and a steel construction, but there’s also a sense of refinement in the coin-edge bezel and alternating brushed and polished finish across the lugs. It’s quite a difficult watch to categorise because it’s not a dive watch, or a sports watch but it’s also not a dress watch thanks to its matte wave pattern display. It’s somewhere in the middle so I think the term that best applies would be daily beater or GADA as it’s versatile enough for practically any situation.
Beneath the distinctive dial of the NAVI Voyage Chapter One: Europe is the Miyota 82S5 automatic with 40-hour power reserve. It’s protected by a solid steel caseback decorated with a compass rose – for the less cartographically inclined, that’s the classic cardinal points symbol with the four-point arrow seen on ye olde timey maps.
You may have noticed that this collection is called ‘Chapter One’ and that in the background of some images are flags from outside of Europe. That’s because Vario plan to expand the range to include chapters from other iconic maritime regions. The current roadmap includes Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
For pricing and availability, the NAVI Voyage Chapter One is $428 (approx. £315) and is limited per country. The England is the most populous with 240 pieces, followed by Germany and France both with 100 pieces and finally Spain and Italy at 80 pieces each. That makes sense because with its red, white and blue construction, the England could very easily appeal to the US market as well. All together that makes for a total edition of 600 watches. It’s interesting to see Vario expand on the NAVI concept and bring in a global appeal through an appreciation of colour and language.
Price and Specs:
More details at Vario.
