This being our Nostalgia issue, you’ve probably already begun to look back at times long gone where you could get a decent watch for not much money. It was a time before collectors started funding marketing budgets more than movements, when quality and accessibility were considered friends rather than enemies. It was a time when you could get a 41mm tool watch that could do it all and was equipped with an automatic movement for just $250. Well, if Quantum have anything to do with it, that time is still very much the present thanks to the QMG1251B.
The discourse around value has been a bit more consumer friendly in the last five years, largely thanks to accessible microbrands and collectors getting fed up with the lack of transparency from most big watch brands. But for Quantum, that’s a discussion they’ve been having since 1995.
When Quantum launched the Barracuda, a professional dive watch with specs that far outweighed its price tag, they proved that you could build something great that anyone could own. It’s a message that many an independent watchmaker has taken on board, but now with the latest in their Automatic All-Star collection, the QMG1251B, Quantum are showing just why they were the original specs monster watchmaker.
The QMG1251B isn’t a watch with novelty value. It’s not some quirky complication or rooted in a funky design scheme. It’s not built in collaboration with an artist or to raise money for a cause. In fact, on paper there’s nothing all that distinctive about it.
A 41mm stainless steel case, a Miyota automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve and 100m water resistance to round off its go anywhere, do anything credentials, it feels like a lot of other watches out there. And that’s part of the point. Because while it has similar specs as many a highly regarded sports watch, right down to the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, you’d be hard-pressed to find another that offers those specs for just $250 – around £190.
What else does that even compare to? The closest thing would be something like the Citizen Tsuyosa, which is famous for its value – and that’s from a huge Japanese watchmaker. Through that lens the QMG1251B sounds impossible and, if Quantum were building watches in Switzerland, it would be. Instead, like their Miyota movements, Quantum watches are built in far less expensive parts of the world en masse. They’re built to the same standards, but in a way that makes them temptingly accessible. After all, if accessibility is important, then does it even matter where the watch is built?
Of course, specs alone do not make for an interesting story, no matter how impressive they are – and the Automatic All-Star collection has more to it than its value proposition. For one, there are the dials.
If you were to just look at the silhouette of the QMG1251B, you’d probably expect a relatively simple dial in black, white, maybe some more saturated colours. Glossy maybe, matte options for sure. But what you probably wouldn’t expect are embossed, textured dials that seem almost glittery when they hit the light. Available in light blue, dark blue, black and olive green, it makes for the kind of wrist presence most modern sports watches shy away from.
To make sure they’re readable, the big, baton indexes are applied for added depth and lumed for low-light legibility. The same goes for the hands and even the three o’clock date window is framed in steel. If you were imagining cut corners, think again.
The 41mm stainless steel case flows nicely into its lugs for a sporty look that’s made that bit more classic when fitted to the QMG1251B’s 5-link Jubilee-style bracelet. There’s something innately retro about a Jubilee but, more importantly, it’s one of the most comfortable styles there is, draping over the wrist. While a colourful sports watch like this would look great on dial-matched rubber, there’s no denying a classic Jubilee bracelet is far more refined.
For 30 years, Quantum has been hammering home the idea that quality and accessibility can go hand-in-hand. And now that collectors are more receptive to that message than ever, the QMG1251B has come at the perfect time. With specs outweighing its price tag and a style treading a fine line between charismatic and cautious, it’s a more than tempting prospect.
The only problem is that if Quantum can make a specs monster like this for just $250, it makes you wonder why other watches are so much more expensive.
Price and Specs:
More details at Quantum.
