Vintage is in vogue, now more than ever. Sure, cutting-edge watches pushing the boundaries of haute horology have their place, as do stealthy, blacked-out contemporary numbers fit for the wrists of spec ops and expendables. For most of us though, there’s a distinctly rose-tinted hue to how we look as timepieces – something that BUUR+ is counting on.
BUUR+ prefers less to riff off older models and instead creates pieces directly inspired by them, carrying on the legacy of some of the most important names in watchmaking while making them accessible. With genuine vintage watches going for ever more ridiculous prices at auction, it makes BUUR+ a very enticing prospect indeed.
BUUR+ Tungl Moonphase, Blue dial & Milanese mesh, €595
It’s a prospect that started with the Tugle Moonphase. Any dedicated follower of vintage will recognise the overall look of the watch. It evokes the kind of pieces created by Omega, Vulcain and Universal Geneve, with a minimal, classical day/ date and moon phase register. It’s cool, calm and collected, right down to the 38mm size of the stainless-steel case and lovely fluted crown.
BUUR+ Multiscale Chronograph, White With Gilt Markers & Grey Italian Suede Leather, €595
Perhaps quirkier though is our favourite of the BUUR+ collection, the Multiscale Chronograph. It’s the kind of dial layout that collectors will paw through Burlington Arcade to find, and ideal for the indecisive precisionist. The relatively common, racing-oriented tachymeter is joined on the dial by a pulsometer, usually seen on medical watches, and a telemeter, which isn’t often seen at all.
BUUR+ Multiscale Chronograph, White With Gilt Markers & Grey Italian Suede Leather, €595
Thanks to the pared-back dial and small chronograph hour-and-minute subdials, all three are simple to read using the central chrono seconds. Backed by plain white, the result is a watch face that treads the line between technical and elegant, the perfect halfway house between functionality and old-school style.
What’s most striking about BUUR+’s current pair of watches isn’t necessarily the way they look, but their accessibility. There are a few cool moonphases and multiscale chronographs out there; try finding one for just €595. There is a compromise of course; both watches utilise Ronda quartz movements and neither have the same storied history as a true early- 20th-century timepiece.
BUUR+ Tungl Moonphase, Blue dial & Blue Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather, €595
Yet that’s not necessarily the end of the world. With style heading back to retro roots nowadays as much as watches, there are definitely more of the sartorially-savvy in search of this kind of look than there are watches catering to it. If quartz is the compromise, it’s one we can get on board with. Combined with plexiglass crystals (because according to BUUR+, ‘plexi is sexy’) both pieces are made wonderfully accessible.
Fortunately, those are the only compromises. The cases, straps and dials of BUUR+’s watches (particularly that aforementioned Multiscale Chronograph) are impeccable, solid and reliable. Otherwise they are what they look like: an ode to what made some of history’s most classical watches the icons they are.
More details at BUUR+.
