While Beda’a is largely based out of London today, it was initially founded in Qatar and continues to pay tribute to those Gulf roots. It makes for an intriguing blend of international influences with Middle Eastern culture fused with Swiss mechanics and London’s luxury watch collecting, sales and business infrastructure. Nowhere is that clearer than a new limited edition that pays tribute to their country of origin with the Beda’a Eclipse Qatar – based on the GPHG nominated Eclipse.
The Eclipse Qatar has a slim 37mm x 8.1mm case with a round design, smooth bezel and swooping lugs featuring frosted flanks. However, while the case is perfectly nice, the focal point of the watch is the layered dial. It’s composed of a peripheral minute track with orbiting minute hand that sits below a central disc, which Beda’a call the ‘celestial shield’. The visual of the floating disc of the shield in front of the wider disc of the minute track is what gives the collection the name Eclipse, the minute track serving the role of the visible corona.
For the Eclipse Qatar edition, the minute hand has been given a maroon colour to match the Qatar flag. The same is true for the hours disc that sits in the shield below 12 o’clock, which has also had its standard Western Arabic numerals replaced with Eastern Arabic ones. It’s worth noting that while it has a similar aesthetic to the jump hour watches that have been popular this year, the Eclipse has a sweeping hour motion rather than an instantaneous change.
The hour aperture also serves as a form of retrograde seconds indicator. I say a form of retrograde indicator because while it is a linear 10-second scale that is only read from left to right in retrograde style, there are actually six seconds hands evenly spaced so that only one of them is visible at a time, in a constant rotation. So, it’s not a true retrograde where a single hand jumps back to the start upon reaching the end.
What the Eclipse is really doing with its eccentric display is reinterpreting the standard 3-hand display. At a core level, the hour disc, orbital minute hand and 10-second counter are all functionally identical to a normal watch, but they’re presented in a way that makes them feel fantastical and unusual. A fact that means the movement housed inside is a very common one, the Sellita SW300 with 56-hour power reserve.
The Beda’a Eclipse Qatar is limited to 50 pieces, available through Beda’a’s online boutique. It’s priced at CHF 2,700 (approx. £2,500). While it will no doubt appeal most to collectors with a connection to Qatar, it’s a cool watch in general. Building on the fact that the standard Eclipse was nominated in the Challenge category of this year’s GPHG, though it ultimately lost out to Dennison.
Price and Specs:
More details at Beda’a.
I know that I am generally quite conservative in terms of my watches and lean towards an “under the radar” style (particularly where dress watches are concerned), but this is something very different, whilst arguably it’s not your normal conventional dress watch (being basically a jump hour style), it is one of the most beautiful versions of that particular sector.
What more is there to say, other than the hint of colour of the time indicators matches the strap perfectly, and the “less is more” styling, pretty close to perfection IMO. I would love to own one.
In the words of the immortal Christmas song, Santa buddy, drop one under the tree for me.