The story of Metrical starts with a sketch. Paul Li, fascinated by retro dress watches and vintage pocket watches, put pen to paper to imagine a modern reinterpretation of these rich and soulful designs. After showing the sketches to a friend in the watch industry, he was motivated to bring his ideas off the page and into reality. He founded Metrical in late 2024 and then in August 2025 the Epiphany Origin emerged to sell-out success. Metrical’s sophomore release builds on that foundation with improved quality control and new colour. It’s called the Epiphany Twilight and we’ve been hands-on.
Taking it out of the box, the first thing you notice is the unusual display. A single hand occupies the central handstack making steady progress around the face of the watch to indicate the minutes – as displayed by a peripheral railway minute track. The hours are then told using an intriguing combination of a rotating day/night disk and a linear style hour scale that runs from 6 o’clock to 6 o’clock. Which of those sixes represents AM and PM swaps depending on whether the day or night side of the rotating disk is on display.
The current hour of the day is shown via the position of the sun or moon relative to the hour scale. It feels more like a mural or fresco in motion rather than a timekeeping function. The daytime indicator is bold, with dramatic sunray lines emerging from the flaming sun while the night-time indicator is gentler, consisting of a crescent moon cradled in a bed of stars. It represents the moment of eureka when humanity first used the sun and moon to chart time, our earliest form of timekeeping.
This model is called the Epiphany Twilight and the twilight theme really comes across in the purple tone used for the hour display and hour scale. The quiet lightening or darkening of the sky as the sun rises and descends beyond the horizon in the mornings and evenings. That’s why I also like the detail that you can see the sun beams or stars appear hours before the sun/moon indicators themselves. It encourages you to think about time in a different way, not moment to moment but at a slower pace spread across 24 hours. Emphasised by the lack of a seconds hand constantly demanding that you pay attention to the present. It’s also inspired by 17th century sun and moon pocket watches.
With the focus being gentility and refinement, Metrical have used a selection of fine finishes across the dial. The white centre of the dial has a spiralling, guilloché style engraving with a polished, bevelled edge where it meets the day/night aperture. The hour ring has a basket weave style pattern and the peripheral minute scale in silver has circular grain brushing.
Keeping up with the dressy, refined feeling of the dial, the steel case measures 39mm with a thickness of 11.4mm including the double domed sapphire crystal. It sits nice and flat on the wrist with downward curving lugs that help the strap follow the natural curve of the wrist. There are alternating finishes starting with the polished bezel and the tops of the lugs, brushed caseband and then polished caseback. The smooth, curve of the bezel also helps it to slide under a shirt cuff with no issue.
Inside is the Sellita SW331-2 automatic movement with 56-hour power reserve. The SW331-2 is Sellita’s world timer variant of the SW330 GMT, which is why it has a rotating 24-hour disk function that Metrical have repurposed for the day/night indicator. It’s finished with Côtes de Genève, perlage, snailing and blue screws – a classical array of finishing suitable for a dress watch.
Another important aspect of Metrical’s approach to watchmaking is their openness about their faith, Christianity. The caseback is engraved with the Ichthys symbol and verse Mt 2:10-11, which describes the Visit of the Magi – one of the biblical epiphanies. The Epiphany bible story is seen as a tribute to God, and the Epiphany watch is a tribute to time. On the dial side there is also a star symbol opposite from 12 o’clock in the shape of a cross. They’re significant details but at the same time, subtle enough that you can overlook them if you aren’t a person of faith yourself.
The Metrical Epiphany Twilight is limited to 99 pieces at a price of CHF 2,300 (approx. £2,100). It’s a fun watch, blending traditional elements of dress watches with an unusual display that encourages us to look at time differently. This is only Metrical’s second watch but they already have plans for new projects in the future, some of which stay close to the Epiphany’s poetic roots while others explore new design space for the brand. If they’re as thoughtful as this release, I look forward to seeing them.
Price and Specs:
More details at Metrical.
