Retter is a microbrand founded by New York native Deep Ghosh, and they?ve just released their second watch, the Mistral. The first Retter watch, the 22, was a sub $1,000 integrated bracelet sports watch. The Mistral represents a bigger swing, and could be a sign of the brand growing into itself a little, something you?d hope any brand on their second collection would be doing. 

The Mistral is described by Retter as a ?dress-casual? watch, which I think in most scenarios is actually just a ?watch.? It’s unfortunate, in my opinion, that we need to put labels like this onto new designs, but that?s just where we are at the moment I guess. The Mistral has a genuinely distinct visual identity that doesn?t really fit into a particular category. It?s ironic that the brand would use a somewhat toothless descriptor like ?dress-casual? to describe something that in practice isn?t nearly as generic as the term would imply. 
What we have here is a 38mm watch with horn lugs and a thin profile of just 7.4mm (crystal included). Retter is able to accomplish this thanks to a case construction they call ?shell-style.? You have a to dig a bit through their press materials to get a handle on what this actually means (it?s not explained in detail on their website), but it?s essentially a clever method of building the case in such a way that it suggests old-fashioned soldered lugs without actually doing the work of soldering them. The lugs are part of an integrated mid-plate that is ...