BURLAP Watches is a young brand out of Hong Kong that is set to make an immediate impression in the affordable watch segment. Starting this week, the brand’s first timepiece, an attractive and automatic pilots’ watch, will be up for sale on Kickstarter for $299. After the Kickstarter campaign wraps up on July 31, the watch will be available for a still very reasonable $465.

The watch is evocative of a simpler time and pays tribute to classic pilots’ watch design with a 43 mm case that is highly readable, a day-date indicator at 3 o’clock, an onion crown, and applied luminous numerals and indices. Inside the stainless steel watch is a 21-jewel Miyota 8 self-winding movement with over 40 hours of power reserve. Each watch is water resistant to 50 meters. With each of the six watches in the collection, you have the choice between different kinds of finishing (polished/brushed, vintage sand brushed, or shiny polish) on the bezel and case, dials that range from dark blue to green and back to a lighter blue, and a variety of Crazy Horse leather straps with tonal stitching. However, the dials all feature the same layout and bead blasted finish. Each watch is hand-assembled in Hong Kong.
BURLAP is able to reach such accessible prices by cutting the middle-man (distribution) out of the equation. All watch components, including the movement, are sourced directly to the brand’s Hong Kong office before being assembled by the BURLAP team. Each of these si...