Lausanne-based CODE41 describes itself as more a “community project” aimed “to bring enthusiasts together around a watchmaking project” than a traditional watch brand. Following that mission statement, CODE41 has announced the launch of a new line of automatic models arising from its DAY41 project, an initiative to create a ladies’ watch based on input from female watch lovers. The resulting models, it discovered, look just as good on a man’s wrist as a lady’s.?In attempting to create a beautiful women?s watch,” the company states, “in the end we?ve quite simply made a beautiful watch, regardless of gender.?

The DAY41 watches feature a chambered-structure round case with distinctively shaped lugs along with an openworked dial that becomes an extension of the self-winding mechanical movement inside. Thanks to the thousands of women whose input was solicited for the project, CODE41 discovered that this type of mechanically driven timepiece would have a wide female appeal, despite the majority of ladies’ watches being powered by quartz calibers.
The cases are in 316L stainless steel and available in two sizes, 37 mm and 40 mm in diameter ? contemporary dimensions that work well with a variety of wrist sizes and thus eminently wearable for either a man or a woman. Water-resistant to 100 meters and featuring a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal on both front and back, the cases have been a high-grade brushed and polis...