Switzerland?s Formex is releasing two new versions of their Essence watch, one with a standard ETA 2824 Elaboré grade movement and another with a highly decorated COSC-certified Sellita SW200 (in-hand here). At $685 via Kickstarter (40% off retail), the COSC-certified model has our special attention.
The Sellita movement has a custom skeletonized rotor, lovely decorative engraving throughout, blued screws, and looks great through the rear sapphire crystal. Needless to say, getting a COSC-certified watch at this price is noteworthy.
Shown here is a prototype of the Essence, which hits Kickstarter today. Other dial colors will be available.
The blue dial is reminiscent of some of Omega?s Aqua Terra models, with deeply machined horizontal stripes countered with vertical brushing. As the light changes angle, this dial turns from light blue with dark markers to a dark blue with light markers (this morphing appearance can make some photos misleading). The mirror polish of the applied markers is picked up by the faceted hour and minute hands, all of which are filled with Super-LumiNova BGW9. Under a loupe, the way the hour hand hovers just above the dial and just inside the indices is impressive. The color-matched chamfered rehaut holds a white minute track and is attractive and legible.
Case work is relatively sharp, and the various polished and brushed surfaces show no slop. The vertical brushing on the top of the large, chamfered bezel seems to extend the dial?s brush...