As counter-intuitive as it may sound, perhaps the toughest feat in watch design is creating the perfect, general purpose three hander. The reason for that is precisely because they?re simple. There?s nothing to hide behind, no complications to mask imbalances, and no general style to ape. It?s a fertile creative ground for a good designer, but one that can be daunting for its lack of handholds.
This can be especially true for a young brand, with creative teams still working out the DNA of their designs and no precedent to fall back on. Every once in a while, however, one of these newcomers squares up to the three-hand-challenge and absolutely knocks it out of the park.
Bravur is one of these upstarts. For their very first mechanical effort, the Swedish micro-brand (whose past series we reviewed here) has drawn deep from the well of ?60s design to create something classically flavored but totally their own. The BW003, available in both black and silver dial versions, seems attractive enough at a glance.
When seen from above, the case of the BW003 is so simple it borders on plain. Straight narrow lugs and a thin polished coin-edge bezel are about all you have to work with from that angle, but the ?Solitär? case reveals its true complexity from the side. It?s almost impossibly svelte in profile, hiding most of the bulk in a tapering case back beneath the main case lines. Other than that back, the only other real source of th...