We have a new watch brand to review today, Holzkern Watches. Before we delve deeper in the review, let us find out a bit more about the brand. Holzkern Watches is a start up in from Austria and their goal is to encourage people to take a time out from their busy daily lives and practice self-reflection during such overwhelming times.

Holzkern Watches has a strong relationship with nature and their slogan resonate with that, “Uniquely Natural. Naturally Unique”. To see their designs, do visit Holzkern Watches website. The watch we will be reviewing is the Kay (Leadwood/Marble)

Kay Features

Case

Diameter: 45mm

Thickness: 11.7mm

Lens: Harden Mineral Glass

Movement

Citizen Miyota 0S30

Strap

Bracelet: Metal/ Wood

Other Specification

Weight: 135g

First Impression

The watch came well package in a wooden box and it was quiet attention grabbing when opening the box, The blue, grey and brown color theme of the watch will catch your eye straight away. The watch itself is big and the stopwatch design is bold. We were definitely impressed!

Dial

First let us discuss the size of the dial. We are looking at 45mm by 11.7mm. It is quite big but the bezel does take a bit of the space. If you ignore the bezel, the watch dial is not as large.

The main focus of the dial is the background. It is made from real grey marble and you can see the pattern and the different colour tones of the grey marble. It gives the watch an ice cold look and goes really well with the blue bracelet and Leadwood.

The dial itself is very simplistic. The index used are skinny blue batons, and they are very much visible against the grey marble background. There is a railway track index around the circumference of the dial and there are numerals in increments of five. The index is in a white colour and again goes well with the overall colour theme.

There are three sub-dials in the Holzkern Watches Kay. You have the hour, minute and second counter. Each sub dial has a small white index with a silver hand. The numbers are visible without squinting and a shiny blue background has been used.

Overall, we love the dial. The colour contrast of the marble and the blue/white index goes hand in hand and creates something very alluring to the eyes.

One thing which is missing in a date window. Is there space for one? We believe so. Instead, near the 3 o’clock, there is a Holzkern branding. While the branding does look good, we believe a date window would have been better.

Coming to the hands, skinny blue batons have been used to keep with the simplistic and colour theme. The hands are easy to read during the date however, we found it a bit tricky to read during low visibility.

Case

The place to start would be the bezel. It is made from real Leadwood. We have seen this feature from one of our previous review, Original Grain. However, the bezel on the Kay is easily switchable. There are six small screws on the bezel and if you do not like the Leadwood, it can be replaced with another. But we actually like the Leadwood and the dark colour used for the bezel. If you were to get a different colour of the bezel, it would be too bright for the watch. The colour blue on the watch is already bright enough and changing it would also mean the colour scheme will not match with the bracelet.

The glass used on the watch is Harden Mineral Glass. Visibility is great from all angles and there are no reflection nor glare, which is always a big plus.

The crown has a teeth cut design and is protected. We love this feature because the crown itself is quite large and without the protection, the crown would be pressing against your hand. The buttons for the sub-dials are also large but they do not get in the way.

The back casing is simple and has been engraved with Holzkern Watches’ logo.

In terms of comfort and fit, the curved lugs helps to press the dial onto the wrist and it sits very comfortably.

Strap

Let us talk about the fit of the watch. For us it is fine. However, if you have a large wrist, extra links have been provided along with pins to extend the bracelet.

The strap wraps around the wrist well and does not slide or move about. The buckle has been signed off with Holzkern’s logo.

One particular feature we like about the bracelet is the Leadwood in between the links. It gives the watch another interesting facet and draws more attention to it.

Movement

Inside the watch, there is a Citizen Miyota 0S30 . It is a strong and reliable movement, as it needs to power the sub-dials. The time accuracy is ± 20 sec per month, which is very impressive. The battery life is around 2 years, subject to usage.

We do like a quartz movement, but we think the watch can do with an automatic movement also. It will definitely add to the weight of the watch but it will be something appreciated by all watch enthusiasts we believe.

Buy, Shortlist or Avoid?

This is a simple answer, and we do not even need to know the price before answering. The answer is yes! We love the element of nature to the watch and it just brings the watch to life in different ways. The marble background in the dial is very impressive. The only issue we found was the hands during low light, but it is only minor. The colour scheme has been well thought of and it really goes well together. The RRP of the watch is  £279/ €325/ $380. The watch is priced on the upper end of the watch market, but we believe it is absolutely worth the price. You can also get 13% off any Holzkern Watches with our discount code ‘Newlabel13‘.

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