We recently did an interview with the founder of Von Vogel watches, where we discussed many things. If you missed it, do not worry you can read it here. When it comes to custom made watch, we have reviewed one watch brand before, Kustom watches and we love the idea of designing your own watch. Von Vogel is a similar concept but it is more competitively priced and with more options.

As it is a chose to create our own custom made watch, we went for a sporty diver watch, with a reflective grey dial, black bezel and a polished titanium casing.

We are also running a competition for one of you to win your own custom made watch from Von Vogel! It is easy to enter:

1. Go to www.vonvogel-design.com and design your timepiece.
2. Use the download function to download your design.
3. Post your design on Instagram and tag @vonvogeldesign and @newlabelsonly

#DesignitShareitWinit

The competition ends of the 4th June 11.59pm and we will lucky draw a winner on the 5th of June 2023 – we will contact the winner directly.

Features

MOVEMENT	Black diver dial, 3 hand date Japan movement (Seiko VX62E)
CASE MATERIAL	Titanium plating with sporty case, wide case lugs and brushed top part
CASE SIZE (mm)	45
CASE THICKNESS (mm)	12
DIAL	Single layered
LENS	Extra hardened mineral crystal.
INDEX	Applied Swiss Luminous
BAND MATERIAL	Rubber strap, Black
WATER RESISTANCE (ATM)	5

Unboxing Video

First Impression

The packaging is not the greatest. It came in a simple, Von Vogel branded white rectangular box. There was no flair or anything which makes it stand out. The watch we designed on the website was exactly how we pictured it. The custom made watch came in three pieces, the strap, the casing and the dial. It was very easily to assemble and once assembled, it is a very good looking watch. It is our design in reality and we love it!

Casing

The size of the casing is 45mm by 12mm, it is on the larger side and given that we went for a diver design, it is the perfect size. if you have a small wrist, it will take a lot of space, but we have to say that it does not look out of place. Even with our small wrist, we love the size and it sits well. The curved lugs helps to push the casing on the wrist and it does not stick out from any angle.

The titanium casing. It does look slightly odd. Given the silver bezel and the back casing, the titanium casing does stick out and looks odd. However, we specifically choose to do that. Why you may ask? Having reviewed many watches over the past 8 years, we want something that represents New Labels Only. Something that sticks out and does not follow the norm. What is the point of having a custom made watch and you do no experiment and try new things. Life gets boring sometime following the crowd, so we decided to stick out and try something new. We love it. The polished casing is well made and we like it.

The bezel has a silver plate with a grey-ish index. The unidirectional bezel is crisp with 120 clicks. The accuracy is perfect and matches the index on the dial. One feature which we like on the bezel is the ‘bumps’ where you are easily rotate it.

The push/pull crown has teeth cut design and it is easy to manipulate it. The crown is protected and covered, a feature which we absolutely love on diver watches. The cover ensures that the crown does not get in the way of the wrist.

The extra hardened mineral lens is a good feature, however we would have loved a sapphire lens. It is a diver watch and it is designed to be robust. A sapphire glass will give that confidence that it will not scratch easily. However, with the reflective dial, the mineral glass does showcase it very well. It would be a good idea to provide both sapphire and mineral glass as an option when customizing the watch.

Dial

We went for a simple and clean dial. The colour of the dial is shiny grey and we specifically chose it to match the polished titanium case.

There are two index on the dial. The outer index is numbers in intervals of five and they are in orange. The values in-between the intervals have been filled with small white batons. The orange colour helps to break the grey dial and also matches the tip of the second hand. In terms of legibility of the first index, there is no problem at all. The inner index, mostly filled with large and small batons with 3, 9 and 12 numerals, is large and do stand out. The large numerals adds a bit of character and boldness to the watch and prevents the watch from looking too minimalistic. The large batons along with the smaller batons are clear and legible.

The inner index batons and numerals have a luminous coating but it has to be said it is slightly week. Even after using an UV light to ‘top up’ the luminous, it was still weak. Unfortunately the numbers of the bezel are not luminous which is disappointing.

The hour and minute hand have a sharp design, which suit the the watch well and goes together with the shiny grey dial. The second hand has an open orange tip.

Another disappointing feature is the hands are not luminous. With the luminous inner index, we are not sure the purpose of it, given the hands are not luminous.

Tucked away in the 6 o’clock position, you have the date window. With a white background and black writing, there is no fault to it.

Overall, the dial is modern, elegant and attractive, but some features need to be addressed.

Movement

Powering our custom made watch is a quartz Seiko VX62E. The time accuracy is pretty good with ±20 seconds per month expected. It is an entry level movement and given the price of the watch, it is a good choice. You can expect the battery life to last 3 years, subject to use.

While we like a quartz movement, we prefer automatic. Looking at the future, Von Vogel are working on releasing both Smart and Automatic movement. That will be a game changer and stand out from the rest of custom made watch market. To be honest, we want to see how the smart movement will look it!

5 ATM, is this enough for diving? We are not sure. For a watch to be used for diving, 10 ATM is the pillar. We would not recommend diving with this watch. This is something which Von Vogel need to have a look at.

Strap

Diver watches either warrants a stainless steel or rubber strap in our eyes. We went for a black rubber strap. It is well made, with the Von Vogel logo stamped front and back. One thing we have noticed with rubber strap is that they can be dust magnet, but so far this has not been an issue for this strap.

The strap wraps around the wrist well and there are enough holes for smaller wrist.

The buckle has been signed with ‘Von Vogel’.

Buy, Shortlist or Avoid?

With a price €180 for our custom made watch, this is a buy. You can design our own creation and Von Vogel will make it come to reality. There are some features which we discussed need to be addressed, but they are not major. If you do not like our combo and creation, do create your own, test your ideas and let Von Vogel watches make it come to reality.

Do enter the #DesignitShareitWinit competition to win our own Von Vogel watch! We cannot wait to see them!

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