Back a few years ago when the money flowed like wine – the luxury watch world was known to take generous, deep sips from the pool. It was a gold age of new ideas, brands and designs. A promising brand that might not reach the next decade is DeWitt. I’ve always liked the majority of their designs, and found their philosophy intriguing. This is one of their coolest models in my opinion. A neat looking perpetual calendar watch with a GMT hand. Sure, it is an expensive watch, but it is a relic from an era – communicating the exuberance of an era, which hearkening back to the roaring 20s with its art deco look.
The 43mm case came in two variants (matched to a black or white textured dial). The cases either had white or rose gold, mixed with black ceramic and polished titanium. I’ve checked out these pieces before, and they are nicely made with really bold designs. I love the quasi-checkered bezels iconic to the brand.
The five symmetrical subdials are beautifully arranged with straight forward functions all for the perpetual calendar. These include dials for the date, month, day of the week, leap year indicator, and synchronized 24 hour hand (acts like an AM/PM indicator). You then have the unique looking moon phase indicator. The plate over the moon phase disc is made out of silicium and has a copy of an actual galaxy applied to it. This lush blue always looked so nice using mother of pearl (that has been cut in half) as the moon pieces. The moon phase indicator is set against a segment of the dial that has a “starry” backdrop. This is done with goldfluss – and looks quite cool.
Inside the watch is actually and automatic movement. Aside from the perpetual calendar functions and the time, the watch has an easy to read GMT hand in red. You don’t see too many watches with these features that really highlight the GMT complication. The movement is the DeWitt DW7021. Few will argue that the watch is pretty. Can you see yourself wearing a piece like this? Hard to say. I could probably pull it out off, but people might think me the ambassador from the planet luxicon. Price for the DeWitt Academia Quantieme Perpetual Nebula GMT watch was close to $100,000 when it was introduced a few years ago. One is available here on James List, and if you are interested I highly recommend working to negotiate a good price of 30-40% off.
The new watch dispenses with the grille motif in favor of a much more compact, legible bi-compax search for the dial.More legible, but doesn’t mean unsophisticated in its degree of detail: the dial includes a clous de Paris pattern in its center, both satin-finished and polished surface areas, rose-gold toned indices and subdial borders that match the color of the case. The openworked, double-edged-sword-shaped hands are just another DeWitt Academia hallmark. The central chronograph seconds hand, as well as both subdial hands (30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock) are in blue, echoing the colour of this tachymeter scale on the border of the dial.The instance (42.5 mm in diameter, 14.2 mm thick) also signals a sporty streamlining of a DeWitt design element, namely the “Imperial Columns” grooved pattern — a nod nod to the De Witt family’s aristocratic lineage — on the sides, executed more discreetly here than in earlier DeWitt Academia watches. The use of black rubber, together with 18k rose gold in the caseband, is another decidedly contemporary touch. It includes polished, satin-finished and bevelled surfaces and, between both chrono pushers, a large crown whose engraved DeWitt “W” emblem and use of this Imperal Columns theme on the sides testifies to DeWitt’s attention to detail.The chronograph movement at the Academia Chronostream II is your self-winding Caliber DW6005, together with 27 jewels, a frequency of 28,800 vph, and a power reserve of 48 hours.