How many display back watches do you see with just a plain old rotor? It's a bit of a personal peeve with me. One thing to keep in mind is the REAL evolution of the "display" back. The goofballs at Shop NBC and other fonts of knowledge would have you believe that it is so you can "behold the beauty and majesty of the self-winding movement"!
I call bullshit!
As almost anyone will tell you, 9 times out of 10 it is a cost savings move in the case production. So, let's talk about taking a display, and actually providing something worth looking at. Filip Watch Co. is NOT a large brand. It is the personal domain of one man, Filip Blazevic. He has designed the Cleveland himself. The constituent parts are not claimed to be made in Cleveland.
Just like the big boys (and if a certain marketing phenomenon in Detroit is ready to be honest with themselves and more importantly the buying public) pretty much everyone else, he sources the individual parts.
He does NOT, however, go to an assembler/ private label company to put it together. He also doesn't take an existing quartz movement, assemble said preexisting quartz movement from a pre-determined kit from said quartz manufacturer, sprinkle it with "marketing pixie dust" and suddenly claim to have created a new "exclusive" movement.
But let's get back to the display back - and what it reveals. Look at the rotor. Now in fairness, Filip could have just slapped in a basic, plain-Jane movement with the existing rotor. But like I said, little things. He takes an ETA 2824-2, he goes the extra step of ordering this with a rose toned rotor and this rotor is engraved.
He then assembles the Cleveland. One by one, in his workshop, in the Cleveland area. His movement does not suddenly magically become a new reference. He does not falsely boast of a new "provenance". He is completely honest and forthright about what he is doing. Which, by the way, is more than what about 80% of the watch industry is doing when you get right down to it - that's right, the majority of watch companies don't do the assembly themselves! That is what "private label" or "assemblers" are for. Visiting a watch company in Switzerland where no actual watches are being put together is a creepy experience - but trust me, this is real life.
So I realize that this went a bit off-topic, but that is why it has been such a true pleasure to wear the Filip & Co. Cleveland watch for these past several days. Truth in advertising is a powerful thing!
Oh, and as we are discussing the movement - the rate has improved a bit. +7 seconds for the past 3 days.
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