The Nera Rogue

The latest offering from Peren is coming soon to a wrist near you -

Courtesy of Peren

This is a pre-order item.

Here are the pertinents -

Swiss Made
Diameter: 39mm
Height: 12.80mm
Lug to Lug: 48.80mm
Case: Three tone 316L Stainless Steel, hand polished
Bezel: Black PVD, conical, knurling by hand
Functions: Rotating unidirectional 120 clicks
Crown: Screw-down, embossed logo
Movement: Swiss Automatic Sellita SW200, in-house regulated
Power reserve: 38 Hours
Crystal: Scratchproof Sapphire, 3 AR layer coating
Dial: Metal, embossed indexes, Date, Nera blue
Hands: Brass, white, diamond cut
Lume: BGW9 Swiss Super-LumiNova®, dial/hands/case
Strap: NATO Leather/Nylon, Steel bracelet, leather
Water resistance: 200m/660ft
Limited Edition: 300 pieces, individually numbered

Price is listed as starting at CHF 449.00

Wonderfully Out of the Ordinary

NATO straps are, either by necessity or design, are not long on imagination.  But thanks to the good folks at Vario, NATO strap and imaginative design are no longer mutually exclusive ideas.

The folks at Vario were kind enough to let me test drive one of their new NATO straps, and Hager were kind enough to lend out a watch I had previously reviewed to be the "co-pilot" in this review.

The strap that Vario sent for review is the Ocean Chevron Nato Strap.

So let's start out with the basics.  The vital statistics are pretty straight forward -

stainless steel buckles 
dacron fabric

measuring 11"/280mm long and 1.2mm thick

machine-washable strap

Available in 18, 20 and 22 mm widths.

And the price is most assuredly right at $26.00 US.

Ivan Chua and his team have created something that a lot of people have been waiting for. A NATO style strap that breaks out of the mainstream.  Which when you really think about  it is quite overdue as many watch enthusiasts prefer NATO straps because they allow for a different look from leather or rubber with the opportunity to add some color.  Moreover, NATO strap enthusiasts love the ease of changing looks without the hassle of busting out a pocket knife or strap removal tool.

So let's talk about comfort.  This is an incredibly comfortable strap.  My personal experience with NATO straps is that they can slip and slide around the wrist and provide some less than ideal fit.  Not so with the Vario.

The strap is strong and secure without being stiff and, well, painful.  I might be growing more "sensitive" in my old age, but just as I don't like "sandpaper" toilet paper, I also don't like a strap that literally hurts me.  This one was a joy to wear.

The accents are what Vario describes as polished silver, but I am informed that you can also request a polished gold, polished rose gold, or matte black finish.

And Vario offers several other options to help you be your sartorial best -

A few of my favorites include these:

Courtesy of Vario 

The Escher Crates.

The Orange Tangy.

So in a world full of regimental stripes, camouflage, and monotone, it is great to see that for those of us a little more daring, looking to break out, we finally have an option!

I wholeheartedly recommend Vario straps.  Wholeheartedly, and unreservedly.

And the Hager watch is as good as I remember ; )

Have I Got a Watch for You!

Those were the words of Eberhard chief Mario Peserico when I walked into the booth for my BaselWorld appointment.  I wasn't sure what he meant.  And then Anais, the PR contact said exactly the same thing...

This was me -

Hard to see owing to the lighting and the dark blue background but I was "nattily" attired in a pair of green floral patterned trousers.  That's "Natty" not "Dandy" (which is apparently the domain of Jack Forster of Revolution according the the Paper of Record).

And this was the watch -

This is Eberhard's Contograf Special Edition.

Courtesy of Eberhard

A self-winding, bi-compax chronograph with date at 6 o'clock.  Available on a bracelet or NATO Strap.  

Here are the specs, straight from the source -

CONTOGRAF SPECIAL EDITION

Technical features

Reference:
31069

Movement:

8147 calibre (ETA 7750 131⁄4)

Mechanical automatic‐winding chronograph 2 counters (30 chronograph minutes at 3 o'clock ‐ running seconds at 9 o'clock) ‐ fast‐changing date window at 6 o'clock. Central hand for the chronograph seconds.

Case:
steel

Total diameter of the case:
42 mm

Thickness of the case:
14.70 mm

Caseback:
steel, screwed‐in, personalized with the inscription SPECIAL EDITION

Bezel:
anticlockwise unidirectional rotation, in black or dark green color. Steel base with external teeth, black ceramic insert with numerals, small indices of the hours and 12 o’clock triangle

Water‐resistant:
50 m

Crown:
steel, screwed‐in, water‐resistant, personalized with an 'E' in relief

Glass:
anti‐reflective domed sapphire

Dial:

“camouflage” in green tones, with green counters, 9 applied black indices, faceted. “Special Edition” written in white.
Date window at 6 o'clock, with particular trapezoidal shape, applied outline and date numbers in red.
Minutes counter at 3 o'clock showing the duration of a telephone call unit which lasted for 3 minutes in the 1960s.

Tachometer scale base 1000 km/h.

Hands:
“dauphine” style, hours and minutes in black, with luminescent treatment; leaf shaped counters hands, black central hand for chronograph seconds.

Strap:
in military green rep fabric. Clasp personalized with 'E&C'.

Bracelet:
“Chassis®”, in steel, 3 links. Déclic® deploying buckle – Patented ‐