Feature: Awake watches

If I could boil down a basic watch into the perfect three-ingredient meal, it would be good value, great design and excellent build. Sounds so simple on paper, and so many microbrands have tried it—and many, many have failed. Here’s one I think has managed to forge ahead and stand out of the crowd. Something fantastic and fun that no one, even the snobbiest of snobs like me, can turn our noses up at.

Meatball

First and foremost, how can anyone not like something that relates to NASA? Founded in 1958 to get people to the dang moon, NASA has been, for all except those who think it’s turtles all the way down, a shining beacon of the capabilities of humanity in amongst a whole load of stuff we’d really rather forget.

Here to celebrate that mountain of achievements is Awake, with their Mission to Earth Meatball. What has space exploration got to do with spheres of animal protein? It’s the nickname of the blue and red logo that looks a bit Star Trek-y. There’s also the worm logo, which was retired in 1992 and revived in 2000. People argue over which logo is the best. Awake, it seems, is on the side of the meatball, which is displayed proudly on the strap not just as the depiction of the meatball logo, but also as the word “meatball”, just in case there was any confusion.

The 40mm case is shaped in a very aeronautical titanium, recycled of course to align with NASA’s overall aim of keeping us puny humans from extincting ourselves to death. Despite a healthy one hundred metres of water resistance, the watch is just 11.89mm tall. In the back is a Miyota 9039, a movement that may not be Swiss, but is, to my eye at least, better finished and more attractive than your average Sellita.

Surrounded by embossed lettering on the case back, it’s also fitted with a custom rotor that alternates brushed and blasted finishes, with the meatball logo centred in the middle. I don’t usually dwell on rotor weights, but this one has an edge in design and finish that, combined with the Miyota’s good looks, makes the whole engine feel much more elevated than expected.

That’s the theme throughout the Meatball—and beyond into the other watches as we’ll see. There’s an intangible consideration to details and materials and finishing that make this watch stand out and catch my eye. Some of it is designed to more overtly remind its wearer of space and NASA, like the engraved crown that mimics the couplings on the famous A7L space suit, or the countdown printed on the red rehaut.

Other details, like the wide, pointed hands, guilloche-style fringe around the dial and red-tipped second hand are more imaginative—that is, they require more imagination to believe they are inspired by the rockets and cupolas Awake say they are. You even get a fragment of space rock with the 250-piece, €825 limited edition watch, from the meteorite Tataouine. Yes, that’s where old Georgie boy got the name.

Time Travellers

That’s not the cheapest watch you can get for the specs, and neither’s the next one, the Time Travellers Grey. In fact, it’ s quite a bit more expensive at €1,325, and you might be wondering why both watches are north of €500. It’s really a matter of priorities. Yes, you can get a Miyota-driven watch much cheaper, and probably in titanium too, but if you have even the smallest care for execution, perhaps the price will begin to make more sense to you.

Everything is much the same with the Time Travellers Grey with the addition of one small detail: the meteorite dial. Put that in most other watches and you’ll be increasing the price by the entire RRP of this watch at least, never mind it costing just €1,325. But, in complete transparency, you can get meteorite dial watches for cheaper. Despite the popular convention that meteorite is very rare, there’s actually a decent chunk of it—quite literally—that’s been scaring the living daylights out of people for many, many years. I should know, I saw a meteorite come down in a field a few miles away and I almost decorated my draws a fetching terracotta.

No two slices of meteorite are the same, and in the Time Travellers Grey it’s as good as you could hope for. Detail and contrast straight to your eyes from 100 million years ago, the Widmanstatten pattern forming its crystalline angles deep in the coldest reaches of our solar system. And now it’s here keeping your watch looking fresh.

Don’t underestimate just how good this watch looks and feels when all’s said and done. The devil is in the detail, and as someone who appreciates when people pay attention to that particular devil, the Time Travellers Grey is a rewarding object to appreciate. The centre capped seconds, the brushed hands and polished markers, the beefy, nut-like crown. They say titanium is very hard to polish because it changes colour with heat so polishing has to be done slowly, but you can see the bezel gets a bright lip that steps the watch up a notch or two.

If those additions aren’t really doing it for you and you want to get the cheapest watch you can, this probably isn’t for you. But if you want a watch that feels like time was taken to make it look good and not just cheap, then the Time Travellers Grey is worth a look. In a massively bloated segment it feels fresh, unique and interesting, and really, I want to encourage that effort. It sure beats yet another generic dive watch.

Time Travellers Purple

We’re only just getting started with the Time Traveller though, because if you thought the Time Travellers Grey stood out from the crowd, wait until you see the purple. With either a black or purple-coated meteorite dial, it takes the concept to a new level of sheer, “Why has no one thought of this before”-ness.

You have no idea how much of a relief it was to look at a decently priced watch and it actually look different. Not just different for difference’s sake, but different in a way that feels like there’s still hope for the future of watchmaking. See watch after watch after watch—and I do, and I’m grateful for it—and it can start to feel like cheese and ham sandwiches for school lunch every day. If only I could have a burrito, a baguette, a panini or something… this is like opening your packed lunch box and finding a fistful of liberty caps instead.

Is it kind of bothersome that a purple titanium watch is what gets me up in the morning? I suppose so. But whatever it takes. Awake have proven three times over that simple watchmaking can be done well—and more importantly—in an interesting way. If you’ve stayed this far and you’re rolling your eyes at that then, well, I admire your patience, and also I understand that these aren’t priorities for everyone.

Chiefly, I’m just pleased this exists. I’m pleased there are some people out there who took the time to make it exist. People are either makers or takers, and there’s a lot more of one group than the other. I hope one day myself to be more of a maker than a taker, and it’s watches like these that inspire me to think that perhaps all there is to make hasn’t been made. Which is kind of funny really, because that’s what NASA is all about. The future. The new frontier. Making and not taking.

What’s your view on the watches from Awake? Can the higher priced, higher quality, unique approach tempt you in or do you not feel the value?