Hands-On With The Stylish Löbner Sledge In Black And Silver
When three Löbner watches landed on my desk, I must admit that I wasn’t familiar with the Munich-based brand. As soon as I took the watches out of their pouches, though, they intrigued me. They look different from many other watches, and some unique traits of these timepieces make them stand out for more than their looks. The first two models we received for review were the black-dial Löbner Sledge on a rubber strap and a silver-dial version on a stainless steel bracelet. Those are the ones I will focus on in this article. But I also had a chance to try the Steelracer Chronograph with its ice-blue dial. It’s time to find out more about Löbner and the watches before us!
Löbner is a German brand originally founded in 1862 by Franz Ludwig Löbner. At the end of the 19th century, it became known as a specialist brand for short-time measurement with the ability to time 1/100th and 1/1,000th of a second. From then on, Löbner tied its name to horse racing and was a presence on many European race tracks. Additionally, Löbner became the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games in the 1920s and ’30s. Lastly, the brand became an official timekeeper for various motorsports events in the early ’30s. Over time, Löbner lost traction before eventually disappearing. However, as we know, many once-defunct watch brands see a revival because of their remarkable stories. Löbner was officially reintroduced in late 2023 with the unveiling of the Steelracer Chronograph.
The Steelracer was the first model from the revived Löbner brand
Löbner’s resurrection in 2023
Considering Löbner’s timekeeping history, reintroducing the brand with a chronograph made perfect sense. A little more than a year later, we had a chance to check out the Löbner Steelracer and Sledge models. We received the Steelracer Ice and the new Sledge in its black and silver colorways for review. I predominantly focused on the latter two as they are an interesting take on a modern sports watch. We had a chance to try them out on both a stainless bracelet and a rubber strap. This gave me the perfect opportunity to discover what makes the Sledge stand out in a sea of similar-looking timepieces. And yes, the Sledge has a couple of nice tricks up its sleeve.
Straight out of the box, the Löbner Sledge models surprised me. They are neatly designed watches that feel incredibly well made. We received the Sledge Black variant on a rubber strap, while the Sledge Silver came on a stainless steel bracelet. Both, of course, share a 40.5mm lugless tonneau-shaped case with a pleasant 9.8mm thickness.
It’s a nicely designed case with a small protrusion on the left side and a large cap on the right. The brand calls this cap the “sledge,” making it the watch’s namesake element. This Löbner-designed and patented “bridge” protects the crown and the crown guards underneath. To operate the crown, you can simply push the sledge upward. Not only does the cap protect the crown, but it also adds an interesting visual element to the overall design.
Löbner’s specially developed Inner Circle Lock system
The predominantly brushed case features small polished parts and bevels that add some visual pizzazz to the watch. This model also comes equipped with a unidirectional external bezel that controls an internal 60-minuter ring for timing events. To further elaborate on that, turning the outer bezel clockwise will rotate the 60-minute scale as well as the crystal. You can then line up the 0 on the minute scale with the minute hand if you want to time something. Of course, aligning the 0 with the 12 o’clock position allows the ring to serve as a normal minute scale to tell the time.
Löbner calls this specially designed and rather ingenious mechanism the Inner Circle Lock. Even with it, the case is water resistant 100 meters, and the beautiful thing is that the engineers managed to give the watch a sub-10mm total thickness. The Inner Circle Lock reminds me of dive watches with an internal bezel, but these generally use a second crown. At Löbner, they devised a way of linking the turning of the inner and outer bezels without an extra crown (similar to the system found on the Sinn 903 St II). It makes timing an event easy, and I love that.
A beautiful dial design
Inside the case is a sunray dial in either black or silver. The black dial has white text, markers, and numerals, while these elements are black on the silver dial. I immediately liked the dial’s Art Deco style. Combined with the case design, it creates a watch that immediately stands out. The typography is nice and stylish, and the different elements have a refined balance to them.
The largest elements on the dial are the 3, 6, 9, and 12 numerals, which are still modest in size. But they do set the overall tone with the rest of the elements all smaller. I also love the font type because it works well with actual text. I adore the Löbner logo on the top half of the dial. Additionally, the words “Automatik” and “Zeitmesser” sit next to each other, giving you an idea of the available space on the dial. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into the dial’s composition, and I love the result. Hovering above the dial is a pair of rose-tone pencil-shaped hour and minute hands with Super-LumiNova. Completing the handset is a slim seconds hand with a luminous tip.
The Löbner 6717 movement
Hidden behind the steel case back is the Löbner caliber 6717. This 24-jewel automatic movement is based on a Swiss caliber by La Joux-Perret. It operates at 28,800vph, offers 68 hours of power reserve, and has a tungsten rotor. The brand’s calibers are assembled and regulated in Glashütte, and the cases are produced in Pforzheim. Because of this, they proudly display “Made in Germany” on their dials.
Löbner offers the Sledge with four dial colors. Besides the black and silver dials, you also have the choice of blue or green. You can pair these with a stainless steel bracelet or a color-matched rubber strap. The bracelet is very well made and features a butterfly clasp. The flexible rubber strap comes with a folding clasp with push-button release.
Wearing the Löbner Sledge
On the wrist, it’s easy to how well these watches are designed, making them a joy to wear. The slim profile is brilliant, and the bracelet is very well made. But the rubber strap was also rather impressive, feeling super flexible and soft right out of the box. It also balances out the watch perfectly on the wrist, which is a sign of the overall quality that Löbner offers.
Once on the wrist, the Sledge’s high quality is easy to see and feel. Every turn of the bezel, every slide of the sledge, and every click of the clasp gives the feeling of a proper luxury watch. The finishing shows a lot of attention to detail, and the design of the watch is well thought out. After wearing the Sledge for a couple of days, I did have some questions, though. The first one was regarding the watch’s 40.5mm size. While it is far from big, I did start to question if it couldn’t have been a bit smaller. First, watches with integrated bracelets tend to feel larger on the wrist, and this is no exception. The Sledge’s slim profile makes this even more apparent.
Asking questions about the Sledge while wearing it
That feeling gets stronger if you look at the dial design. While it is beautiful, it feels spacious — almost a bit too spacious. This made me think the Sledge could’ve been a 39mm watch, which would have hit my sweet spot. This is very much a matter of personal preference, of course, because I like my watches to be a bit smaller these days. In general, though, for very visually present integrated-bracelet sports watches, I prefer a sub-40mm diameter. The sledge crown protector on the right side of this case also gives it a larger footprint on the wrist.
This brings me to a second question. I do like the sledge crown protector as an element that to play with. It has fidget-toy-like qualities that I didn’t expect. Sliding it up is so satisfying because, while it moves smoothly, it has just the right amount of resistance. To give you an idea of how it works, the upper part of the sledge connects to a ring underneath the bezel that turns counterclockwise until it clicks in the end position. However, as a result of the sledge not being too big, the push/pull crown it protects is fairly small, making it less practical to operate.
Final thoughts on the Löbner Sledge
A couple of reservations aside, after wearing the two Löbner Sledge models for a couple of days, I found them quite impressive. The Sledge is the perfect follow-up to the inaugural Steelracer, which we also received and will feature in a different article. The things I enjoyed most about the Sledge were its Art Deco-inspired dial design, the ingenious concepts of the crown protector and internal 60-minute bezel, and the incredible execution of those ideas. The build quality was nothing short of impressive, and it felt like a proper case of German engineering for a high-end luxury watch.
In a world constantly flooded with new watch releases and brands, I believe the things mentioned above make Löbner stand out from the crowd. Rolex-owned retailer Bucherer also recognized this and has become the exclusive retailer for Löbner watches.
The new Löbner Sledge retails for €9,600 on a bracelet and €8,600 on a rubber strap. Either sum will buy you an impressive watch based on a nice and original concept with fantastic execution. With the Steelracer and the Sledge, Löbner has created two characterful offerings that make me curious to find out where the brand’s story will lead. If the first steps are anything to go on, there are good things in store.
