Pinion Pure Bronze LE – 52Mondayz, week # 15
After a complicated week (click here for 52Mondayz week # 14) this week I needed something simple. Two bold clear hands, a thick crown suitable for manual winding, and a sturdy case – that was what I was looking for and found in the Pinion Pure Bronze LE.
Pinion Pure Bronze LE
No Panerai
Of course, I could have chosen a Panerai Luminor (which I most probably will do once in the future) however I was looking for something more special. As well, although appreciating Panerai’s patented crown construction, it’s not the easiest to operate on a daily basis to wind your watch. Simple is a bit equivalent to lazy for me as well.
Only 50 of these bronze watches exist
The Pinion Pure Bronze LE I’m wearing this week belongs to a good friend of mine and is one of the first ones which became available in 2014. In fact, there were 100 models in total, of which the first 50 Pinion Pure Bronze watches were in stainless steel and the second 50 in bronze. This watch has the number 53 of 100 watches, so the 3rd watch in bronze.
Striking dial
What strikes immediately about this watch is its dial. Very important of course, as the dial is the interface between the watch and yourself when looking for the time. The different surface finishings of the outer minute ring and the center of the dial are so subtle, however so important for the readability. The outer ring in the dial, containing the 5-minute index dashes and the 3, 9, and 12 numerals, is slightly more matte than the center of the dial. Which isn’t high-gloss polished as well by the way. It are two different grades of matte, which is very difficult to picture, however, which makes a wonderful appearance of the dial.
Applied indexes and numerals
The 5-minute indexes and numerals are another thing that makes the appearance of the dial ever so special. The creamy color of Pinion’s own Super-LumiNova mix is exactly what matches the marine grade bronze casing of the watch during the day. At the same time, it glows fiercely green in the dark.
Class act hands
The hands are a class act on their own. They have such sharp edges and such a high finish that it almost hurts. Again here the same color of Super-LumiNova mix has been used, and the light-emitting power at night exactly matches not only the color however the intensity of the indexes and numerals as well.
Bronze corrosion and oxidation
I already mentioned the marine grade bronze the case is made of. If you like a bronze casing for a watch, this one has the right colour. Marine grade bronze is a copper-aluminium (often with some nickel) alloy which is highly corrosion resistant. Corrosion resistant doesn’t mean that the material isn’t oxidative though. It does interact with oxygen and so the colour and looks of the casing of the watch changes over time. By this every watch from this series will be unique over time, and your watch will be truly different than any other.
The diameter of the casing is for this type of watch very suitable 42 mm, and it is waterproof to 100 meters. The crown and – beautifully engraved – case back are made of stainless steel, in order not to defy an eventual bronze over-sensitivity.
The watch I’m wearing has a straight bezel as found on early models. Meanwhile the bezels of all Pure and Axis models are changed to the stepped superdome bezel, as seen before on the Axis-II and limited edition Pinion R1969 chronograph as well.
Easy-going Swiss Made movement
As power plant for the Pure series Pinion chose the ever reliable manual winding Unitas 6498 with a Glucydur balance. Glucydur is a the trade name of a beryllium-copper-iron alloy with a low coefficient of thermal expansion, thus very suitable for watch components such as the balance wheel. The frequency of the Unitas 6498 is a slow beating 18.000/h and it has a power reserve of 45 hours.
Assembled in England
Currently Pinion is selling the very last few of these, fully in England assembled, Pure Bronze LE watches. And I just saw they’re making you a nice offer for it as well, go Pure Bronze LE offer on pinionwatches.com
