On my trip to China I got the first glimpse of the Draken Peregrine pilot watch. It’s always exciting seeing a prototype for the first time, knowing that these are the only versions of a watch that exist. It’s also interesting to see if everything worked out as you planned it on paper. Even with 3D rendering and detailed technical drawings, It’s hard to know how it will feel on the wrist.
When I first tried on the Tugela it felt a bit smaller than I was expecting. The Peregrine on the other hand felt bigger, but possibly only because I have become so used to the size of the Tugela. I will admit that it does sit a bit taller than the Tugela, but I feel that this is within the limits of the proportion with the new diameter of the watch (44mm). If you prefer slightly bigger watches, you are gonna love this! I am so confident in the shape of this watch that I have already begun design on our third watch using the same case. More on that project to come!
A recap of the Peregrine specs, for those spec junkies:
- Size: 44mm, 51.5mm lug to lug, 22mm lugs, 15.25mm height.
- Movement: Miyota 9130, 28,800bph, automatic movement with power reserve indicator
- Case: Bead blasted 316L stainless steel or DLC black coated stainless steel
- Dial: Black with BGW9 lume applied indices and full lume version with black indices.
- Water resistance: 100m
- Strap options: Tan leather, green canvas, and iwantastrap.com sailcloth, with matching hardware.
- Caseback: Display with decorated rotor.
When I saw the Peregrine for the first time, I was really pleased to see that the power reserve indicator worked – exactly as expected. The logo literally changes colour as the power reserve increases or decreases. To do this, the actual logo was cut as a seperate piece of steel, and applied to the dial, exactly where the cutout appears on the dial. This requires absolute precision to get right. The polished finish of the logo also gives a beautiful contrast with the dial and case finishes, which are of course matt. Behind the dial sits a lumed disk that rotates to either fill or empty the logo with white as the power reserve increases or decreases. This is something that has rarely been done in the watch industry, certainly at this price range.
Another feature which we are very excited about is the full-lume dial. We completely inverted this so that even the base of the hour and minute hands glow. Whereas C3 lume glows bright even after a single layer of application, BGW9 lume requires at least 3 layers of the paint to be applied before you get a good glow. We sampled a number of dial suppliers before settling on one that could get the right effect. It was worth the wait.
Did I mention the double domed sapphire crystal? The clarity of the dial truely shines through thanks to this. It also has a generous amount of anti-reflective coating, so it almost feels like there is nothing there when you look at it.
True to a vintage Flieger watch style, we put a big crown on the Peregrine, but we kept the look modern and used a knurked cylinder shape, similar to the Tugela. Another improvement here – we added a lumed logo. This looks great in the dark and further enhances functionality by helping to tell the watch orientation when off the wrist.
So, when is it coming you ask? There are a couple of minor tweaks we are making since these photos. One being the shape of the triangle at 12h – it should be an equilateral triangle. Once we have the final prototypes, we’ll start putting together the marketing material, the actual campaign, and possibly send out a few watches for review. We plan to launch the Peregrine on Kickstarter some time in August.
Price is still TBC, but in the region of NZ$815 retail (approx. US$600).
We’ll be sharing more photos of the Peregrine soon, but for now, here are a few from our short meeting in China.
I want this so much right now.
Today I received the all black Peregrine and I really love it. The lume on the face, the power reserve indicator and even on the crown and rotor makes it truly stand out. Great piece Mike. Continue to make such great watches.
Thanks Volker. Coming from an avid watch collector as yourself is high praise. Cheers!