Isn’t it interesting that we continue to wear watches even though they’ve become practically obsolete? Numerous times before we’ve discussed the idea that many of us (most of us) do wear watches not for time-reading purposes but for personal ones—to signal and express our personality to the world—and that a smaller contingent of the watch enthusiast community, like yours truly, do use them to tell the time. A bit of an old-school habit which best belongs to the generation before mine (or a few more behind) but which suits me just as well. One phenomenon which might be obvious to you but which wasn’t to others is the fact that brands continue to design and engineer multi-functional timepieces endowed with analog complications to replace the digital ones from our smart devices. For example a date and timing bezel, which indicates that interest for practical time-telling devices remains strong. Since we continue to make and buy watches, might as well render them useful for things other than self-expression. 

And that is an experiment the French-infused, Australian-based brand Bausele has understood as it enlisted the help of 400 of its most loyal customers to design their ideal sports watch. The type of wristworn device that can do it most or do it all for them, one watch to rule them all if you will, the only one they believe they need. This watch was aptly named Elemental and Bausele rolls out batches of it through pre-order windows which reopen again once the latest one has been delivered. The French-Australian brand adopts a no-waste approach to watchmaking which I have never heard of before (which doesn't mean you haven’t) and which makes sense, although it might be tricky to run since most microbrands I’ve worked with operate on large MOQs (Minimum Order Quantity) which prevent them from adopting this particular model. Moreover, Bausele makes several versions of the Elemental and today we’re taking a look at the Coorong Mist, named after the 140 km (87 miles) long lagoon down South Australia’s coastline. 

P.S. As you will quickly notice, I borrowed a well-traveled prototype. 

Specifications 

We can, and should, romanticize the idea that a timekeeping device can faithfully serve its owner in most, if not all, situations. When describing watches and how they can be used and by whom and where, I typically run a bunch of real or fictional scenarios to demonstrate what they’re capable of within a range from the mundane to the extreme. In the first case, activities which apply to my personal life of a husband and father living in a small French village, far from the buzz of the capital or the seducing wilderness of the Alps. In the second case, activities which either apply to cool people who live active lives (akin to Bausele’s founder Christophe Hoppé who takes daily 5am swims in the ocean) or wannabe adventurers who Instagram their latest walk in a nearby forest. Regardless of what applies to you, and whatever you actually do, you may need or be attracted to the idea of a robust multi-purpose watch you can wear vacuuming the couch or repelling down a Big Sur cliff to catch a wave before sunset. 

This is basically what Bausele did with the help of 400 of its most dedicated supporters with the Elemental. From the outside it has the appearance and wrist presence of a modern vintage-inspired integrated bracelet sports watch, a style of horology which has made a comeback in the past couple of years. It’s heavy and hard to forget, however so in a good way which matches what the Elemental is composed of and the infinite number of scenarios in which it can be used. For example, a de facto muscular stainless steel case measuring however an average 40mm in diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug, and 12.2mm in thickness, and a non-applicable lug width. (Though the stainless steel bracelet begins at 25.6mm outside the case and tapers to 17.6mm at the clasp, so quite the taper which greatly assists with comfort.) The case is paired with a 5.7mm screw-down crown and case-back for a generous and multi-scenario 200 meters of water resistance. The crown, as you will notice, is filled with Australian sand from Sydney’s Many Beach. 

Why? Why not. 

Since the Bausele Elemental Coorong Mist was designed and engineered to be a watch to do everything with, it is equipped with a Sellita SW200 (4Hz/38 hours of power reserve), regulated to run at ± 5 seconds per day. For those of us who actually live active lives, the caliber inhabits a rubber-lined soft-iron cage which comes with the dual benefit of further protecting its mechanical soul from shocks as well as literally shielding it from magnetic fields. The date complication was made easy to read for aging folks like myself thanks to a cyclop carved from the innerside of a sapphire crystal, the latter being equipped with five layers of inner anti-reflective coating. (Random thought: why is it always five layers of AR coating and not seven or eight? Shoot me an email if you know.) Moreover, there are generous applications of BGW9 on the hands, applied hour markers, and inverted triangle on the bezel, itself equipped with a dual-scale, dual-inlay construction complementing a unidirectional, 120-smooth-click bezel. 

Lastly, there is the bracelet which comes with push-pins to keep the links thin, quick-release spring-bars tightly tucked against the case-back (a slight critique as I couldn’t disengage them using my slender French fingers) and a tool-less micro-adjustment mechanism inhabiting a double-trigger deployant clasp. All of the above can be had for the sum of $750 USD which is more than reasonable, all good things considered. Thus, from a technical side, the Elemental has all the essentials and much more than that. 

Design

I for one feel strongly attracted to the outward appearance of this Bausele as it is endowed with a rare dual personality: that of a vintage integrated sports bracelet on account of its case + steel fastening system which are visually imposing albeit of coherent dimensions; and that of a sports watch infused with a particular character on account of the dial texture + handset combo as well as the dual-scaled, dual-inlay bezel. The dial is to me the stereotypical star of the show as it is deep, intense, and fashioned using a multi-step process we will discuss in a jiffy—which is in and of itself quite remarkable to get at this price point. And everything that you see below and around the crystal is remarkably finished, further increasing the intrinsic value of the Elemental which is, as we know, excellent on specs alone. But whether you live in a remote (not to say deserted) French village or if hiking active volcanoes is your profession, you ought to find the watch you’re wearing sexy especially with this type of timepiece. 

Seen from above, the case and bracelet of the Elemental reminds me of a couple of integrated bracelet sports watches I have reviewed in the past, for example the Rosenbusch Quest and Atelier Wen Percetion Xiá especially in their top-down wrist presence and case-to-bracelet transitions. Two watches of different souls evidently than the Bausele, and two horological specimens which themselves were sketched out from other sources of inspiration which have come a few decades before them, which is absolutely fine folks. Just like it is alright for the case of a Formex Essence 39 to share common visual traits with those of an RZE Resolute 36 Waypoint and Ember Rocket. What is beautiful about our niche industry—and which should be celebrated instead of being condemned—is the capacity brands have to find inspiration elsewhere, yesterday or half a century ago, within the expansive catalogs of mainstream brands or the finely curated ones of other microbrands. Thus the case of the Elemental is majestic to me and so on its own merits. 

For instance, I find the contrast between the visually imposing case and smaller four o’clock crown to create a welcomed disruption of expectations in what we would see in an integrated bracelet sports watch—should that be actually how we characterize the Elemental since the bracelet can be switched for a leather strap. Moreover, the dual-scale, dual-inlay bezel, showing a count-up scale on its outer ring and 12-hour GMT one on its inner section, not only adds functionality to the watch but also endows it with an extra umph of character and one not usually found—once again—on this type of horological machine. Once can further appreciate how the two scales where designed and made to set them apart: the numerals on the count-up scale are printed in silver paint against a radially brushed aluminum insert; the markers on the 12-hour scale are also printed in silver but on a shimmering silver ring thus creating visual harmony yet a separation of functionality. The whole rest on a sloped bezel which angles up from the mid-case. 

I could go on and on about the case yet we must now speak about the dial which is quite something as well. First, I have once again been charmed by a deeply textured dial because this one is particularly intense and highly realistic in mimicking the wind-step ripples of wet sand. (At least that is the picture the texture is forming inside my little head.) To make this possible, Bausele had the dial covered with lacquer before depositing the rounded-baton applied markers on it, which are finely polished and generously lume-filled. And at some point they dug a circular date aperture within the textured dial to accommodate for black printed numerals on a white date disc for superlative legibility, aided of course by the cyclop. In contrast with the markers, the large handset is covered by a glossy black paint to ensure it pops from the dial and visually matches with the bezel’s outer scale. As mentioned earlier, and at the risk of repeating myself like the aging fart that I am becoming, everything that you see is finely made. 

The Heart of the Matter 

Bausele is an odd brand I have been curious to discover in the metal for a long time. It was created by a Frenchman whose pre-Bausele professional background involves basketball leagues, finance, and working in several iconic towns of Swiss watchmaking, e.g., Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds. That same person moved to Australia to create his own microbrand which he infused with a bold style of sportive horology. Bausele created a following of loyal customers whose help it enlisted, as we know, to create the ideal enthusiast-powered multi-functional sports watch. The result is the unique Elemental, unique in its generous list of specifications which can be acquired for the modest sum of $750 USD, as well as unique in the ways in which the community combined several classical elements of watch design, and requested a few rarer ones, to birth a watch which is both different and novel. Something I don’t believe Christophe Hoppé could have designed on its own and that is where lies the power of his modus operandi: to let others dictate what they want to see a brand produce instead of being imposed upon the precise vision of one single human. 

Conclusion 

The Bausele Elemental Coorong Mist, as well as any of this collection’s other iterations, has the inherent potential of being anybody’s sole watch and/or next adventure/activity timepiece. It is robustly made and generously spec’ed out for what I would deem to be the more than fair price of $750 USD, putting it at the reach of a large segment of the watch community. Thus it is equipped to meet the real or potential needs of the 400 individuals who co-created this collection, and visually, it both shows the ideas and inspiration stemming from the minds of so many people as well as the experience of a brand owner who has a few successful collections under his belt already. In conclusion: the Elemental is cool and I recommend checking out the brand’s website to learn about the next pre-ordering phase. 

Thanks for reading.