After a decade of homaging big name brands and struggling to create their own identity, micro/indie brands are finally finding their own voice and are able to master it. The reason why I would be a terrible watch designer is because I lack genuine creativity for what is visual and three-dimensional. Ok, I think I can write pretty well but that’s about it. I learned to photograph watches after years of photographing random shit I saw and by asking advice from established photographers in our community. I actually started being able to take decent shots of watches just four years ago when I started Mainspring because I finally had found a subject that truly interested me. Just like I had wanted to write stuff for many decades but was finally able to do so when I thought I would try writing about watches. 

But why am I saying all of this? I honestly forgot. The point is that micro/independent brands are becoming their own thing now. They create their own collections, design language, and their creators are able to wow us by coming up with brand new concepts. HZ Watches is one of these brands and I immediately bought in the idea of valuing and putting the spotlight on affordable quartz mechanisms. “HZ” is short for “Hertz” which is the unit of frequency and represents one event per second. (I’m not smart, I just know how to read Wikipedia.) Quartz crystals used in watch movements vibrate at a frequency of 32,768 times per second and that is why, in short, the brand settled on that name because it loves quartz movements and now I do too. The HZ.01 V2 is an incredible creation which I’m going to tell you all about now. 

Specifications

The spec list begins strongly with this model as we find a Swiss Made Ronda 507 Quartz caliber which has a stated accuracy of -10 / +20 seconds per month and battery life of 45 months (3.75 years.) That is already an excellent piece of information to have but there is much more to come. For example, the fact that the case is made of Grade 5 Titanium* which renders the watch lightweight and durable, as it weights a total of 45 grams on the supplied leather strap complete with titanium buckle. I enjoyed pairing the HZ.01 V2 on a lightweight and flexible Bonklip to spice things up a bit as I’m not a leather strap type of watch collector. The crystal is made of sapphire and comes with three layers of anti-reflective coating, there is a shy presence of BGW9 on the hands and hour markers, and 100 meters of water resistance. 

*Brands either use Grade 2 or Grade 5 titanium. The difference between the two is that the former is entirely made of titanium while the latter is made of titanium, aluminum, and something called vanadium which makes it stronger but just as lightweight. Therefore, it is more expensive to purchase. 

I do want to highlight one piece of information I just shared and that is the 100 meters of water resistance which is obtained thanks to a screw-down crown and case-back. I find this fact impressive given the nature of the movement inside—for one reason or another the majority of quartz-powered watches don’t have a screw-down crown and, therefore, lack good water resistance—which already indicates something interesting about HZ Watches: the fact that they do care about making good rounder watches which can be used in a variety of situations. What is also impressive to me is the presence of sapphire for the crystal and the overall fine quality of the watch. The hands are sharp, the embossed numerals are legible, and the sunburst effect is clean. All of this matters when we look at the asking price of the HZ.01 V2: $222. 

Lastly, the dimensions of this lightweight quartz beauty are as follows: 38.5mm in diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug, 9.8mm thick, and coming with a 20mm lug width.

Design

Just like the specs are impressive, so is the design which I find thoughtful and delightful. (I love adjectives!) Let’s start with the case for a change. It is semi-round with wide lugs which appear to be built from a separate piece of titanium and which envelop the center part of the case. (The lugs continue into the case flanks which are wider than the fixed bezel, creating this unique visual effect.) But the lugs are long and turn down towards the wrist, perfectly espousing mine, whilst the sides of the case are rather straight. The small screw-down crown (5.3mm in diameter) has enough grip to make it easy to operate and set the date and time. I do appreciate the crown’s discreet appearance as it contributes to making the HZ.01 V2 elegant looking. The simple alternation of brushed and polished surfaces further makes this model elegant, though we only find polished accents on the chamfers.

So I like the design of the case but I love the layout of the dial. The latter is both refined and convenient, making it easy to read the time. Small syringe hour and minute hands point at embossed Arabic numerals located on a raised section of the dial, the latter being decorated with thin and narrow concentric circles. The numerals are lumed, so are the hands, and the application of BGW9 is “decent” for this type of watch. (And, to be real here, for any kind of watch, even hardcore tool watches. Hot take anyone?) I love the juxtaposition of the raised section of the dial with the center portion which showcases a sunburst effect, and how the angled rehaut, on which is printed the minute track, further contrasts with the rest of the dial. Note the needle-shaped seconds hand with its red tip. 

There are two additional elements of the dial design which I highly appreciate: the integration of the day and date within the dial design as well as the small bit of text under the pinion. The latter reads “32,768Hz” which is again the frequency at which quartz crystals vibrate. (I will get back to this in a second.) For the former, the date window is simply cut-out north of the dial whilst the porthole date aperture has a thin polished frame located inside the cutout, not outside. What I like about this is the balance it creates and while the date aperture is small—and so are the printed date numerals—I can nevertheless quite comfortably read the date. (But that would change as I age.) 

The Heart of the Matter

The main matter is the fact that HZ Watches is celebrating the reliability, affordability, and complexity of quartz movements which has been overshadowed for many years by the snobbery of many watch enthusiasts which deem quartz calibers as being of lesser value and importance compared to their fully mechanical counterparts. Yes, I Googled “Ronda 507” and saw that I can buy one for less than $10. But does that make it less good? Less valuable? Or does it prove that technology has become so good that giant Swiss and Japanese movement manufacturers can pop out these good movements by the thousands so that thousands of watch-curious and hardcore enthusiasts can enjoy good horology for cheap? I believe the latest statement is true and HZ Watches is doing a great job showing that quartz-powered watches can also be the object of adoration of many watch nerds. 

And what is cheap isn’t necessarily of poor quality. As a reminder, the HZ.01 V2 retails for $222 and that for this price you get a Grade 5 titanium case, solid quartz caliber, a finely finished case and dial, the useful functionality that comes from the day and date complications, sapphire crystal, 100 meters of water resistance, and some lume. I’ve seen countless of soulless fashion watches retailing for the same price or higher without offering any of these specs. (Just a Goddamn boring as fuck “minimalist” dial completely devoid of character.) Which means that not only HZ Watches is on a quest to celebrate the goodness of quartz calibers—so much so that it printed “32,768Hz” in red on the dial—but that it was created and designed by a legitimate watch enthusiast who wanted to create a sensible timekeeping device many can afford and enjoy. 

Conclusion 

Being a V2 means that the HZ.01 currently available on the brand’s website is a more refined version of the first iteration of this model. (Which in itself shows how much the brand believes in what it does.) It comes in four colors—black, blue, green and burgundy—though three of these are already sold out. I opted to review the black version because I’m a sad and boring watch enthusiast, but my second favorite is the blue one. So, once again, the HZ.01 V2 is a cracking watch that offers a lot of good specs and thoughtful design details for a small sum of money, through which HZ Watches makes genuine and honest horology accessible to the masses which is something worth celebrating. And something I would like to see more of. 

You can also check out the brand’s second collection I reviewed a few weeks back, the HZ.02 Chronograph which is equally impressive. 

Thanks for reading.