There was a time when everybody used to wear just one watch. One to accompany them to the office, for elegant social functions, and on the weekends. One watch to rule them all and to help humans keep their lives in order. This time was a long time ago. Nowadays we all ambulate a bit carelessly throughout our daily chores with the assistance of smartphones—and now Artificial Intelligence—to stay on track. It’s hard to avoid technology as everybody uses it and it permeates every aspect of our mortal lives. (And it seems that tech gurus never cease to find a use for useless gadgets.) However, if you were the kind of person to prefer to stay organized by way of a wrist-worn mechanical timekeeping device, then this review is for you. 

We’ve talked about Maen a few times before, notably when reviewing the Hudson Mark IV and Hudson GMT, two outstanding watches that constitute tremendous value for the money. Maen is a brand that has made me ponder the following question more than once: how can a business stay afloat making such good products for such a reasonable price? That is, when comparing how good the watch looks and feels in the hand and how much of your hard earned dollars they ask for it in return. Today’s protagonist is no different. The Brooklyn 36 Triple Calendar is a functional, handsome, and superbly made everyday watch that comes, as its names indicated, with a Triple Calendar function, that is: month, date, and day of the week. 

Specifications 

Maybe we will agree that everyday watches—the kind that our parents and grandparents used to wear—had, by their very own nature, to be comfortable to wear all throughout the day. While in the middle of the 20st century everyday watches for men could measure anywhere between 30 to 36mm in diameter, and that everyday watches for women were microscopic, the Maen Brooklyn 36 comes with what many would rush to define as being “unisex” dimensions: 36mm in diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug, 12.60mm thick (including the box domed sapphire crystal,) and a 20mm lug width. I would describe the aforementioned dimensions as being of the universal type for 21st century watch enthusiasts. With this compact case, the Brooklyn has 50 meters of water resistance and a screw-down case-back. 

The spec of the show here is the movement within: the Miyota 9122 caliber which beats at 28,800 BPH (4Hz) and comes with 40 hours of power reserve. The 9122 is the star as it comes with a Triple Calendar functionality (should I capitalize these two words?) which means one can see the day of the week, the month of the year, and the date of the month. I haven’t seen this type of complications since I bought my very first watch, a Skagen Triple Calendar in 2006. Though I already had a cellphone back then—note that I didn’t say “smartphone”—I nevertheless already preferred keeping track of time using a watch. And I remember loving the functionality that came with a triple calendar model. 

As mentioned above, the Maen Brooklyn comes with a box domed sapphire crystal which endows this model with a vintage vibe without the added distortions at the edges of the crystal. This means the dial is ultra legible regardless of which angle you decide to look at it. The small push/pull crown winds smoothly and has just enough grip to facilitate its operation. C1 X1 SuperLuminova is present on the hour and minute hands as well as in the dots of lume located outside of the applied hour markers. Lastly, the Brooklyn 36 is shipped on a Jubilee-style bracelet with female end links, screwed links, and a gorgeous butterfly clasp.  

So far so good, right? 

Design 

Maen matched the unusual functionality of the Miyota 9122 caliber with a superb dual-register layout. Granted, where each functionality lands visually on the dial is dictated by how the movement is made. Nevertheless, the brand did a superb job here getting all of these complications to cohabit harmoniously on a smaller package. Time is indicated by a set of elegant polished Dauphine hands and a needle-shaped seconds hand, which align with polished applied hour markers that slope down towards the center. The plots of lume appear in a contrasting color on the recessed and fully graduated minute track, and the latter seems to be on the same plane as the two sub-registers found the three and nine o’clock. 

The one on the left indicates the day of the week whilst the one on the right indicates the month of the year. The latter is adjusted, you should know, by way of a little pusher located above the crown. I appreciate the matte texture given to the sub-registers and their color that match that found on the minute track. And I further appreciate the fact that Maen decided to make the date disc white and not yellow/beige as found on the sub-registers and minute track as it would have otherwise the numerals would have been difficult to read. These are the tiny little details that the two great guys behind the brand, Jules and Sebastiaan, must have obsessed over for weeks on end. 

The Maen Brooklyn 36 also comes with a simple case profile that reminds me of certain vintage Rolexes and perhaps Tudor’s, where the flanks are slab-sided and fully polished and where we find no chamfers. The upper section of the lugs is finished with a radial brushing which we also find on the upper section of the fixed bezel. I find the case sides to be simply elegant and perfectly appropriate for this type of watch. The everyday elegance of the dial + case is matched by the well-made Jubilee-style metal bracelet and its well-engineered butterfly clasp. Note the brand’s “M” logo engraved on it. A nice little touch. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that Maen brought back a style of watches we haven’t seen in a long while, and made it rather attainable by my standards. (It’s a type of watch the micro/independent segment of the market doesn’t offer.) Indeed, the Brooklyn 36 retails for $961 USD including VAT (remove 20% if ordering from outside the European Union) which, yes, almost reaches the feared $1,000 USD mark, but I would argue the following: although that’s a lot of dough, consider the intricacy of the dial layout, the superb finish, and the overall attention to detail Jules and Sebastiaan put into creating this model. I know I might be the only one to think this but I believe that we should not be too hasty judging a watch by its price tag without seeing it in the metal first. 

Obviously, here you must believe that I am true to my word when I say that the Maen Brooklyn 36 is worth the asking price. I’m getting tired of so-called “watch enthusiasts” who automatically complain whenever a micro/independent brand creates a model that sells for more than $400 USD. (Or perhaps $300 USD now?) As if these brands didn’t have the right to ask for a reasonable price for a fine horological product. And, I would further argue, that making a watch that we don’t often see means higher manufacturing costs as many of the parts making up the Brooklyn 36 have to be specifically made for Maen. That is something that many watch nerds conveniently don’t think about when they, instead, praise a blend spec-monsters that retail for $300 USD. 

Conclusion 

At the end of the day, Maen is a brand that releases one good model after another. A few years back, the brand was criticized for some QC issues with their first generation Skymaster, and although I’ve never handled the latter, I did spend extensive periods of time with four other models from the brand, each being better than the last. This goes to show that Maen’s Jules and Sebastiaan work hard to improve upon their designs and on the quality of their products. That is one of the many reasons why I will always support Maen, another reason being that these two guys are particularly fine human beings. So rejoice seeing a new kind of watch packed with loads of intricate visual Easter Eggs and completed with superb manufacturing and finishing. 

Before I let you go, you should know that the Brooklyn 36 comes in five color variants and that most of them are currently in stock and ready to ship, a rarity these days. Checkout the brand’s website to know more about its catalog and check out this page to learn more about the Brooklyn 36 Triple Calendar. 

Thanks for reading.