In an interview a long time ago, author Robert Green shared that it was anger that prompted him to write his seminal book The 48 Laws of Power because he was frustrated by the games many executives in Hollywood played. He thought he should understand these games and come up with strategies for people to either tackle others’ destructive theatrics (that’s how I chose to use his book in my own life) or beat them at their own play. Somewhat similarly, Mainspring was born from two distinct motives: (1) to tell complete stories about brands and the watches they create; (2) to try to put this hobby of ours through a realistic perspective as to what brands’ intentions are, the bullshit that is spreading wide and far in terms of design, specifications, stories, our needs and wants, as well as how much money we should actually pay to get a good timepiece. Thus, one topic we often swing back to on Mainspring is that of the fluff and sparkles brands throw at enthusiasts and content creators back at brands. 

The best example of this we like to address through reviews is the fact that, quite often, the brands which are classified as being high-end independents and which attend curated shows are devoid of visual creativity. They might shine bright in the making-of-incredible-mechanical-movements department but most of their watches actually look the same, mixing and matching one of the few following design elements: Breguet numerals, Urban Jürgensen/Voutilainen handsets, offset time displays, and exposed mechanical parts. Visually then they are same same but different and we would dare to say, they don’t contribute anything new in terms of design to the industry. And setting all of this aside, these brands—the same which, in addition to lacking creativity, sweep all trophies at horological contests—are by far out of reach to 99.99% of us enthusiasts, collectors, journalists and content creators. In other words: they are exclusive brands creating exclusive products reserved for an exclusive band of humans. 

Today we are going to talk about a microbrand that does more for the industry in terms of design and creativity than most of the aforementioned high-end independents: Pedral which just released two new nuggets, the Maestro Small Seconds Aura Gold and Soul Blue. 

Specifications 

Spoiler alert: Swedish brand Pedral does not make full in-house mechanical movements that cost more to make than the total sum of money most of us will be able to set aside for retirement during our entire working life. This doesn’t mean the brand doesn’t use good movements because it does, and akin to all microbrands, it furnishes its timepieces with calibers from one of the most sought-after Swiss manufacturers we are all too familiar with: Sellita. For this release, Pedral opted to go for the SW260 movement (4Hz/38 hours of power reserve) which is equipped with the one complication that defines an entire genre of timekeeping devices—the small seconds which instantly transforms any watch into an elegant and refined time-measuring instrument. This is the kind of old-school complication we don’t often see in the catalogs of microbrands because any movement that goes with one extra feature generally cost more to acquire and requires brands to flex their design muscles in order to come up with compelling designs. 

So the movement is an interesting choice for Pedral to transform a good collection we’ve already studied into something that feels similar and different, as well as more refined, which could give any one a good excuse to add another Maestro to his or her watch collection. Because Pedral is very good at blending together some of the most ultra-classic codes of horological aesthetics with modern watchmaking technologies, therefore endowing elegant watches with the same specifications as those found in solid everyday sports watches. Think of it this way: if you look at the pre-Explorer 1 Sir Edmund Hillary allegedly wore to climb Mount Everest (and which may or many not appear on Tom Hiddleston’s wrist in the upcoming movie Tenzing,) this watch comes across as having been a souped up dress piece it was ok to wear for daring adventures. Thus, based on how robust the Maestro Small Seconds Aura Gold is, as we’re about to see, Hiddleston would have worn a Pedral should Mount Everest’ first ascent had taken place in 2026. 

Yes, we’re going to focus on only one of the two variants of the Maestro Small Seconds for it is the one that visually spoke to me the most, sorry but not sorry for being selfish. However both share the same specifications, not only the same movement as discussed above but also the same hardened stainless steel case which already corroborates statements formulated in the previous paragraph—that Pedral makes robust ultra-classic elegant timepieces. (A reality that I will continue to hammer out throughout this review.) So the case measures 37mm in diameter, 47.5mm lug-to-lug, 9.8mm thick, comes with a 20mm lug width, and is hardened to 1,200Hv on Vicker’s Hardening Scale, putting it at the same level of scratch-resistance as the best tool and GADA watches we’ve studied on Mainspring in the past. To the latter we can add a sandwich sapphire construction where both are equipped with inner anti-reflective coatings, as well as a 6.4mm screw-down crown and case-back for a more-than-sufficient 100 meters of water resistance. 

And unless you’ve just been thawed out of a 50-year cryo sleep, you are very familiar with one technical feature most enthusiasts now demand brands to equip all of their watches with (regardless of their genre)—and which we of course find on the Pedral Maestro Small Seconds Aura Gold—because the brand has indeed thrown most of everything that matters into this collection: an excellent bracelet whose double-pusher deployant clasp is equipped with a tool-less micro-adjustment mechanism. The latter offers six (6) positions of adjustments or about 9mm of travel (the removable links are 8mm long) which permits to easily find the perfect fit and fine-tune it throughout the day. Moreover, the links are held together with screws, the end-links are equipped with quick-release spring-bars, and it showcases a fine alternation of polished center links and dual-finished outer links. So yes, Pedral threw most of the specifications we most cherish into the Maestro Small Seconds save for lume since it remains a dress watch after all. 

Design 

The thing that I find to be the most charming about Pedral’s horological creations is the equal amount of care the brand puts in how it spec’s out and designs its watches, making its horological creations some of the most solid elegant timepieces we’ve looked at on Mainspring in the magazine’s six-year existence. As the Maestro Small Seconds Aura Gold, just like the Maestro Royal Purple and Triomphe Émeraude Green we looked at last year, as well as the Rymd Solar and Meridian GMT we studied at the beginning of the summer, is infused with the type of specifications someone like me (a devout utilitarian horology nerd) is looking for in basically any timepiece—good water resistance, reliable movement, scratch resistant crystal and stainless steel chassis—while it looks like something I would in theory never wear or review should it not be so technically badass. (Irrespective of how good it looks.) But the Maestro Small Seconds is more than its parts and components as it shines through a special blend of classical design. 

And that is where we sling back to the argument made in the introduction, should we not call it a lament: that the most revered high-end independent brands earn their special status mostly on account of the technical and engineering prowess they demonstrate through their bespoke mechanical movements (which is de facto legitimate), not so much by way of a singular visual creativity they may have paired with the former. I don’t know about you but I’d rather spend my small sum of hard-earned digital money on a beautiful watch I can buy and feel comfortable wearing daily, rather than towards a monthly payment to sport a timepiece I would only feel safe wearing at home or a few select horological gatherings. And as far as my knowledge of horology goes, as well as my Goldfish-like memory permits, there isn’t many brands like Pedral out there today—save for Feynman, Atelier Wen, and Awake amongst a very few—and it sticks out within our niche world of microbrands akin to the most massive of sore thumbs. A lovely image, right? 

All of this is to say that Pedral does two things very well: squeezing as many good specifications into its watches as possible whilst giving us interesting designs we typically only find on high-end independent watches. Let us then at last riff on the Maestro Small Seconds’ design because there is a lot that has to be said starting with the dial which borrows a few elements from the first generation of Maestro’s as well as from the Triomphe. For example, a set of polished skeletonized hands I believe we should define as being a la Pedral (and if you don’t agree please feel free to say so in the non-existing comments section below) paired with a pearlescent dotted minute track sandwiched between two rows of a fluted pattern, and complemented by Roman numerals designed in a bespoke typeface by Pedral, all of which look quite swanky together. The rest of the visual interest of this model was given away in its name: a marker-less framed squarcicle small-seconds sub-register and a gold-colored radiating guilloché pattern. 

More precisely, the small-seconds sub-register reprises a shape found on many of Pedral’s horological creations which are defined by abnormal designs creating irregular visual creations which do however only make sense made by the brand. Moreover, my enthusiast’s eyes were drawn to the guilloché pattern akin to a fly bee-lining for a searing steak on a BBQ grill, as not only is the radiating pattern representing an aura visually compelling for it is unusual and intense, but also because it looks like something else entirely to me: in it I see crystalized sunrays bursting outward from below the pinion and pushing towards the edges of the dial, flying underneath the applied Roman numerals and skeletonized hands. The visual spectacle is outstanding regardless of which version of the Maestro Small Seconds you look at but is particularly so on this one. (Which is why this review focuses on it.) Yes, the case is quite fascinating too and for this one I would guide you to my first review of a Maestro for it has not changed. 

The Heart of the Matter

This is the moment when I tend to ramble a lot, as if I had been in the horological business for 40 years and had written thousands of reviews about hundreds of brands. However, from my own humble perspective, and as we’ve therefore discussed many times before on Mainspring, it is by looking at the work of microbrands that we see the most creativity in the business. More specifically, it is the smallest houses of horology, deprived of heritage and legacy, and created for the sole purpose of offering something different and a personal vision of watchmaking to our global community, that we see singularity thrive to the highest levels imaginable. And Pedral is one of the best examples of this phenomenon I can think of today for two reasons: first, because whatever watch it designs—and whatever genre it takes a stab at—it always equips its collections with excellent specifications and often goes beyond what most others offer. Second, because Pedral’s founder and designer, Kevin (Pedral) has a unique talent for combining classic codes of watch design with elements of his own imagination, which he brings together into a sort of controlled chaos—which is how I described the Maestro Royal Purple I reviewed last year. 

With this new release, he toned down the restrained visual mayhem by removing a few too many guilloché patterns to allow for the crystalized sunray motif to invade the entirety of the dial and perfectly marry with the bespoke Roman numerals and the a la Pedral handset. And just as Kevin excels at the art of juxtaposing various shapes on different levels to create such aesthetic turmoil, he’s equally capable—and a master at—light plays. If you could hold the Maestro Small Seconds Aura Gold in your hands right now, you would be met with a dynamic visual light dance by which the polished accents on the hour markers, hands, fluted bezel, and bracelet center links move in unison and morph from subdued flash of lights to intense disco-ball radiations depending on the light source and its intensity. Thus, Pedral does create wearable beauty in the sense that we are not required to bankroll our horological addiction by taking out loans at the bank in order to sport a superb timepiece in our day-to-day life. And that is rare friends. 

Conclusion 

At the time of publishing this review, the two versions of the Pedral Maesto Small Seconds Aura Gold and Soul Blue are available for immediate shipping and will set you back €1,600/$1,797 USD. Pedral only makes one run of all of its collections in all of their variations and these two will therefore only be made one and never return. As I’m typing these final words and pressing “Publish” on my website, there are nine (9) Aura Gold and seven (7) Soul Blue left. 

Thanks for reading.