We all know watches are no longer necessary for the majority of bipeds. You don’t need watches, I don’t need watches, and they don’t need watches. But we buy them, collect them, photograph them, and talk about them with sheer intensity and passion because we choose to. We don’t have to. Everyday we choose to strap one (or two) watch(es) to our wrist for many reasons. To check the time and to emulate a certain version of ourselves we wouldn’t otherwise be able to concretize without a timekeeping device; to signal to others what kind of person we are, what we like, what we want to do, where we want to go (literarily and metaphorically.) In a sense, watches are means of self and artistic expressions, and conduits through which we can push the boundaries of engineering and science, and so are many things all at once. For each brand, watches are, without a doubt, physical representations of their intimate vision for horology. 

That’s what we’re going to talk about today as we do in each and every review on Mainspring. 

We’re going to take a look at a brand for the first time, Ponctuel from Belgium, and the latest addition to one of their three collections—the Astrale Vert d’Eeau 2-VEO-A. This model, just like any other model from their catalog, and akin to any watch from any brand in the world since time immemorial, represents something unique and special. Here the vision of two brothers, Nico and Robin de Nys, whose family has horological roots almost a century old as their great-grandfather created a brand called Pontiac in 1931. Throughout the generations, the family designed and sold watches of their own creation and became importers of well-known brands for two decades. So the two brothers have been swimming in watches for many years and decided in 2022 to contribute to this niche industry by creating Ponctuel. The Astrale is what we commonly define as being a sporty everyday timepiece, and something totally up my alley. 

Specifications 

Who says sporty everyday timepiece means something of a horological machine which is mechanically versatile. But I’m running out of metaphors and images to set the stage for where and how you could use the Astrale, staying clear of the go-to car or movie analogy which are tiresome to use. No, this watch deserves something better, something more, as I feel something special when I wear it. A something of heritage, deeply-set roots which inhabit any object and gives it an air of something that was carefully crafted and designed over decades and generations. A mature creation which doesn’t stem from the nascent creativity of two brothers who accidentally fell into watchmaking three years ago, but from many years of a particular blend of horological design which has been flowing inside the veins of a family for almost 100 years. And so the Ponctuel Astrale appears and feels like a classic watch on the wrist and that is due in part to what it is made out of and how it was designed. 

As far as the first part interests us, the Astrale is, first and foremost, a modern-vintagely sized timekeeping device measuring 38.5mm in diameter, 41.8mm lug-to-lug, 12mm thick, and coming with a 20mm lug width. The height of the watch is the total measurement and includes a 3.1mm-thick piece of ultra-domed mineral crystal, a choice of material which I know will puzzle some of you, but which the brand firmly stands behind: mineral is cheaper than sapphire but more scratch resistant and clearer than plexiglass, and therefore presented the perfect combination of durability and clarity to create such a dramatically profiled crystal without adding too many dollars to the final tab. (It is time I start a petition to remove mineral glass from watch snobs’ blacklist.) The Astrale therefore wears great and hugs the wrist, in a confident and secure way I would say, aided by a three-link “H” style bracelet equipped with a double-pusher butterfly clasp, links held together by push-pins, quick-release spring bars, or a secondary fastening mechanism, a leather strap. 

Inside the case we find a Miyota 9015 caliber, one of my favorite ones, which beats at 4Hz and comes with 42 hours of power reserve, an ensemble of cogs and wheels and screws which generally ticks accurately out-of-the-box and which is thin. Above it we find a dial composed of applied hour markers and hands presenting more than decent applications of C3 SuperLuminova,  (again we’re dealing with a sporty everyday timepiece,) a porthole date aperture at the three made of a polished frame and black printed numerals on a white disc. The case is obviously made of 316L stainless steel and displays fine alternations of brushed and polished surfaces (which we will go back to later on,) a small screw-down crown measuring 5.1mm in diameter, however easy to grip and operate despite its modest size, and protected by stubby crown-guards. The case-back screws-down too and we therefore find the now classical sporty everyday watch’s 100 meters of water resistance which is enough and plenty of it. 

Design 

It would make most sense to mention the price of the Ponctuel Astrale Vert d’Eau either above or below this section, but I will do so now to weave some context around this timepiece. This gem of independent Belgium horology will set you back €1,190 (including taxes) or $1,400 USD, which is, according to yourself only, either fair or not for what you get. While we could agree that we should get certain specs when we dish out a certain amount of money, even though I could argue this because I’m French, I would say that what you get, technically, is good but not enough to justify the asking price. However—and you knew this would come—there’s a kicker. A kicker you are most likely familiar with if this isn’t your first time stumbling upon the magazine, and that would be that we cannot put a price tag on design and that design does contribute to making a watch cost a certain amount and not another. This is always true on account of the novelty of what you see. 

In other words, whenever brands get something custom-made for them, it will cost more than what they would get by pointing the finger at commonly found parts from massive catalogs. What is interesting about the Astrale is that, at first glance, it looks like something else we’ve seen before, but that upon closer inspection—a process I invite you to partake in via the photos contained in this article—many things about its design and construction are unique. Take the case as a first massive example. It physically glues to the wrist like an elegant vintage piece on account of the raised but flat case-back, and visually merges with it thanks to the thin mid-case and the superb angle of the case/lug combo which flares out and down to perfectly contour the wrist. (Or I just happen to have the perfect wrist for this watch.) The effect is stunning and made even more so thanks to the mirror-polished case sides and chamfers. 

Seen from above, the Astrale has more of an oblong profile than a traditional circular one, as the flanks expand out east and west and flow back into the lugs in a continuous movement. Keep in mind that the L2L is only 41.8mm which partially explains the gorgeous case profile and how well the watch fits on the wrist. I love how small Ponctuel made the crown so that it doesn’t disrupt the overall shape of the watch, which is surprisingly symmetrical (so-to-speak of course,) an effect reinforced by the large dial opening and, conversely, the thinness of the fixed polished bezel. Underneath the ultra-domed mineral crystal we find a sublime “Vert d’Eau” sunburst dial, which translates to “water green,”  a color that dances between green, gray, and dark moss, a unique thing which is absolutely stunning to look at. The rest of the dial is classically designed, with rounded hands and applied markers made of polished metal elements sandwiching small real estate of C3 SuperLuminova. 

The Heart of the Matter

On their website, Nico and Robin de Nys indicate that the Astrale is a contemporary reinterpretation of yet-to-be-identified vintage Pontiac (remember, the brand created by their great-grandfather in 1931,) which I do not believe is to be true in the purest sense of the noun “reinterpretation.” Reinterpreting something means interpreting it in a new or different way, which would mean in this case borrowing most design codes from a previous model. However, what they did was to input their family’s elegant sense of everyday horological design into their own creative mind and output their fresh and novel design which is also elegant. In other words, they created a contemporary version of the watch by upholding the family’s tradition of making dapper everyday timepieces which could be anyone’s sole watch—as it used to be the case for many bipeds before the advent of computer technology—and completed the package with modern tech to make for an overall lovely package. However, I know one of you wants to argue the choice of the mineral glass. 

All of this is to say that the heart of the matter today lies the deceptively commonplace appearance of the Ponctuel Astrale which hides nothing short of the perfect everyday timepiece, strong of a unique visual character which, one way or another, stems from the family’s heritage, became a thing in its own right, and is combined with is a superb dial which combines a unique color, a  sunburst and fumé effect (the latter I forgot to mention earlier) which I cannot take my eyes off. Moreover, the compact case which fits the wrist like a tailor-made piece of jewelry, the ultra-domed mineral glass feels and looks vintage, the bracelet is a perfect match for the Astrale, and you have yet to see the custom-engraved rotor which showcases celestial bodies and some of humankind’s most advanced technological breakthroughs. All of this for €1,190/$1,400 USD seems pretty fair to me. There, I said it. 

Conclusion 

There is a plethora of watches you can buy with your hard-earned cash. A limitless amount of genres, sizes, colors, specs, and functionality, so you are guaranteed to find what you’re looking for. But sometimes we’re not sure of what exactly we’re seeking and so we turn to websites, blogs, and social media to hopefully find our next purchase. Our next target. The future object of our desire. And you might have found it today in th  Ponctuel Astrale Vert d’Eau, a very good watch technically and aesthetically speaking which will give you more value than you might expect, at least, that is what I think. As I said many sentences above, putting this watch on the wrist I felt something special about it, and so I wanted to tell you about my experience and hopefully I managed to get my point across. If not, well, that’s too bad. 

By the way, the Astrale exists in four other colors which might be your jam should the Vert d’Eau not be: black, white, green and blue.

Thanks for reading.