Without trying to write a philosophical essay on time, the concept of it, how we measure it, and how it just keeps on passing by too quickly, we ought, once in a while, to question why we keep track of it, why we watch enthusiasts do so by way of a dedicated tool, and what it means to wear a watch on our wrist. Why the latter is personal of course but experience shows that we do wear watches because they hold a particular meaning for us, an emotional one, one of self-expression, of marking a particular time period in our life, or to be reminded that time is indeed passing by and that we waste a lot of it. As philosophers have said, time is our most precious resource and keeping tabs on it through a wrist-worn machine is how we decide, and hope, that one day we will be able to master making the best use of it. Time is also the most measured quantity on earth and we have been measuring it for thousands of years—litterally. 

But the idea of an hours, minutes, and seconds is arbitrary and unprecise: 60 seconds make up a minute and 60 minutes an hour, but a “second” is in fact, and I quote, the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom (scuse’ me) as defined in 1967 by the Thirteenth General Conference of the International Committee for Weights and Measures. Before that it was defined as 1/86,400 of the time that it takes the Earth to rotate once on its axis. And it has been many other things since antiquity and in-between. All of this is to say that although we love measuring time, time isn’t a precise measure. And even though some of us prefer to see a precise representation of it on our watches (I for sure do), others don’t mind if it is a bit  more approximate. Segueing into the object of today’s review, the Slomo Glance. 

Specifications 

As we will see, this watch is many things, although it could not have been. In my own niche experience of horology, I’ve come across a few timekeeping devices which revolutionized horology by changing the way it displays time. Either by using a single hand or by removing all hour and minute markers. Oftentimes these watches were more about the design—or the absence of it—and not about the specifications. Meaning that I wouldn’t have taken these watches on certain trips or activities because I know they couldn’t have handled them very well. And they typically came with a low price tag which explains the absence of a few things or, on the other hand of the spectrum, too high of a financial entry point which made them too expensive for the little they provided in terms of functionality or specifications. So secretly the world of horology had been waiting for the Slomo Glance as it does two important things very well: it is visually unique and technically sound. 

I would take the Slomo on any adventures, trips, experiences, because it looks darn cool but not bizarre cool, nothing like a machine watch which defies the concept of time-telling whilst losing its core principles in the process, and because the Slomo is also well built and engineered. At once we notice the hollowed-out lugs which indicate we’re dealing with a watch that we are meant to do something with, for example hiking a volcano or diving in the Caribbean or racing a motorcycle through the morning’s traffic. Indeed the Glance comes with 100 meters of water resistance (screw-down case back and push/pull crown,) 3D blocks of SuperLumunova BGW9 for the Arabic numerals and plenty of it painted on the hands, a reliable Miyota 9039 caliber (4Hz/±42 hours of power reserve,) a double-domed sapphire crystal, a steel bracelet with quick-release spring-bards, double-threated screws, and a tool-less micro-adjustment mechanism. 

Physically the Slomo Glance also commands a modern and sportive wrist presence, as the case measures 39mm in diameter, 46mm lug-to-lug, 11mm thick (including the crystal, 9.5mm without,) and comes with a 20mm lug width where the bracelet tapers to 16mm at the clasp. So the watch is relatively noticeable on the wrist, however comfortable to wear and, I would add, looks pretty cool too. In for review I had the blue variant but the Slomo Glance also comes in brown and green variants, and the model I experienced and photographed is an early prototype sample, meaning the production model will change: more pronounced minute markers on the chapter ring, rounded off case-sides grooves, deeper etching of the brand’s logo on the crown, and more inner anti-reflective coating for the sapphire crystal. Indeed I struggled a little bit photographing this watch but oh boy I had so much fun doing it. 

Design

In the introduction I went on and on about the arbitrary and unprecise concept of time because, well it is so, but also to weave a context around the Slomo Glance. The brand name itself clearly indicates that its founder, Benjamin Moyle, invites us to chill the fuck down and to slow ourselves down. No rushing, no jumping from one task to another, no racing from one place onto the next. Since time is a concept, we shouldn’t take it (and ourselves as well) too seriously whilst not ignoring it all together either, as our lives would be total chaos since we wouldn’t be in tune with the rhythm of the world. But we don’t need to start a meeting at 09:00:00 as 09:01:00 is fine, and that feeding the little human at 07:30:55 instead of 07:30:00 is alright. But again the world is organized around timed events, our days are sliced up into 24 hour—or 1,140 minutes or 86,400 seconds—so we must be aware of time, more or less approximatively, without being obsessed with it being accurate to the second. 

Moreover and perhaps conversely, reading the time at a glance should be possible and cool. 

That is where the genius of Ben and the Slomo Glance comes in: this ensemble of steel, cogs, and hands is one of the easiest watches to read I’ve ever come across. Not only because Ben offset the Arabic numerals for the hours by placing them dead-center inside 12 pies which bisect the day into 12 distinct blocks, meaning that the “1” isn’t where it normally is, but when the hour hand enters its pie, or approaches it, my eyes instantly see what’s happening and my little brain quickly computes and understands that it is one o’clock and some minutes. But also because Ben designed the hour and minute hands so that (1) the former reaches out the edges of the numerals and the latter the minute markers on the chapter ring, and (2) they are partially hollowed out so that they never entirely cover the lines separating the pies (for the hour hand) or the Arabic numerals (for the minute hand.) In other words, it is easy to see the entire time at almost any time, as it is also when the hands are stacked vertically. 

Moreover, the running seconds are not displayed by way of a traditional hand but instead by the brand’s oblong shaped “O” logo printed on a rotating disc atop the pinion. While it is possible to set the time to more or less the precise second, that isn’t what we’re invited to do here. And that disc is also cleverly integrated within the branding as it makes up the “O” of “Slomo” which is printed on either side of the pinion. That is clever indeed and seamlessly integrated with the dial design so that it stays clear off the hour pies. We find the logo again engraved on the small crown (4.6mm in diameter) and on the clasp, there exaggerated and elongated to reinforce the idea that we need to sloooowwww down. This makes for the perfect segue to talk about the bracelet for which the brand had the center links shaped in the same fashion as the logo, which creates a seamless transition between it and the case. And so let’s talk about the case, shall we? 

Its two prominent visual features are the hollowed-out lugs and the case-sides grooves, both of which repeat the oblong shape found in the brand’s logo as well as the hour and minute hands design. The holes in the lugs endow the Slomo Glance with an air of science-fiction or of concept-watch design, which makes sense as this model is indeed a proposition to look at the concept of time from a different perspective. And on the production units the case-sides grooves will be rounded off to repeat the shape of the brand’s logo to create a fully coherent visual package, even though I would say it is already compelling as it is. Otherwise the case has a distinct modern and sportive appearance on account of its fully brushed treatment, the slab-sided case flanks, and the flat-bottomed lugs which nicely curve around the natural contour of the wrist. So the Slomo Glance is flat, elongated, which strengthens its unique appearance. 

The Heart of the Matter

When I read, re-read, and re-re-read what I’ve typed so far, and look at the Glance again, again, and again, I realize that this watch indeed is a lot of things all at once. On the one hand it is a fully spec’ed out everyday/sports/tool watch which can be worn anywhere to do about anything. No worries there. On the other hand, it both displays the time in a different manner—Arabic numerals in pies and semi-hollow hands—so that computing hour + minute = lightening fast operation, whilst inviting us to slow down to take in the moment (or to put the breaks on our fast-paced lives) because we need to take consciousness that we ought to spend our time wisely and that we waste too much of it doing things which are non essential. I know it sounds like I’m veering off topic a little here but understand this: we can, at the same time, slow down and meditate on the idea of time whilst seeing it go by on the clean analog display of a thoughtfully designed timepiece. 

One doesn’t preclude the latter from existing. So at the heart of the matter is this: the Slomo Glance is a unique horological creation in which Ben infused a duality in functionality, one which is engineered and built to fulfill its task wherever you go, whatever you do, however you do it, a quality which cannot easily be attributed to many watches which supposedly disrupt the industry and revolutionize the way in which a watch displays time. Because it is one thing to come up with a concept which doesn’t have any real-life application, and another to indeed come up with a concept which can serve a clear purpose in life. The Slomo is of the latter type. 

Conclusion

So if you enjoyed reading up about the Slomo Glance as much as I enjoyed telling you about it, you should know that it is currently being brought to life by way of a Kickstarter campaign through October 31, 2025. Prices start at $528 USD for the Early Adopter Price and go to $561 USD after that for the Kickstarter Price, with a full retail set at $675 USD. Estimated delivery, should the campaign be hopefully successful, is for May of 2026 so in time for your pre-summer adventure! Through the time I spent with the Glance I was reminded once again about the sheer inventiveness and bold creativity we can only find within the micro and independent world, and I hope that this project will come to life as what Ben created is something really neat and unusual, beautiful and masterfully thought out. 

Thanks for reading.