Seeing a chronograph on a rally strap makes me think of Steve McQueen. Not because I knew the guy or because I have a huge interest in chronographs, but because a majority of watch journalists and content creators often reference McQueen when talking about chronographs. There are photos of him sporting cool looking triple register mechanical machines on his wrist whilst strolling alongside the paddock at Le Mans or who knows where. Guess what? There was only one Steve McQueen and so who are you? Who am I? We are a couple of regular folks who are hugely passionate about horology and who like to wear watches which make us feel special and look different. What amuses me with McQueen wannabes is the fact that they spend thousands of dollars on a watch that looks like his. But I’m here to tell you don’t have to dish out that much money to look cool. 

And yet again I will say this: thank the heavens for micro and independent brands! Thanks to them we can sport all types of watches that we like without having to cancel the next summer vacation. And we can do so now knowing that such brands have come a long way in terms of quality and reliability. (Read: you get a lot of watch for your money.) Let’s take the Tool Watch Co. as an example. The brand specializes in making bespoke utilitarian timekeeping devices at attainable price points, from divers and field watches to now mecaquartz chronographs. The Rally will be on the chopping block today and I will happily dissect it for you. Retailing for $395, you get a watch, two straps, one strap removing tool, good specs, a novel design, and average dimensions made to please male and female collectors alike. 

What’s not to like, right? 

Specifications

Although the brand advertises the Rally as being sized as a unisex mecaquartz watch, objectively speaking there are no “male” and “female” dimensions. There are “dimensions” which can be “large” and “medium” and “small” depending on who you are and what you like. I’m a male man who typically orbits towards 32-36mm diameter watches, whilst the fabulous Sophie Cassaro a.k.a. @sophies.watch.world naturally sports 40mm divers. With that said, let’s talk about dimensions as they will tell a small part of the story of this model: 38mm in diameter, 46.4mm lug-to-lug, 12.3mm thick, and coming with a 20mm lug width. Do these dimensions appear good for your wrist? You’ll be the judge. For me they are good given my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist and the inherent mechanics we find within a mecaquartz chronograph. 12.3mm is objectively thin for such a caliber in my very humble opinion. 

Inside the Rally Chronograph we find the now ubiquitous Seiko VK64 caliber which comes with a 24-hour indicator and a 60-minute totalizer. The VK64 has a stated battery life of 3 years and accuracy of +/- 20 seconds per month which is cool. “Meca” means the chronograph functionality is actuated by wheels and cogs as you will find on classic mechanical chronographs. In other words, and what is perhaps the most fascinating to experience at this price point, is the distinct and satisfying “click” you hear and feel when operating the pusher at the 2 o’clock (to start and stop the chronograph) and at the 4 (to reset it.) What is not cool with the VK64 is the fact that the chronograph stops tallying the minutes once it reaches 60. In other words you cannot time an event that lasts more than 60 minutes. But that’s just a whispered moan. 

The main crown measures 7mm in diameter and is of the screw-down variety, so is the case-back, but because the chronograph pushers aren’t we only get 30 meters of water resistance. But frankly, how often would you time something underwater? Exactly my point. The case is made of 316L stainless steel but the fixed bezel is made of PVD for extra resistance to scratches and tarnishing. The crystal is a piece of double-domed K1 which sits between mineral and sapphire in terms of shock and scratch resistance. K1 is therefore solid, clear, and affordable. In terms of lume we find plenty of it on the hour and minute hands as well as the printed hour markers. The Rally Chrono is shipped with two quality leather straps, one of them of the Rally style with the big holes to allow your skin to breathe while racing your Porsche Carrera GT4 on the track.

Or your Kia Picanto on the beltway. 

Design

I’ve looked at one other model from Tool Watch Co. before, the Arctic Field, although I didn’t review it for Mainspring. What I immediately fell in love with was the novelty of its design which I also find to be true with the Rally Chronograph. On the one hand, both models utilize classic design codes for these types of watches which is why the Rally has two sub-registers, a tachymeter scale, and large hands. On the other hand, not much about its design resembles something else I’ve seen before. The handset is unique to the brand and can be seen on all of its models, and I like how bold it looks: a stubby hour hand and arrow-shaped minute hand with black surrounds, showcasing large applications of lume. While the design of the seconds hand is unique to each model: a fishing spear for the diver, a hunting spear for the field, and a checkered-flag seconds hand for the chronograph. 

I also see a Space Invader on the second hand. Do you? 

What is also different is the juxtaposition of the large hands with small hour markers and the fact that the latter come in different shapes. Oblong ones at the 3, 6, and 9 positions (the ones near the sub-registers are truncated) with black surrounds like the hands, an inverted triangle at the 12 which is also complemented by a black surround, while the other markers are borderless circular plots of lume. All hour markers tend to slightly disappear within the black and printed fully-graduated minute track (it’s a chronograph after all) leaving a lot of space for the sub-registers and the text. So what is different is the mixing and matching of shapes which strongly contrast with one another. Moreover, on the version I got to play with, the scales and markers of the sub-registers are printed directly on the dial which airs out the latter. (The additional two colorways do not have this effect.) 

As I often find it to be true with tool watches, the case comes with a simple design to support the intended functionality of the watch and the slightly larger-than-usual amount of information one needs to read from the dial. The case of the Tool Watch Co. Rally has an all-brushed finish and has no chamfers, meaning the sides cut straight down, the lugs are short and perfectly angular, giving a subtle brutalist aesthetic to the watch. (Something I thoroughly appreciate.) The chronograph pushers are also fully brushed, so is the crown, and the latter comes with deep knurling which makes it both easy to operate and visually striking. (It is the perfect 7mm representation of a mechanical movement’s wheel.) 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that the Tool Watch Co. created a unique-looking, affordable, and well-spec’ed chronograph that stands out and which will fit the wrists of many male and female watch collectors, indeed. That is, of course, if you find the Rally Chronograph visually pleasing. I know I’m rambling and that I often use the same phrasing in my “The Heart of the Matter” section when telling you about cool watches which won’t break the bank, and that is because I haven’t yet found a better way to summarize what makes these watches worth your while. By design, I want to tell you about solid options for all sorts of watches created by micro and independent brands, and this means, more often than not, watches which sit below or slightly above the $1,000 price point. The Rally Chronograph will set you back $395. 

This sum of money is arguably a reasonable one to depart with for a watch that is well built and which comes with a singular design. While up until two years ago—a period which started pre-COVID and lasted through the end of 2022—the trend was to make good divers, the current trend it seems, at least from my personal point of view, is that of affordable mecaquartz chronographs. Perhaps this renewed interest for such watches was fueled by the release of the MoonSwatch two years ago, meaning that micro and independent brands felt inspired—or compelled to—desing chronographs and to sell them at about the same price point as the Omega x Swatch creature. Or perhaps their motivation was to offer a higher value product. 

Regardless of what is what, we watch nerds gain from it as we now have a few options for affordable chronographs in addition to the Tool Watch Co. Rally Chrono. (This one and that one for example.) 

Conclusion 

The Rally Chronograph comes in three color variants—“Blue on Silver,” “Yellow on Black,” and “Red on Silver.” (not inspired much?)—and though they each come with the same dial layout and case design, the difference in colors makes each one of them look a bit different. The one I reviewed gives off brutalist vibes whilst the “Yellow on Black” says “I’m a stealthy SOB” and the “Red on Silver” is the most racing-looking one of the three. Of course all versions come with the same awesome specs and straps and all retail for the same meager price of $395. So click here to discover the full range of what the Tool Watch Co. has to offer. 

Thanks for reading.