While we spend a lot of time discussing watches’ specifications, value, design, legacy, and relevance, each topic being of interest to at least one person on our planet, sometimes it feels that we are missing the biggest picture: how these watches make us feel. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing utterly more complicated, nothing fundamentally simpler. Given the reality that timepieces are no longer necessary for our day-to-day living (at least it is the case in First and Developing countries,) why do we consume so much of our limited energy and waste so much of our precious time debating something that is objectively subjective and of no historical, biological, geopolitical or economical importance? Engaging in digital arguments on whether or not brand X copied brand Y and how Z house of horology should have charged less for W specification is absolutely bonkers as English-speaking folks from across the Channel would say. As the popular expression goes: keep calm and carry on with your personal exploration of horology. 

For we know that for the majority of microbrands we have studied on Mainspring—and me personally by reviewing watches for other online publications, and there are 242 of them at the time of typing these words—starting a brand and commercializing watches is a personal matter. There is no other reason than wanting to share one’s vision for horology to explain why there are so many micro houses of horology landing on the market on an almost daily basis. There are many of them, that’s a fact, however what sets this segment of the industry apart from the mainstream and luxury ones is the intimate nature, or element if you will, which drives the creation of small batches of new, unique, or refreshing timepieces. Understand this: the more personal it is, the more likely it is to make us feel something. So today we are going to study another very good example of this flavor of watchmaking by taking a first look at Trey Stone and its debut model, the Experience Palomino White, one of the five versions this collection comes in.  

Specifications 

In order to better understand the brand and model, we ought to first speak a little bit about the human behind it and its raison d’être. Trey Stone was founded in 2024 by one Marcus Attaway, a veteran of the oil and gas industry who took an early retirement after spending the last two decades of his professional life doing complex project management. He assembled the foundation of the brand two years ago but waited until this past August to present his horological project to the world by attending his first trade show, Minutes & Hours Los Angeles. He arrived at the show with a first mature collection of five very good everyday watches (doing a little bit of spoilering here), the Palomino White, the Monarch Black, Lepidus Silver, Cardinal Red, and Dart Frog Blue, each available on a stainless steel bracelet or one of two excellent options for Shell Cordovan leather straps. (A side kudos for giving each version of the Experience such cool names.) The Experience is Marcus’ materialized vision of the perfect everyday watch. 

With this first collection, Marcus intended to make available this particular style of timekeeping device we can wear regardless of the situation without having to think about it, visually versatile and technically comprehensive—as we will soon see—which seamlessly can melt into our lifestyles with natural ease. And there is a big nature-born element in the creation of Trey Stone and the Experience: Marcus is a biologist by trade and finds most of his inspiration in nature, which comes through the naming of the brand, of this collection, and of the color palettes he worked on. The brand name for example came to him from his favorite Jimy Hendrix song, Third Stone From the Sun, which tells the story of an outer space being cruising around the Sun wanting to explore Earth. The collection name stems from our state of being, of the human experience he himself had a great deal of. And the color of this particular iteration of the Experience principally refers to a genetic color in horses that come with a gold coat and white mane. 

Unsurprisingly, you just came to the conclusion once again that indeed, it is the personal and intimate aspect of microbrands that make them so darn interesting. So this is where Marcus began with Trey Stone and what led him to come up with the design of the Experience and to decide to go technically overboard with it so that it can be worn everyday and in most circumstances. As nature is, the Experience is resilient and it was spec’ed out to be so, starting with the case: it measures a contemporary 40mm in diameter, 47mm lug-to-lug, 10.6mm thick, and comes with a 20mm lug width. It is, by all standards, a well-proportioned timepiece which will be comfortable to wear on many wrists including yours truly of 6.50”/16.5cm. With the Brown Shell Cordovan leather strap, the Experience weighs a nice 69 which therefore indicates that it commands a noticeable wrist presence, which is a gentle heft to have given the 100 meters of water resistance made possible by way of a 6.2mm screw-down crown and sapphire screw-down case-back. 

The crown deserves a few more words: although it might look proportionally small compared to the case, it was sized this way to steer clear of your skin as it is intensely flushed to it, securely threaded (in ways I haven’t seen in a while,) fully polished, and easy to grip and operate thanks to excellent knurling. Speaking of good manufacturing, the top crystal is a thick piece of inner double-domed sapphire equipped with several layers of clear anti-reflective coating on the inside (my non-scientific fingernail-tapping method generates a deep “thud” noise I associate with thicker pieces of sapphire,) the hands and applied markers are filled with ample quantities of Golden Tan SuperLumuninova that glow orange, and the hands and markers themselves showcase a particularly refined finishing which I haven’t seen in this price range in a long while to be honest, as I always am. Lastly, you also get an Élaboré grade Sellita SW200-1b (4Hz/41 hours of power reserve) regulated in four positions to run at ± 7 seconds per day. 

Design 

Before we talk price however, there is a lot that needs to be said about the design of the Trey Stone Experience Palomino White which you ought to hear before mentally calculating how much the brand will be asking you for this model, for this collection is embedded with many great design features which are reinforced by impeccable finishing. Upon seeing a first image of this particular version of the Experience on Instagram, which is how I came across the brand, I saw in it the modern reinterpretation of certain vintage horological cues which made me feel things. Remember, beyond its specifications and actual aesthetics—which are, yes, important of course—this timekeeping device in this color scheme was digitally and impressively attractive to me and is even more so having it now on the wrist whilst weaving these words together. For this colorway, Marcus found inspiration in a rare Omega Ranchero that came with a white dial and golden tan accents. And Marcus had been dreaming of these particular swatches for a long time. 

Keeping in mind that his goal with this collection was to create a great everyday timepiece, Marcus laid out a superbly legible dial whose semi-modern, semi-vintage aesthetic makes me want to wear it all day today, tomorrow, and the following day, which surprised me a little since I’m generally more prone to wearing monochromatic military timepieces. But sporting the Trey Stone on the wrist, as it is also the case with many of the latter style of watches, I feel connected to it, the combination of its dimensions and design resonating with me in unexpected ways. And the magic comes from the classic sunburst silver-white dial which appears matte in most lighting conditions and viewing angles but which comes across as being subtly pearlescent otherwise, on which polished applied numerals emphasize the cardinal points, flanked by truncated applied, polished, and lumed triangular markers, full versions of which we find everywhere else. The triangle being a fundamental shape that is always clear and legible as well as timeless. 

To make the dial a complete exercise in design, Marcus matched the hour markers with a majestic set of lance-style hour and minute hands, fully polished and generously lume-filled, and a polished needle-shaped seconds hand, as well as golden tan hash-marks on the minute track. To match the dial in a symbiotic manner, Marcus shaped the case so that it would visually have a natural flow to it and sit flat on the wrist, making the simplest of shapes take on a more refined allure. For instance, the case flanks are slab-sided but made visually more swanky by way of a satin-like horizontal brushing, the sloping fixed bezel by way of a sunburst-like brushing and mirror-polished edges, the latter finish we also find climbing up from the rounded lugs by way of delicate chamfers. To endow the case with a perfect sense of symmetry, the edges of the case-back come with a polished finish sandwiching the mid-case, and the crown is decorated with the image of the Sun and the Roman numeral for three, referring to the Jimmy Hendrix song. 

The Heart of the Matter

Marcus infused a lot of meaning into Trey Stone and its debut collection, the Experience. Through its origin story, design, and specifications, you can see that he also wanted to create a good everyday timepiece we can wear in many circumstances as we’re having our own human experiences. And that is what makes everyday watches so darn interesting and still relevant in our obsolete world of horology: for if you do intend to wear a watch, might as well wear one that  can not only survive in today’s world, but more importantly, which is endowed with the power to make you feel things—happiness, hope, nostalgia, resilience, or whatever else its mechanical parts, hands, dial, case and strap evokes in your core. For you ought to remember that for many of us, as is the case with Marcus, we think hard about which watch we want to strap on when we wake up in the morning, as we put a lot of meaning in these machines. For me, the golden tan and silver white accents of the dial, combined with the brand name crisply printed above the pinion, bring back some of my fondest of memories, that of the Southwest of the United States—the calm of the desert, the ruggedness of the cacti, and the unimaginable depth of the canyons. See, the Experience made me feel things. 

Conclusion

But looking beyond our feelings, and the watch’s design and specifications, you do want to know whether or not the Trey Stone Experience Palomino White could financially make sense for you.  For it, whether you prefer leather or steel, you will have to remove $1,399 USD from your wallet to add it to your personal collection. And that is the price of all five versions of this collection, as you might remember: Monarch Black, Lepidus Silver, Cardinal Red, and Dart Frog Blue. And there are two last important pieces of information you should be made aware of regarding Trey Stone and the Experience: (1) all versions are available for immediate purchase and shipping; (2) Marcus, with the help of his wife, works with a multitude of international charities to which 10% of all proceeds are donated. These include UNICEF, the World Wildlife Fund, and Doctors Without Borders to name a few. Not a bad addition to this horological experience I must say. 

Thanks for reading.