(1,925 words)

Introduction:

Though it was just past lunchtime on a weekday afternoon, watch designer Matt Smith-Johnson and I had trouble finding a place with a vacant table. It seemed as if the entirety of the east end of Toronto had taken it upon itself to enjoy the late autumn afternoon before winter’s arrival.

After finally settling down in a Starbucks, Mr. Smith-Johnson proudly handed over his latest project with Vero, and I was genuinely taken aback. Watches can impress on various fronts, but never before was I floored by the care and attention to detail of the typefaces and their relation to the watch’s other elements. Vero is known for carefully curating ingredients and bringing together mindful designs as they collaborate with like-minded brands.

Vero’s collaboration with apparel brand Realtree on the Tide Tracker is a case study in how to not only execute a product that carries the shared characteristics of the partners but also bring to market a timepiece that is truly timeless and a contender for one’s wrist for many decades to come.

 

 

The Experience:

From the first moment one holds the Tide Tracker, it becomes apparent that this watch carries an atmosphere that does not yield to its immediate surroundings. The bead-blasted case easily slides under a normal dress shirt’s cuff, as it easily greets one’s eyes with an unexpected warmth. This warmth is felt with both available colourways, and it is sourced from the streamlined vintage-inspired design, which is neither forced nor a copy of any model that preceded it. This is incredibly hard to do, and only a brand like Vero can pull it off.

The word that kept recurring in my mind as I wore this watch was “gentle.” Every surface transition is smoothened, and the mirroring of the hands with the Tide Tracker logo, a bespoke logo for this watch, instantly soothes the wearer. The smoothened surfaces are elevated by impeccable fit and finish, resulting in a watch that always feels substantial and highly intentional in its functional stance.

On the RealTree camo strap, the watch wears its sporting intentions on its, well, your sleeve. But when paired with one of the FKM straps or a leather strap, the watch transforms into an heirloom piece, which is welcome in any atmosphere. I would highly recommend buying the additional straps, as they instantly offer a different experience thanks to their quick-change mechanisms and perfectly matched tones.

 

The RealTree camo strap on this blue variant resembles the wake of an ocean or a very large body of water, further cementing the level of Zen which this watch provides. Over time, I came to miss wearing this strap and wished I had it on some of my other timepieces. The strap is quite stiff but very comfortable and promises to be durable enough for the outdoor activities this watch aspires to.

The two colours offer two distinct experiences. The Outpost Black has a very aware stance, similar to a cat whose pupils are fully dilated. The Compass Blue has a much calmer and relaxed disposition. I would have an incredibly hard time choosing between the two, but the Outpost Black, for some reason, really speaks to me on a very deep level.

During the watch’s tenure on my wrist, it did not see any shorelines or forests due to freezing rain conditions here in Ontario, Canada. It ventured into many meetings and never drew any negative attention. In fact, it blended into every outfit I wore, camo strap or not. This resulted in a watch that required no consideration before heading out the door, making it a perfect watch to be worn every single day.

The Outer Design Elements:

Like the one good friend who is always up for any plans you may suggest, the Tide Tracker’s overall design is amenable to almost any environment it may enter. The visually softened case flows perfectly into the bezel and then seamlessly onto the crystal, which benefits from an anti-reflective coating. Once in hand, you will agree that this detailed fitting of the crystal and the bezel makes this watch feel a fair degree more expensive than its asking price. It’s subtle, but it is there and appreciated every time I wear the watch.

One of the standout ingredients of the Tide Tracker is how beautifully knurled the signed screw-down crowns are. At three o’clock, you have the traditional crown in charge of the timekeeping with the Vero logo. The crown at two o’clock controls the inner bezel and is signed with the unique and beautiful Tide Tracker logo. We’ll explore the bezels and how to use them in the next section, but first, there are two additional touches that deserve to be highlighted.

First is the bead blasted case, which plays two roles. First, it sets forth the timepiece’s mission in being sporty and not immediately calling to one’s mind that they are wearing jewelry. The second task which the case successfully takes on is framing the beautiful and characterful dials.

The caseback has a screw in design with unique grip points for tooling, and a polished centre portion with the RealTree fishing logo. The raised polished section calls to mind vintage pieces which had precious metal coins set into their casebacks. Along with the details of the watch, the aforementioned Tide Tracker logo is present, along with the script denoting that the watch is a 14-Day Tide Tracker.

The Tide Tracking Bezel Bridging the Elements:

Using the tide tracking function of the watch could not be any easier. As a diver and photographer, I have come to dislike overly complicated bezels, which offered a hazardous guess at one’s decompression times or what exposure settings my analogue camera needed to be in.

To use the tide tracking feature, simply use a reference online to find when high tide is today, then set both the inner bezel’s “Day 1” and the Outer bezel’s “High Tide” marker for that time. That’s it. You then see when both high and low tide will be for the next two weeks. It’s really that simple.

Once you operate the bezels, you will be treated to two separate yet equally impressive tactile experiences. The 120-click outer bezel resonates with sharp, tooth-like precision as it turns clockwise. The bezel’s grip was effective even with wet gloves, and its clockwise travel mirrors that of the inner bezel.

The inner bezel is an absolute treat. Its unidirectional 240-click mechanism is so incredibly precise and buttery smooth that you will end up playing with it during your downtime. Audibly, it is even sharper than the outer bezel, and even at approximately 40% of its volume, your ears and fingers will equally enjoy operating this bezel. The polished ridges of both crowns play wonderfully in the light, giving the timepieces dual timing purposes centre stage

This feature is really useful for those who partake in marine activities on weekends, because if you are a professional at sea, you tend to have the tide times ingrained. From a professional diver’s perspective, this feature would come in handy when leading a dive group aboard a liveaboard in a foreign region, for instance. In my review of the Nodus Sector Deep, I wrote at length about how a dive bezel came in handy in such environments, but this Tide Tracker can also be useful if the professional diver is accustomed to using the stopwatch on his technical dive computer. Just like dive bezels, laypeople will claim this tide tracker is not useful, but having the tides available at a glance allows certain discussions and decisions to occur more organically, as one does not have to stop what they are doing to reference an outside source.

Inner Design Elements:

The typeface used on the Tide Tracker is one that has been designed by and used on several Veros to date, which makes this instantly recognizable as a watch from the brand. The numerals use a typeface named Decimal, and they complement Vero’s in-house font perfectly, which resulted in the word “masterpiece” resonating within my head as I first held the Tide Tracker in the autumn of last year.

This was what initially caught my attention and got me excited. As the hour and minute hands extend from their base at the centre of the dial, they slope upwards, closely yet discreetly reprising the Tide Tracker’s double wave logo. The hour hand is ever so slightly thicker than the minute hand, but it is dramatically cut off. It then yields to a beautiful needle point which extends outwards to the seconds track on the dial. The tip of the hour hand is in a slightly more vibrant shade of red than the indices, which even further aids legibility. The one design flourish that will go unnoticed by most is the circular counter of the seconds hand. This detail highlights the smooth motion of the hand as it travels across the dial, reflecting the curved Vero Watch Co logo; another vintage touch recalling the smile dials of watches like the Tudor Ranger.

The dial’s indices offer plenty of low-light legibility with the use of SuperLuminova, and their shapes will ensure that you never get confused about the time, regardless of the dial’s orientation versus that of your own. The outer seconds track then meets the inner bezel, which effortlessly slopes upwards to the AR-coated sapphire crystal.

Still, as I am writing this review, I cannot help but think that the typefaces and their execution on this watch need to be studied by future industrial and watch designers. All too often, the use of fonts is overlooked, or the final decision on them is handed over to someone who has no right to make a design decision. There is a rare uniformity here which has not ceased to make me pause and smile. Everything about this watch simply makes sense, and there are no missteps.

Closing Thoughts:

 

This collaboration between Vero and RealTree has resulted in a timepiece that is timeless and flawless. Its design is so incredibly well-executed that it resembles vintage watches from high-end luxury brands from a few decades ago. Those luxury tool watches all had a charm that cannot be quantified easily. But spending some time with the Tide Tracker made me realize that it was the seamless blending of every element that makes those watches so sought after.

The Tide Tracker’s 120m water resistance and use of the Seiko NH38A mean that this watch will never be caught off guard. Furthermore, with Vero’s industry-leading 10-year warranty, you will have a reliable companion to call upon as you leave the office behind on the weekends.

Successful collaborations in the watch industry are rare, as they often feel forced. In most cases, a brand will take an existing model and print a logo or a cartoon character on the dial. The issue here is that the original watch model had nothing in common with the brand’s collaborating partner, and that they can feel like a marketing exercise. Two recent collaborations from Timex between The New Yorker and Netflix’s Stranger Things stand out as overt yet successful partnerships.

This Tide Tracker feels like a purpose-built and bespoke watch because it is. I have only reviewed one other watch, which I deemed perfect: the Dietrich SD-1, which remains one of the most beautiful dive watches with a unique design. Its proportions, like the Dietrich, make it incredibly easy to wear for a wide range of wrists, and its versatility makes this an easy watch to recommend. The only real issue that remains is which colour to choose, and the reality is that there is no wrong decision here.

 

Specifications:

  • 120 metre water resistance
  • Dual Screw-Down Crowns
  • 120-click unidirectional bezel
  • 240-click inner rotating bezel
  • AR-coated flat sapphire crystal
  • 316L Stainless Steel case (bead blasted) and crowns (signed and polished)
  • Green Super Luminova on hands and dial markers
  • 20mm Textured strap
  • Case width: 39.5mm
  • Case height: 11.25mm
  • Lug to lug: 47mm
  • Lug distance: 20mm
  • Movement: Seiko NH38A
    • Regulated in-house
    • 41-hour power reserve
    • +/- 10 seconds per day
    • Hacking
  • 10-year warranty
  • $815 USD