A community for watch & horology discussion.
The Freak - was really cool to look at in real life. When it comes to how it felt, not sure what to think. It is titanium with a rubber strap and a very cheap feeling clasp, resulting in a toy-like feel (very light and rubbery). The clasp kept opening by mistake and did not feel robust.
Guess it is part of the experience, this watch does not feel as any other £22k watch that I have tried. It was comfortable though and it did feel like a real enthusiast playground, unique and fun.
It's over complication for the sake of over complication. If they made a car it would be a gas-steam hybrid.
Every watch above $100 is an over complication.... Just for the looks. And this one had top tier looks and originality.
I've never been a fan of titanium watches specifically because lightweight metals feel insubstantial and "cheap" to me, plus it doesn't seem to age gracefully, at least not from titanium items I've worked with. I honestly don't understand the watch industry's love for the material. Sure, its yield strength is on par with steel, but its density only about 60% of steel, which is nice if I'm designing a rocket or a missile. But I'm not trying to put my watch into orbit, so that's not really that important to me. Instead, I'm more worried about dents and dings, and that's where the inferior Rockwell hardness of titanium when compared to most stainless steels becomes a negative. Add to this the psychological perception of lighter objects as less substantial, whether that's true or not, and I've just never liked titanium watches. I don't even like the usual darker grey color.
So, it's got some cool engineering properties, even beyond the strength to weight ratio, such as it being a good CTE match for some ceramics. So, if I need a strong, but light, metal insert to braze to an alumina component, that needs to not induce excess strain on the ceramic even though temperature ranges from -100 to 200 C, I might propose titanium for that component, but that doesn't mean I want a watch made out of it.
Allergies, titanium is very non reactive, some people do react with stainless but not titanium.
The forged carbon ones are really nice and very light on the wrist.
Looks like shit imo
The original Freaks that’s much more expensive are pretty cool with the movement mounted on the hour hand. I remember when these Freak-“lights” came out. Made special trip to store in NYC on Black Friday to see it. Boutique didn’t have it-that was around the corner from a PHENOMENAL hotel breakfast so we went to Wempe I think to see it. Was disappointed when I saw it in person because I really wanted it but it didn’t seem “right” or worth the price. But it’s still a pretty cool piece. I know that’s somewhat contradictory. Carry on ….