Hands-On: Head to Head With Two Vintage-Inspired Watches From Brew

I love a good “high/low.” Man, do I love it. Jeans, a t-shirt and a gold chronograph (or if I can be greedy, something complicated like a Patek 5004J) and I’m in heaven. Not that I’ll ever own a 5004, but a man can dream.

Another one on the list is the Rolex ref. 6263 Daytona in yellow gold. Or a gold ref. 6239. Or let’s be honest – one of the top five watches on my list of all-time grails – the ref. 6264 “John Player Special.” Really, it’s hard to beat a gold chronograph with a black gilt dial.

(PVD-coated) case-in-point: the Brew Metric in a PVD gold-coated 316L stainless-steel case with a black dial and hybrid mechaquartz movement. Sure, it’s not real 18k gold, but at $475, for the last week or so, it’s certainly scratched the itch for me, and I’ve been able to ball out on a budget. It also does the homage thing the right way, hinting at the design qualities you love but still with its own unique character. 

I’ve seen Brew watches around for a long time, a benefit in part to living in New York, where Brew is based, and seeing founder Jonathan Ferrer (a fixture on the watch enthusiast scene) there. One of the big things that the brand has going for it – aside from the accessible price – is the cohesive and distinctive design language that makes Brew unmistakable in a sea of watches that often drift toward a similar aesthetic. That’s the case even when it draws from outside inspiration.

Brew’s initial Retrographs were purpose-built tools – espresso shot timers – as James covered in his One to Watch on the brand. The Metric (which James followed up with a Hands-On) comes closest to the vintage Omega “Jedi” chronograph of the 1970s, but with a seamless case and bracelet design, it also has a vintage Zenith El Primero “TV Case” design with a round dial. The case has a nice balance at 36mm wide by 41.5mm long and 10.75mm thick. While theoretically “smaller” from side to side, it’s needed because the bracelet and case shape would be too dominating on the wrist otherwise. 

Inside is a Seiko Instruments (SII) caliber VK64A mechaquartz movement, with a mechanical chronograph module for a smooth sweep and quartz movement powering the watch as a whole.

Like I said, it’s a hard-to-beat watch for the price, especially if you’re looking for the vintage gold chronograph vibe but are priced out of the real thing. Or is it hard to beat?

A new challenger approaches.

My black-coated watch predilection is well-documented, and I won’t apologize for it. However, the granddaddy of them all was the Orfina-built Porsche Design Chronograph 1. I’ve looked at buying one of those original watches a number of times over the year as I daydream about building a vintage “coated watch” collection. Prices are much more approachable than any Rolex Daytona – let alone a vintage gold Daytona – but for the last few years, I’ve been saving for a big purchase and never picked one up. Yet the love of the black-coated and bulky steel case, aged yellow lume, and striking orange chronograph hand persists.

So here I am, faced with a problem because Brew has done a great job with its Metric in black PVD, giving the same thoughtful touch of homage design. If imitation – not copying – is the sincerest form of flattery, Porsche Design should be blushing. The watch will not cannibalize the market for the new Porsche Design Chronograph 1 with all its bells and whistles, but plenty of people out there can’t afford either the new or vintage PD watch but still love the same qualities that I do. 

It’s a conundrum for sure, having to pick between the two. In fairness, all five of the Brew Metric designs look solid, but this time we’re going head-to-head, and I’m going to pick a favorite. And to be honest, even as I write this sentence, I don’t know which will win.

So putting aside how great one watch looks as a standalone like below, let’s tackle some of the details and see if I – one of the most analysis paralysis-stricken people on the planet – can choose a winner.

Let’s start with the dial, the thing I’ll look at most. With the Metric in Black PVD, you get a deep matte black dial with stark white lettering that really pops and feels similar to the Porsche Design Chronograph 1 font. The orange running seconds and totalizer match the iconic orange chronograph hand that served as inspiration (not all original variants had those hands on the subdials, but that’s being nit-picky). The lume on the hands and at the hour markers is also a nice creamy hue like you’d find on vintage watches.

On the black dial you get the same font which fits the overall design of the Metric but doesn’t necessarily fit a vintage Daytona-inspired watch. It could be a good or a bad thing in this case – I give Brew points for codifying their own design language – but looking at it after seeing the black Metric makes me think of how well that watch accomplishes that nod to an icon. The dial is less cluttered-feeling here, however, being two-tone black and gold. I’d be curious if the outside track could have been done in gold or champagne to give me a “John Player Special” vibe. Maybe it would be too cramped. Either way, I’ve got a winner. Point for black.

The bracelets on both are great. The design remains the same, and Brew even includes a tool and instructions on how to push out the pins to remove some links easily, a nice feature for an affordable watch that might be bought by people new to the watch community. It’s also helpful because I always misplace my tools. Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble with my arm hair getting caught in the bracelets, but I chalk that up to genetics – it happens with other watches too. Both bracelets are brushed and PVD coated, as I’ve mentioned a dozen times, but it comes down to tone here. 

The Black PVD shows fingerprints more easily and while my heart loves a good black watch, the brushed bracelet of the gold model really catches the light in a fun way. Yes, it’s not real gold, but I’m not going to let that ruin a good thing. Point for gold and we’re tied up.

When it comes to wearability, it’s really just a choice of “vibe” more than anything. Both watches, in theory, wear identically. The case is the same. The movement is the same. The dial layout is the same. So it feels like a question of confidence and swagger. Do I have it?

I have one other full gold-toned (not gold) watch in my collection, a Casio world time, and while I loved it once upon a time, I didn’t wear it much after a few weeks of owning it. Not a big loss at $50 or so, but here my theoretical love of a loud gold watch gets put to the test. I want to believe I’d wear a gold Royal Oak every day, with the strong “flex” of the bracelet and case as a hunk of metal on my wrist. But wearing these watches, I’m not so sure. Regrettably, it’s a point for black.

There are a bunch of other little details across the watches worth considering. Each dial has a little relief logo at 3:00 that is subtle but I like it better on the two-tone dial of the Gold Metric. The silver sandblasted pushers and crown on the Black Metric increase visual contrast in a fun way. Both watches have a combination of brushed and polished surfaces, but the Gold Metric catches the light better because of the gold coating and really shines (as do the indices on the dial). Meanwhile, the black coating also picks up a little bit of the environment and shines some color back, but in a way that still looks tough and mean. 

But with the overall base of the watch being the same, I can’t really pick a winner between the two based on the details. I’m calling this a tie, leaving the Black Metric in the lead.

I’m struggling to find another metric – no pun intended – to use to pick these watches apart. I’m looking at the picture of the gold watch below and it just looks so fantastic, I want to give it another chance to come back and tie this head-to-head up. I’ve even been seeing Brew’s founder wearing one of these watches on Instagram a lot lately and I can’t say much except nice things about the watch and how it looks on him. I’m sure plenty of readers will be able to rock it.

But working through this story, holding the watches in my hands and looking at photos, I think I’ve known my winner for a while.

I have to hand it to Brew for making two great watches that really put my analysis paralysis through its paces, but I think the folks that know me wouldn’t be shocked to see me reaching for the Metric in Black PVD if it was in my watch box. But here’s the thing, at $475, it’s not exactly out of reach for me to own one of each someday, and maybe with time, I’ll warm up to having the confidence for a mean, bold, gold (or gold-toned) watch. That way, if the day ever comes when I can pick up one of my “grails,” I’ll have trained myself to be ready with swagger.

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For more information on Brew Watches Co. visit their website.

​Hodinkee 

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