London-based brand PALMOS launches its debut watch, the ONE, later this year. It combines a clean, minimalist look with slim profile and beautiful dials. But not everything is as it seems…
But firstly, the question on your lips is probably ‘where does the brand name come from?’ Well, founder Thanos is Greek, and PALMOS is the Greek word for vibration, a nod to the beat rate of mechanical watch movements, often expressed as vibrations per hour (VPH). Thanos, a mechanical engineer by trade, has had a yearning to use his practical skills to indulge in one of his other passions, his love of horology. After years of planning and several rounds of design, the result is the ONE!
Overview of the PALMOS ONE
The PALMOS ONE is a simple time-only watch that comes in four dial colours, Jet Black, Olive Green, Steel Grey and Classic Blue, as reviewed here in prototype form. Full retail price is £764, but if you’re one of the first 200 people to place an order, you’ll get it for just £458.40, that’s a whopping 40% off. The next 300 pre-orders will receive a 30% discount (£534.80), and all other pre-orders 20% off (£611.20). The launch date is set for the end of November and you can pre-order either via Kickstarter or direct via the brand’s website (something that will undoubtedly please those fearful of Kickstarter).The warranty period is two years.
The PALMOS ONE cuts a striking figure, combining a modern aesthetic with nods to the 1970s/80s. Whilst certainly not a homage, the ONE also bears some resemblance to the Hublot Classic Fusion, which is no bad thing as the Classic Fusion is certainly one of Hublot’s best looking and most understated watches.
The Case and Wearing Experience
The PALMOS ONE is a very bold-looking watch thanks in most part to its thick-set bezel with incredibly wide polished chamfer. This clean, simplistic style blurs the line between ‘sports’ and ‘dressy’. The 316L stainless steel case has a 40mm diameter and a lug-to-lug measurement of 46.5mm. The overall case thickness, including sapphire glass is just 9.2mm. On paper then at least, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in terms of dimensions. However, the wearing experience comes as a bit of as surprise, because despite its impressively thin profile, the ONE has considerable wrist presence. This is due to the combination of a completely flat case (more on that later), wide stance, semi-integrated bracelet and end links that flare out. Plus, the effective lug-to-lug is more like 55mm (the maximum point at which the bracelet flares out to), thanks to the end links and bracelet having limited articulation. Of course it doesn’t wear like it has a 55mm wrist span, it feels more like 50/51mm. But, make no mistake about it, the ONE wears large for a 40mm watch and is best suited to medium to large wrists. The second surprising thing about this watch although it’s designed to look like an integrated bracelet watch, it’s not! The case has a standard 20mm lug width, something that frequent strap changers will be pleased to hear.
The case and bracelet have predominantly brushed finishes, but with polished sections to highlight details. On production watches, both the case and bracelet will benefit from an anti-scratch coating to an impressive hardness rating of HV1200, which will certainly help the watch stay box-fresh for longer. Working from front to back, the bezel has circular brushing to the top face, with a huge, polished chamfer and brushed vertical edge. Strangely, the bezel appears to be split horizontally, effectively comprising two halves. I don’t recall ever having seen this before and I’m not sure whether it’s a design choice or an engineering necessity. The mid-case is longitudinally brushed with very narrow polished chamfers top and bottom, that widen as they reach the ends of the faceted lugs. The screw-down caseback has circular brushing to the stainless steel outer, a wide polished inner chamfer and a scratch-resistant sapphire exhibition window to show the movement. The well-proportioned 6.5mm push-pull crown is signed, grippy and easy to operate. Water resistance is 50 metres, adequate for a slim watch of this type, but a little on the low side. It would have been nice to see 100 metres water resistance.
The bracelet tapers from 25mm down to 18mm at the clasp, and the ‘bar’ style single-link design suits the watch well, continuing the clean minimalist look. The bracelet is brushed with polished chamfers to the long edges of each link and narrower chamfers to the outside edges. A simple double fold-over deployment clasp ensures a seamless join and removable links are secured by push pins. My prototype watch didn’t have half-links, but thankfully PALMOS has confirmed it will include these for production models, so getting a good fit shouldn’t be difficult.
Two extra straps are included in the ‘leather-look’ presentation box, a black leather effect apple skin NATO style strap with polished pin buckle, and a colour-matched recycled PI nylon NATO with brushed pin buckle. Whilst it’s nice that these will be included at no extra cost and I admire the recycled and non-animal product, I find the strap choice a bit odd for this style of watch and would have preferred a more luxurious two-part leather strap made from top-grain leather or even a high quality FKM rubber. I was unable to photograph the watch with the additional straps as the spring bars fitted too closely to thread the straps though. Again though, this is something that PALMOS is already working on, and this won’t be an issue on the production watches.
My biggest gripe with the ONE is its semi-integrated bracelet, in particular the poor-fitting end links. The gap between the case and the end links of the bracelet is substantial, which also causes the angles and facets of the end links to be misaligned with those on the lugs. Whilst I’m surprised that this wasn’t sorted or at least minimised before the final prototypes, PALMOS has confirmed that the end links will be completely re-engineered for production watches, so this should not be an issue. However, I can’t help wondering if the watch would look more elegant with a fully integrated bracelet and downturned lugs to help the watch hug the wrist more. I feel that minor changes to the case geometry and engineering could really take this watch up a tier.It’s also worth bearing in mind the bracelet is not particularly fluid. There is no flex when going against the shape of the wrist, and limited flex when going with the wrist. It does conform to your wrist but feels slightly stiff. It’s not really a criticism, more an observation and it depends on how you like your bracelets to feel. However, to me personally, more fluidity gives me the perception of higher quality and better comfort.
The Dial
The sunburst blue dial is absolutely gorgeous, and the other colour choices I’m sure will look equally great. It’s a lovely shade of blue with a very fine, almost silk-like sunray finish. A finely brushed colour-matched rehaut angles down to meet the dial and is a nice touch. The dial layout is refreshingly simple and a lesson in restraint, comprising only applied hour markers, the handset, brand name and ‘Swiss Made’. There is no date window, no seconds markers, no lume and no unnecessary dial text! This is a deliberate move from Thanos to create a modern watch, with clean and uncluttered lines.
Small steel rectangular applied markers are found at 3, 6, 9 and 12, with the remaining hour markers being small circles. Each marker is coarsely brushed to the top surface which provides great contrast against the high-polish chamfered edges. The bespoke skeletonised hour and minute hands are polished with a crease down the middle to bring added definition and light play. The seconds hand is a simple stick, with an oval shaped counter-balance.
Legibility on the PALMOS ONE is excellent. The dial furniture contrasts well against the dial and the five layers of AR coating do a great job to keep clarity. Dial finishing is excellent as is the hands and indices. I couldn’t find fault here anywhere. I’m not a fan of the embossed silver logo though and would have preferred either simple printing or a fully applied and machined logo with more depth. However, this is very much a subjective thing.
Movement
The ONE is fitted with a Soprod M100 Swiss automatic movement, viewable through the exhibition case back. Soprod is part of the Festina group and the M100 bears a close resemblance to the Sellita SW300 or ETA 2892 equivalents but is even slimmer, meaning of course that the watch itself can be slim, a key consideration for PALMOS when designing the ONE.
The M100 is also a premium grade movement, so it’s decorated to a high degree with details including blued screws, tri-mounted rotor, perlage, bevelling, and Côtes de Genèvestriping on the rotor. It beats away at 28,800 vph/4Hz, has Incabloc shock protection, a bi-directional rotor, 25 jewels and a 42-hour power reserve. It’s also regulated to five positions giving a quoted accuracy of between +/-0 to +/-8 seconds per day. Yes, the power reserve is lacking behind some other movements, but it’s respectable enough and comparable to other popular Swiss movements that haven’t been tweaked for Swatch Group owned brands. The movement is a great choice as it helps keep the price reasonable, whilst being expensive enough to help PALMOS meet the stringent ‘value’ criteria for allowing the use of ‘Swiss Made’ on the dial.
Final Thoughts
Very few watch microbrands tick all the boxes with their debut watch; most are on a journey, and I think this is the case for PALMOS. Their debut watch is a flag in the sand from which to build. The ONE is a distinctive and attractive watch that’s combines modernity, a slim profile and lots of wrist presence, helping it successfully straddle both dress watch and sports watch categories. The dial is gorgeous, the movement is a great choice and the hardness coating, although becoming more common place, is always welcome and most definitely a selling point. Whilst not without its shortcomings, at the launch price, the ONE is good value for money for a Swiss-made watch with a Swiss automatic movement. My biggest negatives relate to the bracelet, but provided PALMOS perfects the planned revisions, most of these will have been addressed for the production watches. Production models will also have wider polished chamfers, which will certainly add to the visual appeal. Therefore, whether this watch is right for you will probably be a question of style and sizing. If you connect with the aesthetic and have larger wrists (or just like slim watches with lots of presence), it could make for a great option.
