The Aussie hitmakers are back with a follow-up to the Sattelberg. And handling it, it’s difficult to believe that Second Hour founders Peter and Akira have only been making watches for five years!
The Sattelberg MK2 Collection Overview
The Sattelberg MK2 is Second Hour’s modern take on a field watch, built to honour those who served and endured the Sattelberg campaign of New Guinea during WWII.
Priced competitively at £436 (€522 EUR / $552 USD /$850 AUD) you can choose from three colours; Copper, Blue or Black as reviewed here. The MK2 has a two-year warranty, comes in a zip-up travel case (with screwdriver for removing links) and offers some worthy upgrades over the MK1 for only a small price increase. On paper at least then, it sounds like it’s got a lot going for it. But what’s it like living with the watch for a week or two? And why do I now dread a knock at the door to find the postman handing me a parcel from Second Hour?
The Case and Wearing Experience
Much in the same vein as Christopher Ward, Second Hour have become experts in crafting a splendid case for a reasonable budget. The 316L stainless steel case has a diameter of 40mm, is 10.5mm thick and has a comfortable lug-to-lug of 47mm. But these crowd-pleasing measurements only tell half the story, as the way the Sattelberg wears owes as as much to way the case is shaped and how it’s finished as it does to the dimensions. I reviewed the Gin Clear earlier in the year, so I knew to expect very high standards of finishing, refinement and comfort, and I wasn’t disappointed. You can tell before you even put it on that it’s going to be one of those watches that just sits right and feels right on your wrist… watch geeks will know what I mean, I’m sure! It’s like putting on your favourite pair of well-worn jeans that have moulded over time to your contours.
The Sattelberg is solid feeling and comprises a perfectly executed mix of polished and brushed elements. The case, bracelet and clasp are also surface hardened to 1200 vickers, so it’s not a watch that will need to be pampered. It will stand up to rigorous daily wear and still look great.
Working from dial side to rear, the three-part case has a satin-brushed bezel with polished sides and a flat sapphire crystal with six layers of inner anti-reflective coating that rises slightly above the bezel. The predominantly satin-brushed mid-case has a gloriously slim and curved profile, with generous high-polished continuous chamfers that extend the entire length of the case on both sides without interruption. The lugs are slender and curve down considerably to beyond the caseback, adding to the comfort.
On the reverse is a stainless steel screw-down, circularly-brushed, closed caseback which forgoes the usual specification highlights in favour of etched text giving the longitude and latitude coordinates for Sattelberg, a village on the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. At 896 metres above sea level, Sattelberg was a pivotal campaign in the Second World War in which Australian troops played a critical role, helping to turn the tide in the Pacific theatre. A lovely commemoration.
The perfectly proportioned 6mm knurled, screw-down crown is grippy and operates with confidence. A sturdy pendant tube protects the stem and there is little to no play in the stem. The crown face features a polished Second Hour logo set in relief against sandblasting. Water resistance is 100m.
The bracelet is a seven-link design and is aesthetically similar to that found on the Gin Clear, with alternating brushed and polished sections. All removable links are secured by single-sided screws (the best and least fiddly in my humble opinion) and the brushed outer links have polished chamfers to match the watch case. The lug width is 20mm, but the bracelet tapers down to 18mm to meet the twin-trigger single fold-over clasp, which has polished bevels to its sides. The second hour logo is engraved onto the top section of the clasp. There is plenty of on-the-fly adjustment, and the bracelet is also quick-release so it’s easy to swap the bracelet out for a strap of your choice. The bracelet is as good as any you’ll find on a watch at this price. However, it’s let down slightly by the very small push-levers of the quick-release spring bars. It’s difficult to keep pressure on them long enough to fit the watch head and I found it required several attempts and a couple of broken nails to refit the bracelet. On the flip-side, Second Hour’s on-the-fly adjustment system inspires confidence and has precise and secure clicks, locking in place and staying put.
The Movement
The Sattelberg MK2 is fitted with the Miyota 9015 movement, a premium Japanese automatic movement from Citizen. It’s nothing exceptional in the grand scheme of things, but is probably my favourite of the affordable movement options and can’t be bettered for the price. It’s extremely reliable, well put-together and reasonably accurate (within -10/+30 seconds per day). It has a 42-hour power reserve, it’s hackable allowing you to set the time precisely and you can hand wind the movement. The beat rate is 28,800bph/4Hz so the seconds-hand sweep is smooth.
The Dial
The Sattelberg’s dial is uncluttered, legible and balanced in its design. Although not marketed as such, I’d describe it as a sector dial. There is a white curved and angled chapter ring at the outer, with a minute/seconds track printed in black and comprising bold hash markers at every five and smaller hash marks in-between. The markers at 12, 4 and 8 are coloured red to distinguish them from the other markers, something that has become part of Second Hour’s design language. Inwards of that we have the dark matt-grey hour sector with applied Arabic numerals all-round, made out of pure white BGW9 Super Lumi-Nova blocks. The centre of the dial gives way to a subtle sunray-brushed dial that has a mix of black and blueish-purple tones. The sunburst section adds an extra kick of dynamism and light play into the mix and contrasts nicely against the matt finishes elsewhere on the dial.
The polished steel custom-handset is cool, with a blocky paddle-shaped hour hand and a generously wide lancet style minute hand, both carried over from the previous Sattelberg. They are bevelled down the centre and have strips of BGW9 Super Lumi-Nova at their tips. The needle seconds hand has a red arrow tip, again filled with BGW9 and a rounded-rectangle counter-balance. Printed below the pinion is the only text on the dial. ‘Sattelberg’ is printed in red and ‘Automatic’ in white. ‘Sattelberg’ is hard to read against the black/purple background, but does it really matter?! Probably not. The only other thing on the dial is the Second Hour logo printed in white, pride of place at 12 o’clock.
To my eyes, the dial design is a definite improvement over the previous version. The ‘sector’ design really works, with each ‘sector’ contrasting nicely against the others. I also prefer the full suite of Arabic hour markers over the Arabic and triangle mix from before, and the angled rehaut adds some extra depth. All of the hands are the perfect length, just glancing over their respective tracks and the execution of everything is bang on, as we’ve come to expect from Second Hour. Also, lume lovers will love it when the sun goes down as the lume is suitably powerful. My only criticism is the tiny date window, a particular bug-bear of mine. I love the positioning at six o’clock for symmetry, but would prefer it was just left out altogether, or that a non-date version was offered as an alternative.
Final Thoughts on the Second Hour Sattelberg MK2
The Sattelberg is described by Second Hour as a modern field watch, but I think I’d describe it more as Go Anywhere Do Anything (GADA) watch. Yes, it shares some visual characteristics of a field watch and does everything a field watch does (and does it well), but it does so much more. It’s a chuck-it-on with jeans and t-shirt watch, a evening-out watch, a beach watch and everything in-between. It’s incredibly versatile. The 100m water resistance rating, 1200HV hardness coating and tough crystal makes it durable and ready for action, whilst the refined case, bracelet and proportions give it a dressier edge. The sector dial design is a nice twist on the field watch aesthetic, whilst the anti-reflective sapphire and awesome lume-block indices bring clarity and visual interest.
Regardless of how you choose to categorise the watch, there is no doubt that it bears the hallmarks of Second Hour, namely, quality and great design. It offers incredible value for money and numerous improvements over the MK1. The only thing I liked more on the MK1 was the crosshairs (I do love me some crosshairs!). However, it’s a design feature that wouldn’t have worked on the new watches, so that’s fine. All other changes bring more refinements to the case and more interest to the dial, without compromising the clean, legible design.
I’ve become nervous at getting Second Hour watches in for review, as I know that I’m going to have to rummage around for the proverbial needle in a haystack to find something to complain about. And let me tell you, that is very frustrating for a reviewer! But, by the same hand, I’m not going to make things up just for the sake of it. The only major negative relates to the bracelet, or more specifically the quick-release spring bars. The pins are too small and whilst detaching it isn’t difficult, it becomes quite a frustrating task to refit it again. I’d recommend setting aside a decent amount of time and be prepared to lose a couple of nails in the process! My other negatives are entirely subjective. I’d love to see a no-date version offered and maybe some more colour options down the line. An exhibition case back would be nice (although obviously there would need to be space around the permitter for the commemorative etching), and I’d would love for the travel case to be made out of real leather. Finally, just be aware that, like most microbrands, Second Hour makes its watches in batches to match demand. They’ve just restocked, so I’d get in quick if you don’t want to wait for your watch. Other than clutching at these straws, it just all boils down to whether you connect with the design. If you do, then you won’t be disappointed in your purchase. You can save yourself 10% if you sign up for their newsletter, which then brings the price down to less than £400, which is no money at all for this watch!
Second Hour has earned its rightful place amongst the best mid-priced microbrands and the latest Sattelberg certainly does nothing to upset that apple cart! Yes, there are cheaper field watches out there from other microbrands, but the Sattelberg MK2 offers extremely high levels of finishing worthy of a higher price point. I doubt anything could match it for the price (drop a comment below if you have a suggestion for a watch that could). Heritage aside, the Second Hour Sattelberg MK2 can even go toe-to-toe against mainstream Swiss brands such as Hamilton, but for roughly half the price. And that my friends is why Second Hour is a brand that’s here to stay!
