Pre-Order Borealis Estoril 300m Automatic

I dont care about date or no date. Both would look good to me. As for the lume, cant you still use BGW9 and add a little pigment or dye to get that vintage look? Although, I'd actually prefer no vintage lume and just thick layers of BGW9 for some serious blue lume on there or even C3 for bright bright yellow/green lume. (would be cool to get tritium like the vintage watches but no one works with that anymore).

As for straps, any possibility for a clone of the old tropic straps and maybe a bond nato or if cheap enough a selection of natos
 

Borealis Watch Admin

Administrator
Staff member
Reason to use BGW9 instead of radium alike lume is that it will be difficult to match hands, dial and bezel as those are made by 3 different suppliers.

Therefore we have been strongly advised by factory to use BGW9. It will look well with this type of watch in my opinion and we are assured it will glow quite well as dial will have thick layers of lume.

Price to develop a new strap is in the region of $10 000 USD in terms of tool charges. It would make it unviable to offer a tropic strap.

We are working on a bond nato and discussing as well a premium mesh bracelet similar to the attached strapcode.

DC202001B001.jpg

Be aware the mesh will come as an upgrade option as price is quite high even at wholesale prices!

Not promised as working this with a different factory but we may offer as well a 20mm rubber strap isofrane alike something we are working in parallel.
 

Pakz

Patriarch WIS
Great!
A bond nato or even better an "admiralty grey" nato would be a perfect match for this watch and help keep price low enough.



 
bummer about no tropic style strap. But completely understandable. I didn't realize how much it costs to create a strap. I like the idea of an upgraded option for mesh (although I'll probably be passing on that option as I really think a thin rubber or nato style (1 or 2pc) strap would look great on this kinda watch.
 

jinikari01

Perfect Apprentice WIS
Im in. This will be my third Borealis this year alone. Lol

I would like mine w/o date but I would preferred if the dials were lumed.

Can the 12 o'clock triangle marker be scaled little smaller? Or the Borealis logo be scaled little smaller? It's a little too busy or the scales on both are too big in my eye... Graphically its little unbalanced.

Can't wait to preorder this watch.
 

Borealis Watch Admin

Administrator
Staff member
Im in. This will be my third Borealis this year alone. Lol

I would like mine w/o date but I would preferred if the dials were lumed.

Can the 12 o'clock triangle marker be scaled little smaller? Or the Borealis logo be scaled little smaller? It's a little too busy or the scales on both are too big in my eye... Graphically its little unbalanced.

Can't wait to preorder this watch.
The Estoril 300m pays tribute to the original Omega SM300 Seamaster Royal Navy back from 1968. That model also features a big triangle on dial and it will be great for all lume aficcionados.

If you look at the Omega it is considerably more cluttered than our version.

Images from the web.

10959_011-960x776.jpg
AWL-196.jpg
 

CHANT

WIS
Reason to use BGW9 instead of radium alike lume is that it will be difficult to match hands, dial and bezel as those are made by 3 different suppliers.

Therefore we have been strongly advised by factory to use BGW9. It will look well with this type of watch in my opinion and we are assured it will glow quite well as dial will have thick layers of lume.

Price to develop a new strap is in the region of $10 000 USD in terms of tool charges. It would make it unviable to offer a tropic strap.

We are working on a bond nato and discussing as well a premium mesh bracelet similar to the attached strapcode.

View attachment 469

Be aware the mesh will come as an upgrade option as price is quite high even at wholesale prices!

Not promised as working this with a different factory but we may offer as well a 20mm rubber strap isofrane alike something we are working in parallel.
Admin.,

It is interesting that the Strap Code mesh bracelet may be considered because just the other night I went into their web store and had my eyes on this very bracelet to go with my White/Plongeur SF. One good thing about this bracelet is that it does provide good fit for a wide range of wrist sizes. I for one would vote for this strap as an option although I would probably would wear the BE-300 with a NATO of sort. Actually, giving the customers an option to buy a set of three pre-selected NATO straps may not be a bad idea either! although, I could also see myself wearing the BE-300 with a vintage-looking thick leather strap over the winter months!

Also, I would vote for a no-date version (as an option) to achieve better symmetry and less cluttering of the dial. Understandingly, some folks may prefer to have date with all their watches.

So far, I do like the direction that the renderings are going and things are moving along at a good pace.

Thanks for providing forum members the opportunity to contribute to the development of the BE-300!

CHANT
 

Borealis Watch Admin

Administrator
Staff member
Leather may be an option but after the cold reception we have received with the strap on the Sea Dragon we are reassessing this.

The bracelet cost us over 17 EUR wholesale price and didn't seem to win many hearts.

As for the date option we are thinking it to be at 3 o'clock.
 
Maria,
Could we see a rendering with a date window? I'm a little dubious of what the date next to the number 3 would look like. Does it complicate the purchase of the movements if the date is somewhere other than 3? I would be fine with no numbers on the dial, but this may stray too far from the homage theme. Three or 6 are the best locations for the date, IMO, but numbers at those locations complicates things!
 

Borealis Watch Admin

Administrator
Staff member
Maria,
Could we see a rendering with a date window? I'm a little dubious of what the date next to the number 3 would look like. Does it complicate the purchase of the movements if the date is somewhere other than 3? I would be fine with no numbers on the dial, but this may stray too far from the homage theme. Three or 6 are the best locations for the date, IMO, but numbers at those locations complicates things!
Image from the web with the SM300 Royal Navy featuring date at 3. With a date window there is no 3 engraved in dial.

 
Maria,
Thanks! I'm OK with the date window at 3, although the size of the window is a little over powering, and dropping the 3 somewhat disturbs the symmetry of the dial,IMO. Still, if the original had it, there should be license to include it in the homage!
 

Doug

Master Apprentice WIS
I love this watch. This will be my first Borealis :)
But I'd like to stick to the original and not have the bezel insert numerals underscored. My $0.02.
 

CHANT

WIS
We should be able to post more renders Wednesday/Thursday. Factory is busy with HK fair.

This is the latest render.

I favour the layout and font size of the hour markers "3". "6" and "9" better for the rendering on the left hand side. In my opinion, it provides better symmetry and proportions all around.

Personally, I would not sacrifice the "3" hour marker to get the date window unless a "12" hour marker is added with a smaller inverted triangular index to go with it. But, this may screw up the vintage feel of the watch which may not be acceptable to a lot of forum members.

Will the black dial be matte, flat or glossy or is it yet to be determined? As I have not had the opportunity to handle any SM-300 before, I have absolutely no clue what the late '60s or early '70s SM-300 would have! It is kind of hard to tell from pictures on the Net.

The renderings are looking better and better all the time!. Thanks

CHANT
 
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