When I think of Timex my mind immediately goes to great digital sport watches, retro Q designs, and a rich history upon which those designs are based. As fond as I am of the brand, I’ve never really viewed them as a great purveyor of premium products. That all began to shift with the introduction of the Giorgio Galli designed S1 in 2019, and its subsequent evolution into a fully fledged collection. It’s clear there are serious ambitions with this design language, and with the introduction of the Timex Atelier brand, it’s set to flourish. The first two watches of this collection represent a modern sport watch vision in the form of the GMT24 M1a and Marine M1a diver.
A big part of what made the original S1 so compelling was the unique case design, and that’s something that Timex has further refined in recent years. This generally involves a titanium frame and a forged carbon midcase. A view from the side reveals a hollow section, and just how these individual elements come together. Yes, it’s ergonomic, but it’s also aesthetically engaging in a way not many other watches are (at any price point). It’s a novel design in an area we often take for granted, and the rest of the design is handled with a deft hand, presenting Timex in a light not often seen.
The Atelier collection builds on these themes, and uses them in more concrete genre styles than we’ve seen the S1 and S2 designs occupy. From the top down, these watches have a familiar shape, but at an angle, you’ll notice their hollow framework. There are other unexpected sculptural details happening in the dial, but while we’re on the case, we find a very distinct crown guard design on both the GMT24 M1a and Marine M1a, but they make a lot more sense at an angle, where you can observe them as more shell like in construction than singular blocks.
Beginning with the Marine M1a, we find a classically designed 41mm diver with a muscular presence. The closer you look, the more interesting small details you’ll find here. That starts with a ceramic bezel inlay that leads into a stepped dial with multiple layers. A steeply raked rehaut houses a chapter ring frames the dial, and a brushed steel outline creates visual separation. The hour markers aren’t exactly original, but the hand set is. It’s everything you want to see in a modern diver, with enough nods to the past to keep things interesting. A Swiss Sellita based movement is visible through the back, and the whole thing is fixed to a NBR synthetic rubber strap. This watch is priced at $950 on rubber, and $1,050 on a fully brushed three link steel bracelet.
Next, we find the newly released GMT24 M1a, which builds a familiar frame, though here it is sized at 40mm. The bezel has been moved under the dial in a two sided affair that looks a bit similar to what we’ve seen TAG Heuer do in their Carrera collection in recent years. The inside slope gets a slope 24 hour readout, while the outer rim is indexed to the minutes and seconds. A long orange hand is added to the dial, making a rotation each 24 hours. This watch uses a Landeron based automatic movement, and the GMT complication is ‘caller’ style, meaning the hour hand is not independently adjustable.
The case follows suit, with a 40mm variation that keeps the metal-injection-molded stainless steel theme in-tact. Pricing for the GMT is set at $1,350 on a rubber strap, and $1,450 on a steel bracelet. These are big aspirations for Timex, but the Giorgio Galli led designs certainly have the potential to blossom in new and interesting ways, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with these. Is it enough to pull buyers away from the plethora of great diver and GMT options that exist in a similar price range? The dial designs may just do enough, but it’s the case that’s doing the heavy lifting in that regard, and I hope to see it continue to evolve into more well established genres, just as the S1 has done. Timex
