Watches Appreciation And Resouces: Kickin’ it Octagon Style

Monday, November 20, 2017

Kickin’ it Octagon Style

Often, when a company is looking to drum up business on Kickstarter (or any other crowd-funding site), it’s because they’re not established or want to secure pre-orders, and generally do this by offering things at pretty affordable price points. Because, frankly, you as the buyer are shouldering a good deal of risk. Well, this is not so with the latest project to hit KS from Mark Carson, with his new Mark Carson Octagon Watch. Cause, you see, Carson likes to do things differently.

You may know him more from his collaborations with Richard Paige and the designs that house revitalized pocket watch movements in their cases. Carson has also had his own series of watches, previously under the Individual Design label. Well, that branding confusion is gone for you now, as the Mark Carson Octagon Watch proudly carries it’s designer’s name. And yeah, this watch is a unique one for sure.

Go ahead, scan the internet – how many other 8-sided watches are out there? Sure, the Bulgari Octo, but what other ones? The Mark Carson Octagon Watch takes that eight-sider, and reinforces it three times over, with the various bits of the open dial that float over the movement. I generally am not a fan of watches that have this open-worked of a dial, but here, things still look to be very legible while still showing off the finishing on the movement. With the applied markers and generously-sized handset, reading the time is not going to be a problem.

While the case of the Mark Carson Octagon Watch is certainly unique, let’s actually shift the focus on over to that movement, because you see quite a lot of it. In Carson’s prior watches, he was using ETA movements. For this watch, though, he’s using a BL-109 which comes from B-Line. This is a small Swiss company just down the road from where ETA is. For this watch, Carson has gone with the top-grade movement, which has brass plates, circulate Geneva strips, blues screws, and a swan neck regulator.

So no, all you eagle-eyed watch connoisseurs were not having memory loss in not being able to place where this movement was from. You just probably have not seen it before. Speaking of seeing, check out that case back shot as well. As impressive as the watch looks from the front, the rear view is quite nice as well. All in all, it looks to be a fitting movement for a watch with this unique case and dial.

Now, if you’re familiar with Carson’s prior designs, you know they generally float above our normal $ 1000 high water mark, and the Mark Carson Octagon Watch. While the MSRP is going to be $ 2,000 for the watch, the first level of early-bird pricing comes in at $ 1,400. Now, we’ve not seen this watch in person (and with only 100 being made, that may not happen), but we’ve been pleased with what we’ve seen from him in the past. You can check out all the details of the project right here, up until the project closes out on December 14, 2017, with delivery anticipated for Feb/March 2018. markcarson.com

Watch Overview

Brand & Model: Mark Carson Octagon Watch
Price: Earlybird pricing starts at $ 1,400
Who we think it might be for: You want your watches unique, independent, and powered by a Swiss movement
Would I buy one for myself based on what I’ve seen? Tough call – I’d really want to see it in person to make that decision.
If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: I wouldn’t mind seeing less of the backplate via the open dial
What spoke to me the most about this watch: Octagons for days!

Article from: Wrist Watch Review, by Patrick Kansa