Hello and welcome to just one more watch. It’s here after literally days of anticipation Arabus Watches, i.e., Mr. P and I, are delighted to show you our second watch and our first go-anywhere, do-anything everyday wear sports watch: the Ascent. Pre-orders are now open on the Arabus Watches website. I will, of course, leave a link to that website in the description of the video. They will then remain open at the discounted price for the next 4 weeks. Pre-order prices for the next four weeks are from $349 to $399 USD depending on the dial you go for. We hope to have all Ascents delivered by September at the latest. We managed to deliver the Origins 5 weeks early so we’re hoping to shave a little bit off that, but September latest for delivery so you won’t be waiting too long to get your hands on an Ascent.

Can I ask you a question? Does this look like a sub $400 watch to you? Because it just does not look like a sub $400 watch to me. We are absolutely ecstatic about how this one turned out. It is far beyond even our fairly ambitious expectations for it. It just looks so rich, so expensive, so classy, and of course, it ticks every single one of the boxes that you would hope from this style of watch.

I’ll obviously show you as much as I can today: all the different dials (and there are 12 of them), both bracelets, loads of strap options, there’s indoor shots, outdoor shots, wrist shots, and so on. I’ll leave timestamps in the description of the video as well if you do want to skip ahead to various sections if you just want to jump forward and have a look at those 12 dials, for example. Plus, in the interest of fairness, there will be a moans and niggles section at the end. This obviously isn’t a review as such. There will be plenty of other YouTube reviews popping up over the next four weeks or so, though. But I thought it was only fair because I have a pop at every other watch I review, I should have a pop at my own as well.

But first, let’s do some of the basics. Let’s do dimensions and specifications. And let’s start by talking about the size. Now, I dropped a few hints about this one over the last 6 months or so on the Club Arabis Facebook group. I always said it was going to be the size that Rolex discontinued but should not have discontinued. By that, I mean 39 mm in diameter. I think that is the perfect size for this style of watch. Just a touch under 40 for extra elegance and wearability but still with more than enough wrist presence to suit a wide variety of wrist sizes. And what we’ve done is designed the case in a way to give us the shortest lug to lug possible. We got this one down to 44.5 mm so it sits beautifully on both large and small wrists.

Now with a watch this handsome, we knew it needed a movement to match. So it was designed around a Japanese-made Miyota 915 24j 4 Herz automatic. And I do mean designed around the 9000 series. Not only has it a fantastic reputation for accuracy and reliability but it was designed to be slim, meaning the watch you design around it can also be slim. The Ascent measures bang on 11 mm thick including a piece of double Dome sapphire crystal with heaps of anti-reflective undercoating.

In terms of lug width, we wanted to keep it fairly standard, no awkward odd numbers here. So we chose 20 mm. But we insisted on both bracelets tapering from 20 down to 16 for extra elegance and so that we could fit a suitably proportioned clasp that wouldn’t dominate the watch head. Now all of the different dial versions of the Ascent are available with a choice of two different bracelets: there’s a three-link style or five-link style. And the choice of bracelets does affect the weight of the watch. Sized up for my 7-inch wrist, the three-link style comes in at 130 g whereas there’s a little bit less metal with the five-link style so it comes in at 120 g.

I think a sports watch simply must have 100 m of water resistance if it is to be a genuine all-rounder. So of course, the Ascent has 100 m of water resistance and a screw-down partially recess crown for peace of mind as well as extra comfort on wrist. And of course, a genuine all-rounder must have loom, otherwise it’s only a genuine all-rounder for 16 hours out of a 24-hour day. The Ascent has as much Super-LumiNova BGW9 as we can pack into those hands and our markers.

I’ve used the same camera and the same camera settings for every single loom video since I started this channel, and I always say that this 20-minute test is equivalent to around four or five hours of human eye. You can see it still glows brightly at the end of that test. Let me assure you that the loom on the Ascent lasts all through the night exactly as you’d want it to.

Now I did say in the teaser video last week that we didn’t look at other sub $500 or even sub $1,000 watches when we were conceiving and designing the Ascent. We aimed higher than that so we looked at $3,000 and even $5,000 watches instead. Here’s how the loom on the Ascent stacks up against a couple of those $3,000 and $5,000 watches. On the left is my Citizen Chrono Master, on the right is my Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. All three watches glow brightly initially but when I turn the speed up it becomes clear after the first 5 minutes which watch has the best loom. And it isn’t the watch that cost $3,000, it also isn’t the watch that cost $5,000. It’s the watch that cost $350 and has an Arabus logo on the dial.

Or should I say the stunning high polish silver two-piece applied Arabus logo on the dial. When we took the designs for the Ascent to our production partner, we told them we wanted an applied two-piece logo. Initially, they said they could not do it because the chance of misalignment was too high and recommended we either print it or change logos. And we said no thank you, we’d like a two-piece applied logo please. So what they did was produce two half logo-sized and shaped recesses in each of the dials to ensure that the logos on the Ascent will never be misaligned.

I think they look absolutely gorgeous, just one more example of how Steven and I push the design of this watch both forwards and upwards. We wanted our first sports watch to have a date complication but we wanted it to be a design feature of the watch and not an afterthought like so many date complications seem to be. So we designed the watch with the date at six to retain perfect symmetry and balance.

Now that necessitated the fabrication of an additional small index at the six because we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity for more loom

in that area as you just saw. And we specified prope either a three-link or a multi-link and we wanted to offer you exactly those same two choices with the Ascent. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see the split on these. In some ways, the three-link style dresses the watch down a little, it’s all brushed and therefore brings out the watch’s more sporty characteristics. I think it really suits the simpler dials, the single colored enamel dials. If you want a really low-key all-rounder, I think the three-link bracelet is the one to go watches.

They’ve got a little bit more articulation in them, there’s a bit more natural flex in them as well, and a little bit less weight as discussed 10 g lighter therefore than the O style. Plus, I just love the way they look. But you pick what you love the look of, that’s why we’re offering a choice of two.

In terms of the case, we wanted to keep it really quite simple but also really elegant at the same time. High polished fixed bezel because every single reference we took had a high polish fixed mil all polished and beveled for comfort and also recessed a fairway into the case for exactly the same reason. The less crown sticking out of the watch means the less crown there is to stick into the back of your hand. Overall, it’s simple, it’s elegant but there’s enough visual interest from that brush seam that it’s far from boring.

But what about the dials? I haven’t even really started to talk about the dials. Steven and I launched eight different colored Origins last year because we wanted to offer something different. When you see these shots, it’s easy to see why. It just looks so rich and so much more expensive than it is. Those multifaceted high polish indices seem to float on the dial as do the two halves of the Arabus logo.

Now the brand name, model number, and 108m are all just printed on in white on all of the dial variations. I’ve never liked reading an essay on the dial of a watch, so why would I put an essay on the dial of my own watch? And the hands are just amazing. The cost price on these, well, let me hardly ever see but that’s exactly what we did.

So the black looks pretty spectacular, but so does the blue. It’s a lovely deep inky blue with just a touch of creamy softness to it as well. Steven is the blue dial guy so I’ve got to give him the credit he deserves for this one. He chose the color and I think he got it just right. And if you want something a bit lighter, then by all means go for the white dial version. Again, this just has a touch of creamy softness to it, it’s not a pure white, there’s just e though it has a black chapter ring because it genuinely fades from bright orange in the center to almost black where it meets the chapter ring.

That’s why we did that. Or what about one of two, count them, two purple options? Purple is an increasingly common color amongst watches but not necessarily in this style of watch. It’s just a little bit more out there than black or blue enamel but still a great proposition for a daily wear piece. And then there is the green fumi sunburst style. We didn’t do g we are really happy with these styles. We think it’s going to become a bit of a signature for us and we will end up using this one in future models as well.

The black looks fantastic, particularly I think when paired with the J-style bracelet and that patterning is something you might not really notice at arms length but it is unmistakable when you get closer to the watch and especially when you view it under a macro lens or a loop. If you’re into blue dials then we also have a blue helix dial on o you’ll agree that we are uh not making industry standard margins on any of these dial variants including the mineral dials. When we designed this watch, aventurine was on my hit list from the very beginning and my goodness doesn’t it look fantastic.

I’m sure you’ve probably seen this elsewhere by now but if you haven’t it’s a form of glass inlaid with hundreds of tiny little particles that quite intentionally catch and play with the light. The whole watch shimmers and dances on your wrist particularly be their great value for money so we’re offering even more choices with the scent. You can buy now what we’re calling the sports strap pack, essentially the same pack as we saw with the origin so one FKM rubber strap, one silicone strap, and one military style nylon strap all with arabus branded brushed hardware.

All three straps for $35. All three of them look great on the watches. Now you can pick the sports strap pack in black or in brown or in blue depending on your taste and depending on your c led ends and again quick release spring bars and we decided to offer a leather military style slip through strap as well.

This style of strap is really popular in nylon or seat belt but we felt the ascent deserves something a little bit different and a little bit special so we found a nice leather option. Again, this will be supplied with quick release 20 mil spring bars in a neat little pack all three straps for $45 US when purchased with a watch which let’s be honest is not much more than most mi the moons a niggle section I include this section in all of my videos it seems only fair that I complain about my own watch there for now there is one part of the watch that I haven’t shown you yet there’s one part of the watch that I’ve been keeping a secret until now it’s the case back so here it is yeah look I’ll be honest with you we forgot about the case back entirely we were just about to sign off on the prototypes and the factory said hey what do you want to do with the case back back and he watch on and off your wrist now you don’t notice them at all when wearing the watch but you can feel them sometimes when you are sliding the watch up and down your arm more of a niggle though than a moan just something I thought you should be aware of if you do go for one of these and I’m sure there will be people asking why we went for male and links with the O style bracelet well we tried both and it actually wears better with male ear links the lug to lug is so compact it easily accommodat t of sunshine on them and they go off they absolutely pop they are so bright they are so vibrant they are some of the most intensely colored dials I’ve ever come across in sunlight now this might be just what some people are looking for but I appreciate it also might be a little too much for some others don’t say I didn’t warn you if you want similar colors but a slightly more subdued look in sunlight then go for the Helix Styles instead and finally a point of order for all of you watching parti ional 22 or 23% to the cost of your asset if you are in the UK and it’s not just the UK most governments now have some kind of tariff we have one here in Australia too if you’re in any doubt please check with your local authorities to see whether you’ll be liable for import taxes and please check the terms and conditions on the arabus website for more information all right

that will probably do for today if you want to see more of these stunning pictures of every single dial color of the ascent see if we can squeeze in a few more as well so you’ll all have a good opportunity to see and hear what other people make of the watch and not just me well that was a long one but what did you expect Jody when you make a watch with 12 different dials two bracelets and 15 different strap options we really might have to cut that down a bit for number three thank you all for making it to the end and thank you even more if you intend to order an Ascent I hope you love it just as much.

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER AN ASCENT HERE!

The difficult second album? Nevermind. We hope you like it. Cheers, Jody