Any good tailor has a house style, or a few of them. You generally don’t want a tailor who says they can do everything—Neapolitan, English, sack suit—as they rarely do it all that well. Variations on a theme are key to a tailor who knows how to cover the right amount of ground and deliver a good result. The house style, as it were, for The Armoury’s recently launched house brand, Temporal Works, is a Patek Philippe 565 for the modern era. And if the 565 and a Hamilton Khaki field watch had a baby, it would look something like this: Temporal Works’ new Series A “Rambler.”
The brand, along with its inaugural model, launched last November with the Series A ‘Sector’ in black or blue, or the Series A “Fortune Red” in stainless steel cases with Zaratsu-polished surfaces. When I hung out with Cho last fall, a while before the launch, he pulled a watch out of his pocket and showed it to me. “Oh! A 565,” I remember saying. For whatever reason, in my busy schedule, it fell through the cracks for coverage. To be honest, they didn’t hit me the same way as the new “Rambler” with its stainless-steel bead-blasted monoblock case.
Temporal Works Series A ‘Sector’
Maybe there’s just something more novel about a 565 that doesn’t look that much like any 565 before it. With the sector dials (less so the red one), you can imagine a world in which Patek might have done something like this, even though they never experimented with color beyond black or a sector dial quite like this. The built-in design language from history doesn’t give much room to draw on, and yet, without copying any other options on the market, the previous release felt like it blended in with offerings from Furlan Marri and others.
The new dials, now in matte-painted brass in the “Black Sesame” and “Red Bean” colors, have a nice texture, with a bit of a step, aided by the snailed outer track featuring white minute markers and Arabic numerals, all lumed to match the hour and minute hands. The hands are pilot-inspired, while the six-segment radial sector dial doesn’t make me think of a pilot’s watch, a formal sector dial, or anything else, for that matter, except for the minimalist quality you find on Unimatics.
The entire watch is pretty reserved, all things considered, which means I can keep the Hands-On brief. Just like any Patek 565, there’s not much you can do with that case, which is particularly sloping and smooth. The measurements remain 37mm in diameter, 45mm lug-to-lug, and 10mm thick, but now the bead-blasted 316L steel case feels a bit less generic and better matched to the dial. The caseback is equally simple, with the brand logo, motto, and a stamp indicating 50M water resistance. You can also get a better view of how the crown is nestled in the caseband.
Inside the case is the manually wound Sellita SW210-1 b D4, running at 4Hz with a 42-hour power reserve. Accuracy is +/- 20 seconds/day, which is a bit weak for my preferences, but it’s the standard for the movement. Speaking of the movement, a workhorse of sorts, it is widely available in other watches. The first thing that comes to mind is the anOrdain Model 1, which (last I checked) retailed for around $2,670. But there, you’re getting a lot of value from the enamel dial.
On the topic of additional value, the “Black Sesame” dial pairs with an olive canvas strap, while the “Red Bean” dial comes with a soft grey Alcantara strap and NATO options. Temporal Works is also offering a bead-blasted mesh bracelet by Staib, available in 3 sizes, all adjustable to 18mm by adding/subtracting links, and it retails for $250. There’s an orange canvas strap available as well. You can see that the bracelet I tried (in medium) was short one link on the lower side, but otherwise it would have fit my 7.25″ wrist well enough, I imagine.
I was actually struck by how much I liked the “Red Bean” on the wrist. The red is much more muted than in the previous release, and combined with the textured case, it actually reads as quite unique compared to other watches on the market.
The black, unsurprisingly, is the most practical. I didn’t intend to photograph the watches when I went to The Armoury’s NYC launch party, nor did I plan a very accidental safari-leaning outfit. But it did match the watch perfectly. The Series A “Rambler” retails for $2,500, which, in all honesty, feels slightly high given the specifications. It’s possible the minimalist design language might also subconsciously signal a more affordable proposition. But it is a singular offering on the market right now that combines dressy heritage with a rugged look, and it’s certainly sure to catch a few eyes.
For more on the watches from Temporal Works, visit The Armoury’s website.
