One of the recurring topics of conversation I’ve long heard among watch collectors is the fantasy of a pared down collection. Sometimes, the dream is by the numbers – a seven-watch collection (one for each day of the week), the sweet spot three-watch collection (dress, sport, and wild card), or the ultra-ambitious one-watch collection (but how could you ever choose just one?!). Other times, the musings on a pared down collection get more specific – a single brand, a single style, a single material. For me, the collecting fantasy revolves around color – or rather, the absence of color – an all-white collection. At the current moment, I only have three, but there is one in particular that has solidified my love of white watches not just for summer but all year round (yes, white watches look just as good on snow bunnies). This is the story of my Norqain Adventure Sport.
For those of you who know me outside the page, I’m the antithesis of the all-black New Yorker. Perhaps it’s my southern roots showing (shoutout ATL), but in recent years, I’ve become a self-proclaimed rainbow girl. This wasn’t always the case.
In high school, I hailed from the emo era, and to the horror of my fairly traditional Midwest parents and southern upbringing, I dyed my hair dark, cut asymmetrical bangs, painted my nails black, and wore clothes that matched my angst and musical taste (btw we will circle back to this seemingly superfluous detail later on in the story, stay tuned). When I relocated to New York City 12 years ago, I adopted the local fashions and watched my wardrobe once again morph to a color study of black.
Then the pandemic hit in 2020, and something in me shifted. As I looked for any and all sources of micro-joy amid the chaos, I committed to wearing color in a cheesy attempt to literally brighten my apartment-bound days. Soon, this became my new personality, and as the world returned to some semblance of normal, I found myself standing out in a sea of black on the New York City sidewalks and among the watch bros whose tried and true uniform is largely neutral with a splash of blue or maybe green every now and again.
So, I bet you’d think my collecting fantasy would be one watch in every color of the rainbow, perfectly organized in a six-watch case, in order from yellow to violet. As I’m typing that notion, it is, in fact, sounding pretty great, but I’m going to shed some light on why I’m such a sucker for white watches through the lens of my Norqain Adventure Sport.
The Adventure is an important line for Norqain as it was one of the three inaugural collections that debuted at the brand’s initial launch back in 2018 alongside the Freedom and Independence. For some additional context, let’s orient ourselves for a moment in that year. Rolex reprised the Pepsi (RIP, again), Tudor downsized the Black Bay to 39mm, #SpeedyTuesday reached new heights with Omega’s “Ultraman” edition, and Bulgari’s Octo notched yet another world record. It’s crucial to remember that apart from high-end independents (think F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour), big brands still largely dominated the watch space until the shift that started to take shape in the 2020s when independents of all varieties began receiving the recognition they deserve.
If I orient myself back into my life in 2018, I was just firmly niching into the watch space after dabbling in it the six years prior, and I’ll admit, I have no memory of Norqain’s launch that year. I did some digging, and honestly, it looks like the brand received very little love in its first few months. It wasn’t until the calendar page turned to 2019 that Norqain started gaining momentum with the Adventure garnering much of that attention for its incredible value proposition (at the time, prices for the line started under $2,000).
Today, prices for the Adventure Sport have risen, with the current model starting at $2,790 on a strap and tipping the $3k mark at $3,050 on a bracelet. This may seem like a sizable increase over an eight-year period, but it reflects trends in pricing across the market as a whole. Many facets of the industry’s production eco-system have never recovered from the impact of the pandemic, driving up costs of materials. The dollar is increasingly weak against the Swiss franc, dropping roughly 17% in value since 2018. Plus, in the past few years in particular, new tariffs have come into play. A perfect storm of circumstances has pushed brands at all price tiers to reassess, and in turn, it certainly calls into question what we can still consider a strong value proposition.
I’ve long seen debates about Norqain in the collector sphere, and somehow, I don’t seem to align with the critics (though I’m sure you’ll feel free to educate me on the counterpoints in the comments section). Instead, I actually think Norqain could be charging more for its watches if the brand wanted to. I would put models like the Tudor Black Bay on par with the Adventure Sport – the Black Bay now starts at $5,075 on rubber and $5,325 on bracelet, which I assume reflect the Tudor name far more than a $3,000 difference in quality from Norqain. Another comp might be the TAG Heuer Aquaracer, which starts at $4,200 for the mechanical models. However, it’s worth remembering TAG is part of LVMH, whereas Norqain remains an independent brand. Perhaps a more equal parallel in terms of branding around value would be Oris and its Aquis – the rubber strap version starts at $2,600 and the bracelet $2,800, which are just ever so slightly below Norqain’s Adventure Sport.
So, what do I consider to be the most valuable elements of the Adventure Sport? For me, this watch is designed with a lot of attention to detail, and the culmination of these details results in a beautifully cohesive watch that’s both extremely comfortable to wear and visually interesting. An all-white watch – or any monochromatic model – can admittedly be a bit boring or one-note. Here, with the white elements alone, Norqain has taken great care to make “the absence of color” as dynamic as it can possibly be by making it multidimensional. We have a glossy ceramic bezel, touches of white lume, a matte date window, and the trademark geometric pattern of the dial treatment that’s part basket weave, part zigzag. The watch has been composed the same way wedding dress designers have been creating different takes on an all-white frock for centuries – with an interplay of textures. It may sound like a strange analogy, but I think it’s nevertheless an accurate parallel.
The metal components of the 37mm case are treated with equal attention to detail. While the lug-to-lug clocks in at 44mm, I find this watch drapes perfectly across my 5.75-inch wrist. Flip the watch to its profile, and the bezel detail extends with a knurled pattern that adds both visual and tactile interest as well as utility for easy grip. The texture also creates contrast to the case, which is satin finished with polished details, complete with the Norqain plate on the left side that can be customized.
You’ll notice I’ve strategically omitted much talk about the strap, until now. My model is equipped with a rubber strap by Biwi. You can read my full story on Biwi for a deeper look into the scope of the brand’s prowess in the way of rubber straps, but perhaps more importantly, I’m here to attest to the strap’s performance over the course of nearly three years.
Rubber straps – while intended for sport and tool watches and often worn in the heat of summer or during low-impact physical activity – can be inherently suffocating, lacking breathability and finesse. They can be stiff and inflexible, they can smell strange especially when triggered by perspiration, they can stick to your arm hair – the list of less than desirable qualities goes on. The Biwi strap of the Adventure Sport represents what the ideal rubber strap should be: soft and supple yet sturdy, flexible, and durable. Even after putting my white rubber strap through its paces over the years, it hasn’t had much wear, tear, or discoloration, and it’s actually comfortable. Norqain’s attention to detail also extends to this bespoke strap, with the texture of the knurled bezel echoed on panels of the strap for added continuity and interest.
Coming full circle, I was attending Norqain’s launch of its skeletonized flyback chronographs within the Independence line back in the fall of 2024. Of course, I strapped on my Adventure Sport for the occasion, but I’d be making a detour that evening. Mere blocks from the launch event was a nostalgia-filled multiband emo showcase featuring the Atlanta-based band Cartel. The group had been defunct for over a decade, and I most certainly never thought I would see them play again. I called the venue that morning to ask where the band fell in the lineup, and in the middle of Norqain’s event, I left for just one hour to scream my heart out. So yes, I have worn the Adventure Sport in the typical places – poolside, on the slopes, around New York City because white does in fact go with any color of the rainbow I might wear on a given day – but this watch is the perfect companion even in more unusual places, like the mosh pit of an emo show. Norqain
