My Favorite Ultra-Rugged Sports Watch Gets Even More Capable

Independent Swiss watch brand Norqain first arrived on the scene in 2018, but you could argue it would be another five years before the brand found its true identity.

That’s when Norqain launched the Wild One Skeleton, a lightweight, shock-resistant, skeletonized, automatic sports watch designed for actual sports and made from a mix of rubber, titanium and a proprietary carbon composite called Norteq. Think Richard Mille, but better looking and a whole lot more affordable.

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The watch’s popularity took off with Norqain collecting athlete ambassadors like Infinity Stones and organically drawing high-profile Wild One Skeleton fans like Hollywood horological heavyweight Mark Wahlberg.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Over the past three years, Norqain has expanded the Wild One Skeleton collection with new colors, a smaller 39mm case size (the original is 42mm), a special edition for Swiss tennis great Stan Wawrinka that incorporates real tennis balls and the just-launched Wild One Skeleton X-Lite that weighs just 45 grams.

But an even more significant watch was launched alongside the X-Lite yesterday. It’s the Wild One Skeleton Chrono, which smashes together Norqain’s flagship model with its most impressive manufacture movement.

Now in 8K

I gotta hand it to Norqain’s designers, as they did a pretty fantastic job of keeping the Wild One Skeleton’s distinct design language intact while adding a chronograph complication.

The case architecture for the 42mm x 13.6mm case remains largely the same, with a titanium movement holder and caseback surrounded by a rubber shock absorber that’s sandwiched between two screwed-together halves of a Norteq carbon cage, and a skeletonized movement visible on both sides under a pair of sapphire crystals.

Norqain

The trademark “ears” found on the sides of the Wild One are still present on the new Chrono, but in an amended form. The 9:00 rubber ear, with its customizable Norteq plate, is unchanged. The one at 3:00, meanwhile, now features a pair of integrated Norteq chronograph pushers screwed into the inner titanium case. They perfectly match the curve of the ear, making their addition quite seamless.

Those pushers are used to actuate the Norqain 8K Manufacture Calibre movement, an exclusive automatic chronograph made for Norqain by Sellita’s high-end technical division, AMT. It boasts flyback functionality, meaning the stopwatch can be reset and restarted with a single press; ideal for timing laps.

Norqain

The movement also boasts a column wheel for more precise action and a better tactile feel. It has a robust 62-hour power reserve while oscillating at 4Hz, and it’s even COSC-certified as a chronometer.

What’s more, the movement is skeletonized with the same cool mountain-inspired bridge pattern seen on the Independence Skeleton Chrono, only here, Norqain has gone the extra mile in the name of transparency and lightness by replacing the two chronograph subdials with thin, floating, transparent discs that rotate sans hands.

Norqain

The dial’s hands and indices are effectively the same skeletonized, diamond-cut set you’ll find on other Wild One Skeletons, with colored Super-LumiNova accents. On the rehaut, there’s a pulsometer scale for measuring your heart rate, a smart feature to add to a sports watch that you might actually wear to play sports. That includes water sports, as like other Wild One Skeletons, the Chrono is water-resistant to 200m with a screw-down rubber-capped crown. Just don’t activate the pushers near water and you’ll be good.

Availability and pricing

The Wild One Skeleton Chrono launches with a black version with turquoise accents on the dial, available with either a black or turquoise rubber strap in the same style as other Wild One Skeleton models. I wish Norqain had gone full turquoise here and made the rubber bumper turquoise instead of black, as the brand’s shade of turquoise is just so perfect. Instead, you’ll have to just opt for the turquoise strap to max out your turquoise vibes.

The black-and-turquoise model is the best-looking to my eye, and it’s also the most affordable at $9,390. There’s also a version with a burgundy Norteq cage and black rubber for $9,490 that’s limited to 400 pieces, plus a 25-piece limited edition with an 18K gold cage and gray rubber for $24,690.

Norqain

Norqain Wild One Skeleton Chrono

Specs

Case Size	42mm
Movement	Norqain Cal. NK24/1 automatic flyback chronograph
Water Resistance	200m

• $9,390 at Norqain

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