This Affordable Automatic Puts a Modern Twist on a Classic Pilot’s Watch

Perhaps the surest path to success in the increasingly crowded indie watch market is to focus on a niche and carve out a spot with a handful of signature features. That is exactly how Singaporean watch brand RZE got itself on the map in a few short years.

Founded in 2020, RZE already has a strong reputation for affordable field watches and adventure-ready accessories. That fast-paced success is due in no small part to using only titanium with a trademarked scratch-resistant coating for cases and bracelets.

RZE Watches

RZE is dedicated to adventure, and its name is even derived from reise, the German word for travel. As such, it has mostly stuck to field watches, with a few divers thrown in.

Now, the indie brand is taking to the air with the Resolute Type A, a characteristic interpretation of the classic German flieger. The name denotes its classification as a Type A flieger, explicitly designed for pilots, with a dial that can be read at a glance.

The dial contains key flieger elements like the distinctive hands, a triangle flanked by two dots at 12:00 and big, bold numerical hour markers. It is highly legible at arm’s length, even in the dark, thanks to sizable hour markers and hands filled with Super-LumiNova.

RZE Watches

Aside from the stylized “R” logo at 12:00, RZE makes the dial its own with a modern font for the hour track, angular hands and hour markers integrated with the minutes track and layered in a sandwich style.

Primary colors

The Resolute Type A debuts with three dial colors. A yellow dial with a coarse texture encircled by a black minute track with white detailing follows RZE’s well-defined aesthetic.

RZE Watches

Conversely, the black dial, which blends into the black hour track and features creamy, off-white hour markers and lume on the hour and minute hands, comes closest to the vintage flieger watches that inspired the collection. An orange seconds hand provides the only real pop of color.

The glossy white dial lands somewhere in the middle as a monotone modern pilot’s watch. Just as with the black dial, a yellow seconds hand with a white lume tip provides the only color.

Keep moving

Outside of the dial, the Resolute Type A is an RZE watch through and through. The case, which features a prominent, rounded bezel atop a flat midcase with sharply angled lugs, is crafted from Grade 2 titanium.

RZE Watches

It is, of course, coated with RZE’s proprietary UltraHex hard coating to prevent scratches and scuffs to the ultra-light alloy. The caseback has the same build, is secured with four screws and features a partial sapphire crystal window that looks somewhat like a cockpit’s artificial horizon indicator.

Peaking through the caseback is a Miyota Caliber 82S0 automatic movement, which beats at 3Hz and has a 40-hour power reserve. It’s nothing to write home about in terms of accuracy, but it is a reputable workhorse movement that keeps the watch’s price low and is easy to fix or replace.

RZE Watches

The white dial comes on a green TecTuff strap featuring a synthetic upper stitched and bonded to a calfskin lining, with a titanium pin buckle, and the black dial comes with a black TecTuff strap.

RZE’s HexLink bracelet is provided with the yellow dial, which features a five-link design with flat-topped angular links. The bracelet is made of the same Grade 2 titanium as the case, features UltraHex hard coating, quick-release pins and is secured with the brand’s micro-adjustable QuikCliq clasp.

Availability and price

So far, RZE only has a teaser page up for the Resolute Type A, with preorders opening on March 20th. The watch will cost $499 with a TecTuff strap and $699 with a titanium bracelet.

RZE Watches

RZE Resolute Type A

Specs

Case Size	39.5mm
Movement	Miyota Caliber 82S0 automatic
Water Resistance	100m

• Starts at $499

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