Elshan Tang of Zelos Watches
has produced some rather interesting pieces in these past two years.
Shortly after the launch of his debut watch, the Helmsman, I took a
sacred vow, swearing a vow of secrecy on a Patek's mainspring. Elshan
then showed me some ideas for future models. You have seen most of them
by now like the mighty Abyss and the slick Chroma, but the most
intriguing of the bunch just launched today on Kickstarter. Behold, the
Cosmos.
The Cosmos is an open-faced disc
watch with an elaborate, four-layer dial. The handset is the
centerpiece, or perhaps "disc-set" is more accurate as the hands have
been replaced with intricately cut wheels of sandblasted metal. They are
paper thin, appearing to float over each other. The hour hand is a
stubby triangle poking out from beneath the elaborate, gear-shaped
minute disc. The small, skeletonized disc in the center with the Zelos
logo is the second hand, although it has no pointer, so it serves more
for form than function. Two sapphire rings complete the dial. The
outermost is secured with four screws and holds polished hour markers
while the innermost is engraved with a minute track. All of this appears
to float above the brushed base. The crystal is double-domed sapphire with beveled edges and an inner anti-reflective coating.
Powering all this is a trusty,
high-beat, 24 jewel Miyota 9015, humming along at 28.8k bph. Flip the
watch over, and you can peek at its workings through the display window.
The view is deliberately obscured by a cage that mimics the gear shape
of the minute hand, offering just a glimpse of the PVD rose gold rotor.
Sharp-eyed Zelos fans will recognize
the case shape as that of the Chroma, sized up to 45mm. This stainless
steel puck with its characteristic scalloped and grooved sides is a
fitting complement for the avant-garde dial, although wearability could
be a question. The lugless case will help it wear smaller, but as I
found with the Chroma, deleting the lugs also eliminates the transition
from the case to the strap, accentuating its thickness. There are three
variants available: silver/white, black/rose gold, and black/blue.
Water resistance is just 50m, but
this is not a sport watch, nor is it a dress watch. Rather, the Cosmos
promises to be a bold statement piece in the idiom of SevenFriday and
the Ancon x-35, but with a smoother movement than either. Pre-sales
start at $549 USD and after just two hours the project was fully funded.
Check out the Zelos Cosmos on Kickstarter for more.
