What man doesn’t love a bit of tinkering? Cars, watches, putting up the occasional shelf, nothing beats the feeling of taking apart and putting back together something with your bare hands. It’s like age-appropriate Lego.
It’s part of what makes watches so fascinating, knowing that someone, somewhere, probably in a little Alpine village, has ruined their eyesight putting a fine timepiece together. It’s enough to make you a little jealous sometimes.
Of course, it takes years of training to be able to mess with the intricacies of a watch. At least, it does when it comes to the movement. That’s far less the case when it comes to the… er, case. The case is comprised of the largest elements of the watch and the easiest to work it. Unfortunately, we’re just not trusted by the watch world to do anything with it. Except of course, by Eqvis.
The entire concept behind the Eqvis Varius timepiece is customisation. Yes, that’s one of the key watch buzzwords of 2018, but not like this. Plenty of brands let you choose your bezel colour and strap material through some slick app or online portal. Eqvis just hands you all the options and lets you get on with it.
The core of the Varius is a cool, industrial-style case with eight prominent screws around the bezel. In most cases these would be decoration (think Hublot and Audemars Piguet), but here you can actually use a tool provided with the watch to take them out – and then you simply replace them with a new bezel. The same goes for the straps, which use the same tool for simplicity’s sake. Simple.
The Varius is provided with a fine leather strap and a nylon and polyester version, as well as three bezels: steel, bronze and forged carbon. That’s a total of six different looks – and considerably different at that – from one watch. Fortunately, that’s just the start.
Once you have your Varius you can then buy a wide range of different bezels and straps, and, for an extra layer of customisation, a divider, allowing you to essentially build your own watch. The dial and overall case shape may stay the same, but you finally have a watch that goes with every suit; at least, after a little at-home tinkering.
As for what’s inside, the Varius is 100% Swiss made. Given the brand’s German origins you might expect them to come from Glashütte or Frankfurt, but does the watch look like it would fit there? Instead, it plays on the strengths of both countries: German designed and Swiss made.
EQVIS Varius (€6,500); eqvis.net
That also means it’s damn good quality too. It’s at the pricier end of the spectrum, especially for a new brand, but when you’re getting six watches for the price of one you can afford to splash out. Get yourself a set of red, blue and titanium bezels and you may well never need another watch again.
Or at least, you won’t find yourself playing with your son’s old Lego sets anymore; eqvis.net
