Black Tie on the Outside, Tank on the Inside: Meet Another Japanese Wonder

We have been talking a lot about Japanese watch making this past month, so you can understand why my Instagram page is filled with the most trending Japanese watches. This is also what led me straight to the Instagram page of a new brand Narvaez. If you're into watch collecting like I am, you know that chasing the perfect "one-watch collection" is a brutal challenge. Traditionally, the watch world splits timepieces into strict boxes based on where you're wearing them. A dress watch needs to be slim, completely elegant, and unpretentious so it can easily slip under your formal shirt cuff. On the flip side, a field watch has to be incredibly durable, tough as nails, and utilitarian enough to survive the rough outdoors.

To pull off a single watch that conquers both worlds, you have to balance those completely opposite design styles. That exact obsession is what sparked a five-year journey to create the Narvaez 817 Series 1. It’s a "dress-field" watch that was conceived back in 2021 by Homer Narvaez, who co-founded the Tokyo Watch Club, a group aimed at being the central hub for watch talk and culture in Tokyo. With only twenty pieces ever being made, this Series 1 is a deeply technical, cross-border team-up between world-class partners in Switzerland and Japan. I love how it’s built to be quietly competent, highly ergonomic, and perfect for daily wear. If you want to read more about Japanese watches click here.

Striking the Aesthetic and Physical Balance

When it comes to making a proper dress watch, proportions are everything in my opinion. A massive case just clashes instantly with formal clothes. That’s why the 817 series opt a highly restrained 37.8mm case diameter. It’s a total sweet spot that fits a 16cm wrist flawlessly while keeping the silhouette sleek. To dial up the elegance, the face features a mirror-polished aesthetic that requires agonizing finishing work to get right.

But under that refined exterior, and you'll find the heart of a true field watch. It packs 100 meters of water resistance, which gives you more than enough protection for daily splashes and tough conditions. To pull off this split personality without making the watch bulky, the case and dial are made almost entirely out of Grade 5 titanium. This metal keeps the watch incredibly strong but comfortably lightweight on your wrist, giving you a modern, unpretentious slice of luxury that looks just as good in a boardroom as it does outdoors.

Caliber 817: Field Duty Meets Haute Horlogerie

This "dress-field" philosophy carries right over into the movement keeping time inside. Developed alongside the legendary Swiss movement specialists at Chronode, the proprietary Caliber 817 is built right on top of the C101, one of the foundational calibers created under founder Jean-François Mojon.

For a field watch, you need longevity and autonomy. So, the Caliber 817 uses two barrels in series to deliver a massive 7 to 8-day power reserve. It also features 29 jewels fitted with concave caps, all engineered to keep things running smoothly over long stretches of time.

The real genius of this movement, though, is how it’s built structurally. In a wild engineering move, the bridges are machined out of Grade 5 titanium instead of the usual traditional brass. Trying to machine titanium to a strict 20-micron tolerance is notoriously tough. The metal is gummy, incredibly expensive to machine, and pyrophoric, meaning it can easily catch fire if it's handled wrong.

But the functional payoff fits the field watch checklist perfectly. It’s amagnetic to protect your timekeeping from modern electronic gadgets, it’s completely rust-proof, and it gives you twice the strength of steel at nearly half the weight. That leaves you with an incredibly robust, long-term machine.

Haute Hand-Finishing

Even though those rugged materials are perfect for the field, the movement's decoration is pure haute horlogerie, satisfying even the pickiest dress watch fans. After the meticulous machining is done, a Titalyt surface treatment is applied to protect those titanium parts from scratches.

From there, master artisans handle the hand-finishing, including partners over at Voutilainen & Cattin. The bridges feature hand-beveled edges showing off three purposeful inward angles, intentionally stripped of any extra fluff or unnecessary decoration. For the ultimate high-end touch, the balance bridge is made as a single, traversing piece with two inclined arms, beautifully finished with rounded bercé polishing.

With the final four pieces of this 20-piece edition currently being wrapped up in Switzerland and Japan, the Narvaez 817 Series 1 is locked in for sale and delivery this autumn. To me, it stands as a masterclass in compromise-free watchmaking, proving a watch really can be tough enough for the field, yet elegant enough for a formal dinner. If you would like to learn more about other fascinating Japanese micro brands, click here.