King casino watch

When I visited Singapore late last year I got the chance to meet some absolutely delightful people in the watch industry. Azimuth co owner Alvin Lye introduced most of these contacts to me. In fact one of his good friends is a senior executive (within a global organisation) who has a penchant for high quality watches. When we met at one of the cities finest hotels he kindly showed me a small selection of his timepieces. Most of them were very extravagant and highly exclusive. Certainly he has exceedingly good taste and he acquires all of his prized pieces based purely on merit. As well as owning watches by Harry Winston, MB & F and DeBethune he also owns a SP-1 Landship by Azimuth.

For quite a few years I have admired Azimuth’s amazing level of craftsmanship. Both of the owners (Alvin Lye, Chris Long) are well grounded and are constantly striving to improve. This is why they appointed a new technical director and CEO called Giuseppe Picchi. From visuals Alvin has shown me in confidence I can see a lot more maturity in their new designs. Ultimately I feel they now want to take Azimuth to the next creative level. This means certain refinements and more complicated mechanical movements will be available in the future. A small taste of this can be found in the new and exciting King Casino.

Prior to the watch arriving I had only seen visuals on Azimuth’s website and via Facebook. Certainly these images do not do the watch justice and it clearly looks better in the metal. Effectively this is a redesigned version of the SP-1 Roulette and the case shape has evolved. Whereas the Roulette measures 55mm x 35mm, the King Casino has a more uniform 45mm x 45mm square case. Generally the watch sat comfortably on my wrist and I would be happy to wear the watch on a daily basis. Primarily this is down to the sophisticated design and choice of L stainless steel in production.

Visually the King Casino has a cool appearance and is easily identifiable as one of Azimuth’s creations. Even though the watch is essentially just a new interpretation of the SP-1 Roulette it has a totally different dynamic. I prefer the square format as it promotes the design in a more effective way. The new wider façade has also allowed Azimuth to feature a few more details. Inclusions like an additional Baccarat card game inspired text ring (Player, Banker, Tie), dome sapphire crystal lens are effective and the bezel displays cleaner lines. Overall I feel the composition is both sophisticated and playful.

Powering the watch is a modified Swiss made ETA self-winding movement. This caliber comprises jewels and oscillates at a frequency of 21, vibrations per hour. Functionally the King Casino features hours, minutes, seconds and a roulette/Baccarat spinning ball indication. The timepiece also has a power reserve of hours and is water resistant to a depth of 30 metres.

The King Casino has a high quality black leather strap with matching steel folding clasp. Priced competitively at: CHF 3, (approximately $3,USD). This watch is available to buy at: thisisnl.nl

For more information about Azimuth visit the company’s website: thisisnl.nl