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If you happen to’ve by no means heard of Meccaniche Veneziane, don’t fear about it. These days are gone. They’re previously. There’s a brand new child on the town, and he’s right here to stake his declare to the slim streets, historic bridges, and ubiquitous canals of MV’s hometown of Venice. From the ashes of the model’s unique identify rises Venezianico, an ear-catching neologism that skips off the worldwide tongue much better than its forerunner ever did. For the previous week, I’ve been carrying the brand new Venezianico Nereide Ultraleggero, the renamed model’s flagship for a brand new age. Having finished so, I can safely say that it isn’t simply the picture that’s been overhauled; the watches themselves have stepped up their recreation too.
I’ve owned two Meccaniche Veneziane watches because the profitable conclusion of the model’s first Kickstarter in 2017. I keep in mind the second I backed the model effectively. I used to be lounging by a pool in a resort a number of kilometers outdoors the middle of San Diego, idly scrolling via novel watch initiatives whereas the solar did its finest to incinerate me. My selection? The black-dialed Nereide with a crimson bezel. Why? As a result of I noticed it as a cheap various to the Heritage Black Bay I’d been eyeballing for a while.
I opted for a see-through case again and a Japanese motion. I appear to do not forget that that choice didn’t hold round within the common catalog for too lengthy. That’s a disgrace. The rotors turned out to have good ornament and, all issues thought of, it was an excellent look ahead to the cash. It was so good, in actual fact, that I purchased two. I went for the “Hulk” model as effectively. I’m undecided why I used to be feeling so flash on the time. Perhaps the solar had baked my frugality into submission. No matter it was, I backed them each and located myself impressed after they arrived.
Branding 101
As I all the time say, branding will get you the primary sale; the merchandise themselves get you the second. Meccaniche Veneziane had gained me over with the hometown-hero backstory. A watchmaker in Venice? Whoever heard of such a factor! What if these guys change into good? I don’t wish to miss this…
Straight out of the field, I used to be impressed. Firstly, I have to admit, I used to be impressed by the luxurious wood field. It outpunched the packaging I’d seen from manufacturers retailing for ten instances as a lot. Actually, conjuring photographs of what I might retailer in these containers excited me greater than the watches on the time. However that’s to not say I used to be disillusioned with the timepieces; it’s simply that I’d anticipated so little in the best way of add-ons, the wood carton pleasantly stunned me.
The one adverse factor I’ll say in regards to the branding of Meccaniche Veneziane (and I’ve made this clear from day one, whether or not I meant to or not) is that the identify, completely in isolation of the watches, was completely, completely, 100% crap. Want me to show to you why? Simply ask me to say it. I nonetheless can’t. Not after 5 years of proudly owning two of the model’s watches. Not after speaking immediately with the founders. No. I can’t say it even after working towards it. After I first tried it with out tuition, it was even worse. It was, to say the least, a catastrophe.
Mekkaneesh Venitchiarn
There are about three issues I keep in mind from my childhood. One: I misplaced my favourite yellow soccer within the river of my first home in County Wicklow, and I used to be too scared to leap in after it. Two: I bought one other yellow soccer on our ’94 vacation to Corfu. Three: across the flip of the century, Jif (a well-liked cleansing fluid obtainable throughout Europe) modified its identify to Cif.
This stored me up at night time greater than the despair of dropping that first flyaway and greater than the enjoyment of procuring a second. I couldn’t perceive it. Strive as she would possibly, my poor mom couldn’t clarify it to me both, and so, each night time, as she lay me right down to mattress, she was compelled to hover in my doorway, listening to me agonize over what I took to be a very pointless about-face by a well-loved model.
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“Cif” tried to clarify that the issue was that “individuals on the continent” couldn’t pronounce the arduous J in Jif. This was clearly a put up hoc justification for altering the UK bottle (a transfer undoubtedly motivated by the price of producing a number of labels for a number of territories), because the individuals of Europe had been cleansing with Jif for years and by no means countenanced for a second altering their cleansing fluid to Cif. I additionally tried declaring that absolutely the letter “C” can be tough for some nations (I imply, is it “Siff” or is it “Kiff”?), however cash talks louder than a 15-year-old boy. I shut my mouth and waited till now, 22 years later, to deliver it up once more. Thanks, Venezianico; I owe you one.
Excuse me, sir. Did you order a degree?
My level is that this: common branding is an artwork kind. All of us have totally different languages, accents, and human experiences that form the best way we learn and say issues. Developing with a model identify that’s quick, catchy, memorable, and pronounceable by all is, effectively, fairly frankly not possible. Developing with a model identify that’s most of these issues to most of its customers is, on the very least, arduous work.
One learn of branding during which Meccaniche Veneziane/Venezianico succeeded from the beginning was its brand and wordmark. My rule for a superb brand is that it ought to work with out colour and fully on silhouette alone. A brand could be embellished with colour (because the Venezianico cross typically is with gold and the wordmark with a just-off-black grey), however it mustn’t rely upon it. Shapes matter. They’re memorable. I’ve talked at size in regards to the significance of an “identifiable silhouette” for a watch case. Right here, the identical is true. Venezianico nailed the brand from the get-go. The identify, which might nearly actually be mispronounced by the majority of the model’s prospects, wanted a revamp.
And it bought one. And the way! Venezianico is a neologism, so don’t fear in case you don’t know precisely what it means. It’s derived from “Veneziano”, which is an adjective which means “referring to Venice”, and “-ico”, which is a Latin suffix which means, “a method to be”. So, to place that every one collectively, Venezianico is a phrase expressing a way of life and a tradition that’s inherent to Venice and her individuals.
The watch that’s flying the flag
Someplace inside this text, there’s a line or two a couple of watch, I promise… The Venezianico Nereide Ultraleggero is the futuristic successor to the pair of Nereides I purchased all these years in the past by the pool in San Diego. As luck would have it, I’ve them each in hand, and I’m capable of examine the variations between the watches from day one and the model’s modern-day fare.
There are some very placing variations between the dials, which I’ll tackle shortly. What I’d prefer to give attention to first, nonetheless, are the numerous enhancements made in case manufacturing. Now, the designs of the Nereide and the Nereide Ultraleggero are barely totally different. The Ultraleggero has a seamless transition from the case band to the lugs, however the lugs themselves are angled on the tops, making a sharper and edgier look from the highest down.
Including a layer of refinement to proceedings, nonetheless (and most undoubtedly the largest enchancment between previous and new), is the polished chamfer that runs all alongside the sting of the case band and down into the lugs. Not solely does this successfully and decisively separate the brushed end of the case band from the brushed end of the lug face, however it additionally provides vital visible curiosity to the case on the whole. It’s, fairly merely, a masterful enchancment, and it immediately provides worth to the newer mannequin.
A greater bezel
The unique bezel inserts on the debut Nereide fashions have been anodized aluminum. They have been tremendous. I really type of favored the old-school look. And it’s price declaring that although the trendy Ultraleggero is clearly a greater product than the unique Nereide, I don’t essentially like it extra. It’s simply materially superior, and the bezel is not any exception.
The bezel of the trendy model I’ve right here for assessment is totally different in a number of methods. Firstly, it isn’t anodized. Moderately, it’s naked metallic with engraved and stuffed numerals and markings. It sits inside a 120-click unidirectional 60-minute timing bezel, the outer tooth of that are polished and squared versus brushed and scalloped. It’s actually much less “off-the-shelf” than the unique design. Initially, I wasn’t so satisfied by the actual fact it was polished. I usually choose brushing on the extra uncovered surfaces of instrument watches. However subsequent to the sunray brushing of the bezel insert, it really works as a degree of speedy distinction. It’s additionally an apparent exterior hyperlink to the polished hour markers that really feel extra built-in into the design due to it, in addition to the polished chamfer of the case band.
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Aspect-by-side
Holding these two watches side-by-side is a bizarre expertise. It could, I feel, be helpful for a lot of watch lovers to do the identical to see (and, maybe extra crucially, really feel) the variations right here. All the pieces in regards to the Ultraleggero is completed to a better customary. Each angle is extra exact. Each end is extra competently utilized. Muddy, buttery, bleeding components from the early designs are all gone in favor of crisp, deliberate, and well-marshaled components which have elevated this providing in a method befitting of its new retail worth.
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Actually, I choose the open case again of the unique Nereide to the trendy model’s Da Vinci-inspired ornament. Nonetheless, that’s a private factor. The massive speaking level right here is on the opposite aspect of the watch, in spite of everything. The dial of the Nereide Ultraleggero is as eye-catching as they arrive. And, for my part, it’s a lot higher when scrutinized than it seems at first look.
Dialing it up a notch
This isn’t a skeletonized motion. As a substitute, it’s an open-heart Seiko NH70A, giving us a fairly uninterrupted view of the stability at 9 o’clock. It has been cleverly overlayed with two cut-out plates with totally different floor finishes. This offers them the looks of being barely totally different shades of anthracite, though their plating course of is undoubtedly equivalent.
This offers the dial unbelievable depth. It’s not as visually noisy as a real skeleton, which I’m glad to see. The truth that the hour markers, dial textual content, brand, and wordmark all sit above this sensible ornament, printed or mounted on a completely see-through disc, additionally helps with legibility. Put succinctly, that is, in principle, the whole lot I don’t wish to see in a watch show finished so effectively (particularly contemplating the worth level), that I don’t simply discover myself tolerating it, however really drawn to it repeatedly.
What does it value?
So, I discussed not solely the worth level but in addition the actual fact this mannequin is considerably greater than the unique mannequin. Nonetheless, we’re nonetheless dealing within the ultra-accessible areas of the business. The unique Nereide from 2017 value €229 in the course of the Kickstarter marketing campaign and €469 thereafter. This mannequin, the Venezianico Nereide Ultraleggero, prices a reasonably cheap €685 in 2022.
…a really fascinating, fairly sudden step ahead for the model…
Usually talking, this isn’t the type of watch I purchase nowadays. However there was clearly a degree in my gathering profession that this was completely what I used to be prone to falling for. I feel the Nereide Ultraleggero is a really fascinating, fairly sudden step ahead for the model from Venice. I had anticipated one thing extra conservative, however it’s clear that the model is channeling the ingenious spirit of its residence metropolis to nice impact.
Whereas I’m keen on each Nereides I’ve had on my wrist, I discover the newer Ultraleggero to be the extra fascinating of the pair. The machining is excellent for this worth level, and the novel dial building (during which the decrease ornamental layer additionally acts because the casing ring) is a cool, patented function that I feel justifies the asking worth. What do you consider this watch? What are your experiences with the model? Tell us within the feedback part beneath. Be taught extra in regards to the newly rebranded Venezianico right here.
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