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Hands-On With The Phantasos Triclops

We live in an interesting time, when micro brands are now somewhat innovating and creating very interesting watches at seemingly impossible prices. Introducing the Phantasos Triclops....

Sam Kan
8 months ago

Sometimes I get bored easily. I need something fresh and exciting to interest me. Telling time is one of these things. The traditional way is all very well and good but you have to admit it’s kinda boring. So I’m always on the look out for watches with interesting ways of time display. One of which is the style from the incredibly avant-garde Urwerk (seemingly a favourite of Michael Jordan’s. Yes that Michael Jordan). But what happens when you don’t have a popular and profitable sneaker range and a successful basketball career to help fund this purchase? Never fear. Phantasos is here.

We live in an interesting time, when micro brands are now somewhat innovating and creating very interesting watches at seemingly impossible prices.This is very good news for those who don’t have vast sums to throw at hobbies, yet still want the options and variety instead of being relegated to collecting Seikos, Citizens, and Swatches. And even then the movement quality isn’t sacrificed in pursuit for a lower dollar value, as many of these micro brands are powered by reliable and robust base movements from, yep, you guessed it, Seiko and Citizen (Miyota). If you’re interested in a break down review on these micro brand favourites, let us know and we can organise something.

Using pretty much the same time-telling principle as the Urwerk UR-210, but at around one percent of the price, the Triclops is driven by a solid Miyota calibre 90S5 workhorse. I won’t go into the details of how it all works, but basically there is a block on each of the three arms. Each block has four faces and the blocks turns to the right hour as it comes up towards the 10:00 position to indicate the hours and the markings on the dial side indicate the minutes, each line representing 5 minutes.

To be honest I’m quite amazed that Phantasos was able to achieve and produce this kind of complication at this sort of price. Regardless of the base movement, it is mighty impressive.

The finishing of the watch is adequate. Remember, you’re looking at a watch that’s under 4 figures, and most of the cost would’ve gone towards making the complication work. However, you still get sapphire crystal front and back, brilliant lume, and a quick change strap system.

The bracelet is an optional add on, which I took up. Made from full stainless steel it has quite the heft, giving the whole watch a very solid, quality feel. However, you’ll need to keep in mind that there are no half links or micro adjustments on the bracelet, as it features a butterfly clasp. Each link is quite small so you shouldn’t have any trouble sizing it to fit. Otherwise their silicon or leather strap options are just as good.

Reading the time takes some getting used to, but once you have, telling the time is easy. Legibility is clear, and comfortable on the wrist. At 42mm in diameter and 13.5mm thick, it is slightly on the large side, but the relatively short lug-to-lug at around 47mm makes it easy to wear.

At the moment the watches are available to order from the Phantasos website, and they’re on pre-order discount pricing as well. This might be a good time to pick something up that offers interesting complication, a look that’s distinctive with a clever technical time indication.