Recently I've decided to change up my collection a bit & got me some watches I've always liked but never owned, such as this conveyor belt-driven Devon Tread 1F...
Devon Works is a California-based US watchmaker and when the Tread 1 was launched in 2010, it was the only American-manufactured watch to ever be nominated as a finalist in the Grand Prix d' Horlogerie de Genève (the Academy Awards of watches) -- to finish runner-up in the Design and Concept Watch category to the winner, the HM4 Thunderbolt.
Incidentally I was actually fortunate enough to play around with the hM4 for a few weeks when I courriered one for a friend last year. While the HM4 is an amazing watch to look at, it still tells time with the traditional clockwise dial. The Devon with it's multiple conveyor-belts on the other hand, is simply mesmerizing to watch! (pardon the pun
)The watch is very large but very light. The double-jointed lugs hug my 6-3/4" wrist very well making the watch extremely comfortable to wear. I actually love the massive wrist-presence and "noisy" belts and hence prefer the Tread 1 over the smaller & quieter Tread 2.
If the seconds belt is left running continuously, the watch has a 4-days "power reserve". The clicks are LOUD & easily heard in all but the noisiest environment. The Tread 1 also has a 'quiet' mode where only the minutes & hours belts are running & the seconds belt is off -- a necessity for when you're in an enclosed space like a car or the plane. In this mode the watch has a roughly 2-weeks power reserve.
The belt-driven movement is trully hypnotic and is easily the center of attention in almost every WIS setting I've been to. Other all-mechanical belt-driven haute horology creations are available, but those are priced waaaayyyy above my pay grade. The Devon is made "affordable" (relatively speaking) because it's actually an 'electro-mechanical' device which runs on... rechargeable battery! This is probably the number one factor which deter many watch collectors. But since I've owned a superquartz Emergency Mission & Panerai 193 which also uses a battery (to power it's Metas-certified depth gauge), batteries don't bother me
One advantage is that the watch can be turned off completely -- perfect for when you're in church or at the movies! All the belts will run a full rotation & the watch will display 12:00:00 when turned off. It will repeat this 'belt-calibration' when it's turned back on, before advancing to the correct current time.
While the Devon display box doubles as a cool cordless induction battery charger (there are no plugs on the watch itself), it's certainly not feasible to bring the box around when travelling. Imho Devon needs to make a trully portable travel charger that perhaps simply plug into a USB charger. Incidentally, on a long trip recently where I have multiple watches, I discovered that repeated on/offs (whenever I'm not wearing the Devon) drain the battery much faster than to simply let the watch run continuously in its 'quiet' mode.
While it's definitely not a watch for the masses, for the techno-gadget lover like me the Devon Tread 1 brings great pleasure indeed!
Some pics & a short video:
Short video:
