As it's my first bronze watch I just thought I'd do a very quick review of my Helberg CH6 that recently arrived after I pre-ordered it back in Oct 2013.
This is certainly not an expensive watch, or a ground-breaking watch, or indeed a complicated watch. But what it is (IMO) is a handsome, very nicely put together, and superb value for money watch. For those of you unfamiliar with Helberg, they are the more "vintage" arm of H20 Watches, which themselves are a German micro-brand run by a guy called Clemens Helberg. H20 watches have quickly gained quite a following on places such as WUS on account of their excellent attention to detail and highly customisable options. H20's designs to date are fairly contemporary (at least for dive watches), and they use some interesting materials - Grade 5 titanium, bronze, tungum in addition to SS, as well as metal mixes such as mokume gane. The Helberg arm is a little less adventurous in terms of materials (SS and bronze being the options to date), but the designs are much more vintage in style...... which appealed to me more than H20's pieces.
So back in Oct 2013 I ordered this piece at the pre-order price of just $495 USD (if memory serves!), which considering the spec and level of finishing, was a superb deal IMO. The options were as follows -
Case material: Stainless Steel 316L or Bronze
Case back: Stainless Steel 316L
Case diameter: 45.50mm
Length: 50.50mm
Height: 16.40mm with flat sapphire crystal / 20.40mm with 4mm domed sapphire crystal
WR: 1000M / 100bar
Crown: 8.50mm
Dial: Glossy Black, Navy Blue, Drab Olive or Brown enamel dial with Super-LumiNova BGW9 marker
Handset: Chromed or golden handset with Super-LumiNova BGW9
Movement: Miyota 9015 / 28.800 bph / 42 hour reserve / 24 Jewels
Additionally, the pre-order deal came with a free sharkskin Maddog Strap (worth $300 USD alone!), plus the opportunity to pick up an Isofrane strap for half price. I've long been a fan of Isofranes, so picking up another at half price was a no-brainer for me. I've got a Helberg bronze buckle on the way, so soon enough the buckle will match the finish of the case.
So last Saturday my bronze case/bronze bezel/black dial/gold handset/domed sapphire crystal version finally turned up on my doorstep, and while I know it's very easy to wax lyrical about a new watch, I've honestly been very impressed with the package. It arrived in a water-proof Pelican style case, and came with the Isofrane, the Maddog strap, and an additional brown leather strap as standard, along with a screwdriver and the warranty card. Both leather straps were fitted with a frankly ludicrously large bronze buckle : I've not taken any pictures of them, but there are plenty of pictures of them elsewhere on the net.
As I mentioned above, the finish is excellent. The case is made of solid CuSn8 bronze, which has a lovely red-gold hue to it.... at least until the patina sets in! The case also has a nice mix of finishes, being predominantly brushed with just a couple of polished accents on some of the leading edges. Everything is nicely rounded and there are no sharp edges that you sometimes find on "budget" watches. Another nice touch is the fact that the crown is also bronze. I see far too many bronze watches nowadays where it seems like the manufacturer can't be bothered to craft the crown in bronze, so you end with a mint crown on a patinated case after a few months. The only gripe I have with the case is the drilled lugs. The lugs were originally not going to be drilled, but a few people on WUS really pushed for drilled lugs and Clemens eventually went along with them. Personally I find the holes are too small for any tools I have, so they are useless in terms of changing straps (plus I'm more than happy with my trusty Bergeon 6767), and they simply add “visual noise” to an otherwise very clean case. The bezel action is very nice and precise, although I read one customer on WUS say the exact opposite : maybe his has an issue, because mine is spot-on.
The glossy dial is very nicely executed, and I'm glad that Helberg decided to omit the date - far too many micros always use the dreaded 4:30 date position even on 3 handers which drives me mad! I've not looked at the dial under a loupe yet, but I'm not sure whether the Helberg logo and wording is printed or applied : either way it's very nicely done. The lume is thick and liberally applied and while the blue colour is very nice, it could do with being a little brighter IMO. As always, Omega, Panerai and Seiko lead the way on the lume front, but given the cost of this CH6, it's a minor gripe.
The official WR rating is 1000m, but Helberg also included a print out of the pressure test report and it actually made 2400m. I think I can do the washing up with it on with not too many worries!
The hacking Miyota 9015 is so far behaving itself just as well as an ETA 2824, or maybe even a 2892. The rotor is very silent with no vibration at all, and the second hand is extremely smooth. The winding feel has a little more “grind” to it than a butter-smooth 2892, but that's the only descernible difference at this stage. In terms of timekeeping it's currently running at circa +7 seconds a day – not bad considering it wasn't sold as a COSC spec watch, and I'd obviously expect it to settle a little over time anyway.
The pre-order price was superb, but even at full price ($800 – 900 USD depending on the choices) I still feel this is a great watch for the money, especially with with spec and level of customisation on offer
Anyway that's enough of a review, so here's a few quick and dirty pics. The first was on the day of arrival : the others are from today, so you can already see the patina starting to form -
Nice informative review about a beauty of a watch. I don't know a lot about Helberg but they seem to make a great affordable watch, something I will have to check out for myself in the near future. Also the bronze pieces are insanely gorgeous! That buckle will definitely put the icing on the cake! 
It's a super piece of CNC work and is a perfect complement to the watch-head.
