SevenFriday M1 on the wrist of Sugi Kusumadi. Legibility is high with the use of rotating discs. Note the left-hand crown. The signature “squircle”-shape steel case (the word “squircle” comes from the words “square” and “circle”) which is 47mm by 47.6mm houses the Miyota 8215 automatic movement. Priced at around SGD1,988 (Singapore dollars) / MYR5,110 (Malaysian Ringgit) / US$1,580 / CHF1,400 (Swiss francs). Also spotted on his wrist: Muse lava stone bracelet. Photo: © TANG Portfolio. February 2014
The M1 is one model from SevenFriday’s second generation collection officially launched by the brand in Basel, Switzerland in March 2014.
Like the first generation SevenFriday watches, discs are used to display time. However, it is somewhat different with the discs this time (pun most definitely intended).
Rather than use extended arms on two discs for indicating the hours and minutes analog style, the discs itself are used but in digital style.
The hours and minutes are read off the digital display with the reference point corresponding to a straight line (in blue) at the three o’clock position.
Time-reading legibility with such a system is high and this is a major plus point especially with our minor concerns over the first generation SevenFriday collection, as pointed out in two previous articles: SevenFriday on Friday the Seventh and SevenFriday: Seven dazed, not one weak.
[Note: for those who have read: SevenFriday on Friday the Seventh, SevenFriday founder Daniel Niederer was wearing the very cool SevenFriday M2.]
Having the digital reading of the hour and minute (off the discs) on the right of the watch (and the crown on the left) makes sense as this is the section that will peek out of the cuffs if one is wearing a long-sleeve shirt and if the watch is worn on the left wrist.
If the disc displays were reversed, the crown will be on the right and time reading is from the left. If worn on the left wrist, the time display will most likely be hidden by the cuff.
The one teeny issue we have is the time reading of the hours, minutes and seconds which is from right-to-left, rather than from the more conventional left-to-right. This is a small matter as it just takes a short time to get used to this disc system (sorry, could not resist the pun).
Overall, this piece does have the “killer-design” looks. We do like the design execution and style of the new generation SevenFriday, its pricing (sub US$1,600) and we give it three thumbs up! What is important for us is that the DNA of this brand is retained.