2021 seems to be the year of the integrated bracelet sports watch, with many different brands releasing new models with their interpretation of it. Given my enjoyment of the style, I was excited to take the Rotary Regents for a spin when this model was released.
As a quick background on Rotary, they are a British company that has been designing watches in Great Britain since 1907. They don’t have a large footprint on this side of the pond, but I expect that will be changing in the future as the brand continues its tradition of putting out solidly built watches. I actually have a Rotary-designed Landeron based chronograph from the early 1960s and was eager to see the brand’s more recent offerings.
The Regents model I was sent is one of the skeleton models on a leather strap. The Regents collection includes solid and cage-style skeleton dials in blue and black. For a strap, you can choose between a crocodile grain leather strap that matches your chosen dial or an integrated metal bracelet that alternates brushed and mirror polished links. The connection to the watch head is proprietary so this watch is not a candidate for strap swapping unless you’re looking to have custom straps fabricated.
The glossy deep blue of the strap is an excellent match to the blue of the dial. The strap tapers from 24mm at the lugs to 20mm at the signed tang buckle. The leather flexed well around my wrist and the strap is well proportioned for the watch, but I wish that the included buckle was a deployant clasp instead, to minimize wear on the strap over time. It would have added to the premium feel of the watch without adding much to the materials cost. The choice of crocodile grain is a good compliment for the dressy aesthetic of the watch case.
The Regents case is a great mix of straight lines, polished facets, and smooth curves. The overall shape gives the impression of an octagon, but the sides alternate between straight and curved. The Regents measures 40mm wide and 48mm lug to lug. The alternating brushed and mirrored surfaces on the stainless steel watch case make it eye-catching at every angle. The transition between the different finishes is crisp and adds to the dimensionality of the watch case. The brushed finish is uniform and transitions smartly to the mirrored facets of the bezel. The top of the mid-case is brushed and the sides are mirrored again, with the flat face of the crown brushed to offset it from the case.
The push-pull crown is well proportioned for the case and easy to use to set and wind the watch. Depending on how well the first link of the bracelet articulates, the real-world lug to lug of the bracelet model may be a bit larger. The angle of the lugs allows the watch to wear comfortably on my 6.5” wrist at 11mm thick. The water-resistance of 100m is more than adequate for this style, and like any good skeleton watch, there are sapphire crystals on both the front and back so you can watch the movement from either side.
The dial is a cage-style skeleton dial to expose the Miyota 8N24 movement. The dial is a sunburst blue with applied lumed hour markers in a polished silver frame. The baton hands are lumed and polished silver to match the hour markers. The contrast between the silver markers and blue dial makes the watch very readable in any light. The lume application is thick and even resulting in the dial luming up strongly after only a few minutes in the sun. There is a frame around the balance wheel to highlight the beating heart of the movement.
The Miyota 8N24 is the expected movement for a non-Swiss skeleton watch and it performs admirably in the Regent. It’s the skeletonized version of the 8215, a standard choice of mid-tier brands. The matte-finished movement and rotor are an excellent contrast to the case finish and the movement performed well within factory spec during my time with the watch. It has the classic Miyota “free spin” mode if you flick your wrist, but I consider that a feature, not a bug.
For the price, this is a well-built, well-finished example of an integrated bracelet sports watch in the style of Gerald Genta. The case is refined and interesting to look at and the dial is both readable and highlights the movement behind it. I do wish that the strap came with a deployant clasp to improve the longevity of the strap, but if you want a distinctive watch at around $500, the Rotary Regent is definitely one worth looking at. The solid dial, leather strap models start at $389 and range up to the skeleton bracelet models at $509. You can explore all of the models on Rotary Watches site.
