Axia Sofia II

About two years ago, Mike Razak reviewed the Axia Kairos for The Time Bum, which fit the bill as a solid and undeniably pretty all-around dress-sports watch. Today, I have the Axia Sofia II, a watch offering similar versatility in an entirely different package.

The Sofia II (yes, there is also a Sofia I) is 40.5mm wide, 47.8mm long, and 10.8mm thick. Any mechanical watch that sneaks in under 11mm gets bonus points from me. Buttoned shirt cuff? No problem. These are nice, tight proportions that are almost guaranteed to fit the widest possible range of wrist sizes. Mine is 6.75″, and I think I wore it rather well.

It is an elegant case, slightly arched for a better fit, and finished in fine brushing and bright polish — a combination used to particularly pleasing effect on lugs. This is all the more surprising because the case is grade 5 titanium, not stainless steel. That makes the Sofia II delightfully lightweight at well. An anti-scratch treatment takes the surface hardness to over 1000hv. Add that to 16x AR-coated sapphire crystals, a screw-down crown, and 100m water resistance, and it becomes clear that the Sofia II is ready for just about anything you are likely to throw at it. If you find something familiar about all this, you are not wrong. The case was produced by SWC, which also assembles the watches in their Swiss workshop.

Flip the watch over, and you will get a look at the Sellita SW360 movement within. Based on the ETA 2892A2, this 28.8k bph automatic has 31 jewels and a 56-hour power reserve. Unlike many in the sub-$1000 price range, it is well decorated with perlage and Geneva stripes. Customers get a complementary engraving of up to 50 characters on that blue ring under the sapphire, ensuring that whatever message is inscribed will be forever protected from wear.

Let’s get back to the dial, though. As pretty as the case may be (and it is), I was sucked in by the rich, radially brushed blue dial and its big Art Deco numbers. They aren’t printed, but rather engraved and filled with X1 SuperLuminova. The minutes track is on the inside, with lume pips at every hour. Finally, we have a small seconds subdial, also decked out with lume pips, and a 6 o’clock date. The date is the perfect embodiment of Axia’s attention to detail: it is color matched to the dial, custom printed in the same typeface as the hours, and in a porthole window that is, by my count, the fourth circular element nested on the dial. Beautiful.

Polished and faceted hands cap it off, tying together the polished case surfaces and the polished and applied logo. Axia will offer the watch in black as well, which will also look lovely, I’m sure. But that blue sets a pretty high bar.

Does all of the X1 pay off when the lights go out? You bet it does.

I’d say the dial is nearly perfect. The only thing that keeps me from swooning 100% is the position of the minutes track. It looks great, but when I am setting a watch, I want to line up the sharp point of the minute hand with its corresponding marker. On this watch, that is impossible. Instead, you must place the shaft of the hand over the marker. Similarly, when reading the minute you do so by the hand’s relation to nearby markers, not by its point. Does this really affect accuracy in any meaningful way? No. Did it bug me? Well, yes, for a time, it did. Then I got over it because, seriously, just look at that face. How can you stay mad at that face?

I did not give the pass-through much of a test. It is a soft, smooth, high-quality nylon weave, and both the colors and hardware were a good match for the watch, but the style just seemed a little too tool-watchy for the dapper Sofia II. Still, it’s nice to have.

Pre-orders for Axia Sofia II open Monday, November 21, 2023 for $595. After Christmas, the price rises to $795. This is right on target for a watch like Sofia II, particularly with that amazing titanium case and top-spec Swiss movement. To get yours, head over to AxiaTime.com.

In case anyone is looking for a gift idea, I’d like mine in blue with the blue gator, inscribed “To the most timely of bums, keep on bumming.” Just saying.