There are materials that are made for diving watches. Stainless steel is highly corrosion-resistant, and bronze seals itself with a patina that personifies the sport, and titanium … well, to me, titanium is the king. It’s lighter and harder than the aforementioned, and its dark grey color reinforces the utilitarian nature of the piece. In diving, where weight is carefully managed, this feather-like material makes more sense than a shiny well-polished steel watch. It has been used for decades now, but when Tudor launched a full titanium watch in 2012, its popularity skyrocketed. Many brands charge a premium on their titanium pieces, but in recent years, we have seen several microbrands produce quality titanium pieces at affordable prices, like the RZE Aspirare I am reviewing today.
RZE is a Singapore-based watchmaker and self-described “purveyor of tough titanium goods.” It’s hard enough to create a case from Grade 2 Titanium, but RZE didn’t stop there; they also crafted titanium bracelets for almost all of their offerings. You would think that once they had brought a successful design to life, they would have simply produced the same watch with different dial configurations to achieve economies of scale, but incredibly, every offering is different, as is every accessory that goes with it. In their lineup, you can find a watch for almost any adventure: GMT, field watch, chronograph, and two 200m divers. For their next step, the brand went bigger, creating a 300m (1000 ft) titanium diver on a grand scale. We were lucky to get our hands on one of the first before the big reveal. I promised myself I wouldn’t say, “Let’s dive in,” so, let’s begin.
Specifications
The Aspirare has presence by design, but it is not an oversized watch with small handsets or an odd lug width. Rather, it’s a 44mm watch with a 53mm lug to lug that it wears really well on my 6.25-inch wrist (16cm). To me, dive watches, like pilots’ watches, must put legibility first, and this is very well achieved on the Aspirare. The dial breathes nicely with that black grainy dial. The hands are large with thick channels of SuperLuminova right down the middle. It also has a combination of markers for easy orientation. A six-sided figure at 12 o’clock like a square vase, and a combination of long and short tapered quadrangles (isosceles trapezium, to be precise) for the rest, the smallest of marks 6 o’clock below the date. They also gave it two lume colors, green for the hour hand and markers, blue for the minute and second hands and the bezel insert.
There is a lot going on, but the watch manages to stay very symmetrical and tool-like. The bezel is grey and will be swappable for a different color, but I have to say the whole grey look does wonders for the eye. This, I believe, will be the favorite version, although we will have a Diamond White and a Meteorite Black joining the launch.
Under the hood, we have a reliable Miyota 9015 with a custom rotor. It is not visible via a case back window, and I think it works for the best because it helps keep the watch at 13mm thick and also gives us more of that wonderful titanium.
On the wrist
Given the Aspirare’s size, I appreciated its lightness, but one of the most impressive elements of this watch is its bracelet. It not only has a unique hexagonal design but it is well-machined and fluid. The tolerances are so high that the end links seem like they are integrated with the case. The clasp has a quick adjustment system that works and feels very solid. All of the components are well-finished with no imperfections.
All these refinements and features really make me think about what the price of this watch would have been if it had been made by a Swiss brand. Sure, some are willing to pay a premium for a Swiss watch or movement, but the RZE’s case, bracelet, and unique design are just as good as many of its Swiss competitors, which are three times the price. I wore the Aspirare for a week, and I have to say that it looks great when you are outside doing sports or any physical activity. I also think it would look just as good on a black rubber strap, something I know the guys from RZE do very well, but it would feel odd to take off of such a well-made bracelet.
Conclusions
As you can see, I really enjoyed this new addition to the current RZE lineup. The build quality its incredible, and the wearability is also a very strong point. It is hard to make a distinctive diver these days. There are plenty of Submariner homages out there, and it takes time and talent to develop a unique design language. RZE has achieved this, with watches like the Aspirare that are unique, bold, and give us the chance to enjoy an exotic material at a very reasonable cost. The Aspirare will be available at launch at 659 USD with a titanium bracelet. Visit rzewatches.com for more.
Specifications
Case: Bead-blasted Grade 2 Titanium with UltraHexTM(up to ~1200Hv hardness) Case Size: 44mm
Case Thickness: 13mm
Lug size: 22mm
Lug to lug: 53mm
Movement: Miyota 9015 Automatic Movement with custom date wheel Water Resistance: 300m (1000ft) / 30ATM
Bezel: Swappable Unidirectional 120-clicks rotating bezel.
Crown: Screw-down crown with custom reverse engraved logo
Dial: Applied indexes grain-texture dial with Super-LumiNova® Hands: Custom hands with Super-LumiNova®
Lens: Sapphire crystal with inner-side Super-AR
Bracelet: Ultra-Link titanium bracelet with UltraHexTM coating
Buckle: Quick adjustment dive buckle
Case Back: Screw-down solid titanium caseback
