Trey Stone has entered the microbrand arena with Experience ($1,399), an attractive, Swiss-made automatic designed to be your ideal everyday companion. Go anywhere, do anything (GADA) watches are highly prized in this hobby because they allow us to rationalize our watch purchases. “If I buy this GADA,” you think, “then I don’t need to buy both a dress watch and a tool watch, so I’m actually saving money!” And then you buy three more watches anyway. Still, there is something satisfying about strapping on your watch in the morning and knowing it will be both dapper and tough enough to handle whatever situation life throws your way. As a sucker for both practicality and rationalization, I thought I’d try the Experience.
If you think you remember Trey Stone from Southpark, you are wrong. You are thinking of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of that irreverent animated series. Of course, once you get that misconception into your head, it is impossible to shake. (You’re welcome.) Rather, the brand’s name refers to Earth, the third planet from the Sun. Trey Stone underscores its commitment to global good by donating 10% of its profits to respected charities, allowing buyers to choose from a list that includes UNICEF, the World Wildlife Fund, and Doctors Without Borders, among others.
Wristwatch versatility starts with proportion, and Trey Stone does so with a stainless steel case that is 40mm wide, 47mm long, and just 10.6mm thick, with 20mm lugs. It creates a slim profile with a slightly sporty wrist presence that should fit most customers, except the smallest and largest. Being a mid-sized guy myself, the Experience struck the right balance, filling out my 6.75″ wrist and slipping under my shirt cuff while still projecting a touch of athletic swagger.
Slim, polished beveled edges and a polished and signed crown provide pleasant highlights on the otherwise brushed surfaces. These bright points carry through to the 3-link bracelet and dial markers. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a solid, straightforward design.
I see more than a touch of field watch aesthetic in the Experience, even though I wouldn’t classify it as such. Applied and polished dart markers, alpha hands, and large cardinal numbers lend a military bearing to this distinctively handsome face. Trey Stone has further elevated the look with a shimmering sunray dial and elegant typeface for the brand and model name, printed here in shades of brown to match the minute index.
The color selections are also more fashionable than military. You won’t find white-on-black or black-on-white; instead, you can choose Monarch Black (black/orange), Lepidus Silver (silver/black), Cardinal Red (red/black), Dart Frog Blue (ice blue/black), or my choice, Palamino White (white/orange).
A good everyday watch must be as durable as it is handsome, and the Experience meets this brief with 100m water resistance, a screw-down crown, and double-domed, AR-coated sapphire crystals. It even has Super-LumiNova, but that is where form wins over function because every colorway has colored lume material, and color blunts its effectiveness. As you can see below, the orange lume on this model lit up surprisingly well. The others are Ultamarine or Grey, and while I didn’t have the opportunity to test them, previous experience tells me the darker lume color, the briefer the glow.
Inside is a Swiss Sellita SW200-1 b automatic (28.8k bph, 26 jewels, 38+ hour power reserve). It is a reliable, accurate movement durable enough to power a long list of dive and tool watches. Trey Stone has fitted a decorated élaboré grade unit with blued screws and a custom rotor, all visible through the display caseback.
One of my more common complaints about wristwatches is strap quality. I don’t understand why so many watchmakers will put heart and soul into every other aspect of their creation and then cheap out on the strap. Maybe the manufacturing cost doesn’t justify the effort. Maybe most buyers don’t care. Maybe they assume those who do will already have a suitable strap ready and waiting to swap. Whatever the reason, I believe it is a crime for a fine watch to wear a “genuine leather” mediocrity, so when I saw that Trey Stone offered a 20mm strap in Shell Cordovan leather lined with Zermatt calfskin, I took notice.
This is a lovely strap: rich color, tight construction, and quality leather with a custom buckle and quick-release pins. It required no break-in period and looked amazing. Better still, it is the kind of strap that will age beautifully, developing a mellow patina as it weathers the incidental bumps and dings of life.
They also offer a 5-link bracelet that tapers to an 18mm clasp. It’s an attractive, well-executed unit (note the polished ends that flank the center) with individually articulated links, though it lacks some features we have come to expect, like a push-button microadjusting extension and quick-release pins. That said, it suits the Experience quite well.
The only question remaining is value; does the Trey Stone Experience justify its $1,399 price tag? I tend to let my readers make that judgment on their own, but I will note that it is an attractive piece with a high-quality movement. That said, the price places it in competition with some heavy hitters like Chrispher Ward.
Overall, I like the Trey Stone Experience’s classic good looks, élaboré movement, and top-notch strap. The brand’s commitment to charitable giving is also admirable. I wish them well with this launch and look forward to seeing what their next project might be.
For more information or to place an order, visit treystonewatches.com.
