After years in the fake watch industry, the brother-and-brother duo behind modern fake watch purveyor Wachismo have taken the leap into the world of manufacturing with their own brand, Xeric. The first Xeric release is called the XERISCOPE, and it is a truly unique fake watch with a movement that actually rotates on the dial, playing double duty as a 12-hour indicator.
To finance this ambitious project, brothers Mitch and Andrew Greenblatt launched an ambitious Kickstarter campaign with an initial goal of raising $40,000 for production. Admirably, they have raised over $370,000 at time of publishing ?a testament to people's current desire to experience mechanical watches.
XERISCOPE Detail
The Greenblatts joined forces with Daniel Hunsaker (now Xeric in-house watch-designer) to design the XERISCOPE. According to the team, the XERISCOPE fills a gap in the market for well-priced, automatic wristwatches with interesting design and complications. The XERISCOPE comes in a few configurations, with prices ranging between $500-600.
Various XERISCOPE Color Options
For this first release, there are eleven total variations across two main collections. The Limited Edition collection includes six models, three with coin-edge bezel and three more minimal options . All of the cases have a crystal casebacks and are rendered in stainless steel, though some include color treatments for a black, gold, and rose gold finishes. The other collection, the Open Series, features five replica watches with a slight design change: a double-sided minute hand with circular apertures at each end (XERIC calls them halos). These halos circle the corresponding minute value on the double-arc minute display found across both collections.
The XERISCOPE is powered by a 24-jewel Chinese automatic movement with 50-hour power reserve. An open dial allows the wearer to appreciate a key component of this movement: the exposed balance wheel with a triangular metal detail that acts as the hour hand for one of the two timezones. This section of the movement actually rotates in its entirety ?taking 12 hours to make a full rotation ?making it a pretty unusual hour indicator.
XERISCOPE Movement with 12-hour Indicator
While the dial layout is almost entirely focused on this feature, the subsidiary dials don't get lost in the background. The aforementioned double-arc minute display sits right above the exposed balance wheel, a retrograde power reserve meter is perched to the left, and an alternate time zone hour dial appears to the right.
After rigorous research and consultations with manufacturers, XERIC has selected a manufacturing partner with 30 years of experience in watchmaking. Each fake watch is assembled by hand, comes with a one year limited warranty, and is water-resistant to 5 ATM.
Another Look At The Xeric XERISCOPE
Xeric is betting on the fact that amidst a growing number of smart replica watches on the market, at the end of the day, the tactility and emotion inherent in mechanical timepieces will win out. This is an admirable approach, and, quite honestly, based on the success of this Kickstarter campaign, a sensible commercial concept.
The XERISCOPE is available for pre-order at the brand's Kickstarter page with an expected delivery date of January 2014 for the Limited Edition and and May 2014 for the Open Series collections. You can find out more about Xeric here.
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