Slow Jo 02

The Slow Watch is not the first 24 hour watch. The Botta Uno has been on the market for several years, and embraces many of the same concepts. The Slow Watch takes the same idea and goes in a different direction with it, combining a 24 hour face with its own unique minimalist design. Slow Jo has an octagonal case of brushed stainless steel, 38mm wide and 42.5mm long to accomodate the strap lugs. The angles of the octagon are slightly modified to give these dimensions, and keep the bezel the same width on all four sides. Thickness is 8.2mm not counting the anti-reflective mineral glass, which rises another 1.2mm, making overall thickness 9.4mm. This is the only feature I would change, as I feel the design would be even sleeker if the glass were flush with the top of the case. I'm not sure if the case would accomodate a flat glass at present, or if it would need to be thicker to provide clearance for the hand under the glass. The raised crystal hasn't created any problem on this watch, or on my other watches which also have a raised crystal. The Omega Speedmaster Professional, the Vostok Amphibia, and many Swatches use this design also. The back is perfectly flat, and held in place by 8 screws. The back is one of two places where you will see the Slow logo, along with the words Swiss Made. The logo also appears subtly on the end of the unknurled crown. It's rated water resistant to 330 feet, so you can jump in the pool or even the ocean if you wish. The 38mm size was intended as a unisex design, and it looks good on the women in the advertisements, however there is also a 34mm size, called Slow Mo, for those who prefer a smaller watch. The arabic numerals are arranged in a radial pattern around the perimeter of the dial, with the space between each hour equal to 2.5 minutes on a conventional watch face. There are four indices between each hour, corresponding to 15 minutes in real time. The single hand has a matte chrome finish, and tapers to a very sharp point, which allows reading the time to within 3 minutes or so. There is no logo of any sort on the dial, in keeping with the very pure minimalist design ethic. Like some dress watches, there is also no lume of any sort. In dim light you can tilt the watch to catch a reflection on the hand, but in all honesty, it's not at its best under those circumstances. The case houses a Ronda quartz movement which is designed to be used on GMT watches. Because there are a couple of extra gears to drive the 24 hour hand at 1/2 speed of the main hour hand, there appears to be a slight delay in starting the motion of the 24 hour hand after setting the time. Accordingly, I set the hand about 1/2 of a space ahead of actual time (about 7 minutes), then pushed in the crown. The movement took up whatever extra lost motion was in the gear train and began advancing the hand, and the watch hasn't required any adjustment since. The mechanism does make an audible ticking sound, but it's faint and you have to be in a quiet place to hear it. The bracelet is all stainless steel, with a hidden clasp. The clasp and links appear to be machined, not stamped. The bracelet snaps open and closed by firmly pushing or pulling on the clasp. Sized to accommodate wrists up to 8.5", I had to remove four links to find my fit. Sizing is adjusted in the conventional manner by pushing pins out with a tool to release the links. The Slow Watch is comfortable to wear, sits flat on my wrist and feels very solid and well made. Perhaps because of the 34mm dial, it looks a bit larger than it actually is. The design is sufficiently unique that it won't be mistaken for anything else, so although other single-hand watches with 24-hour dials exist, the Slow Watch is not an homage to any of them. It appears that the designers started with a completely blank sheet of paper, and made choices reflecting their goals...make a watch which provides the desired information to the desired degree of precision...build it out of high quality materials...keep the design simple, without unnecessary styling elements...sell it at a reasonable price. The finished product would look at home in a museum of modern art. Reading the time is different from most other watches, but simpler and more intuitive. Instead of reading two separate scales (12 hours and 60 minutes), the wearer only reads one, direct scale which spans the entire 24 hour period. "Daylight" hours are in the top half of the dial, and "Nighttime" hours are in the bottom half. Just like the speedometer on most cars, one can glance casually and judge the approximate reading by the angle of the hand, or if desired, look for a slightly longer time and perceive exactly which marker the hand is nearest. I didn't find it at all difficult to make the adjustment, and think that someone who had never learned to tell time on a conventional watch would find this very much easier to master. Similarly, although the hours from noon to midnight are numbered the military way, 13 though 23, the translation is easily learned. One quickly comes to understand that a certain angle of the hand on the dial corresponds to 7pm, even if that hour is labeled 19. The sharp point of the hand is much narrower than the space between the 15 minute markers, so time can be reliably read to within a couple of minutes, although the design philosophy of the watch is to learn to not obsess over minutes. I ordered my Slow Jo directly from the makers on Nov 29, and it arrived on Dec 11, presumably slowed by the volume of holiday mail. It comes attractively packaged in a box whose design seems influenced by the same criteria as the watch. Prices for the Slow Watch vary depending on which band you choose. Cases come in silver, gold, black (plus rose gold for the 34mm size), dials in black, silver, cream (plus rose gold on the dial again for the 34mm) plus bands in stainless steel (link or mesh in either silver or gold color), canvas, nylon, and leather are available in several colors, making an unusual watch even more unique. Also, bands are available separately if the combination you want isn't sold as a package, or if you simply want to be able to change the look sometimes. Bands come with the tool required to change them yourself. The stainless steel bracelet is the most expensive option, at $290 as of December 2014. I felt that this was a very attractive price for a Swiss watch whose design pleases me so much.

I saw the watch in the Lufthansa Inflight Shopping magazine and Slow is awesome...Brilliant ….intuitive concept...and the beauty of sophisticated simplicity. Now, everyone asked where I bought such a beautiful watch. I have also found that in dealing with estimations of time, there is a more relaxed feeling throughout the workday. PLUS the best ever customer service you could have from Jo!

Jo got my watch just in time in Germany for my vacation back to Hong Kong, where almost everyone asked where I bought such a beautiful watch - from the most unexpected person like my former boss. They admire the beauty of sophisticated simplicity. PLUS the best ever customer service you could have from Jo!