The new Deco E06 is the latest addition to the Enoksen range. A watch that has been two years in the making and which seeks to meet at least two different requirements at the same time. Since we launched Enoksen Watch Company there have been calls for a watch that would appeal to women, or at least has a size that wouldn’t overwhelm a female wrist.
Whilst that sounds easy to do, it has taken a long time to arrive at what you are looking at here. Enoksen is making functional, no-nonsense timepieces that are made to be worn. That doesn’t necessarily chime with diamond cladded, mother-of-pearl coloured dials and petite watch cases. The challenge was therefore to remain true to our ethos and still create something that is appealing to the fairer sex.
During the process a realisation was made: we could actually make a watch that would 1) look great on both women and men, 2) would have the technical specifications we are known for, and 3) pass as a very credible dress watch for a man looking for a timepiece to wear in a formal setting.
The case
Measuring 36mm the Deco sits firmly in the middle of the scale. Big enough to have presence on a male wrist and small enough to work well on even small female wrists. We are suckers for a satin case finish, but on Deco we have turned up the charm a bit by having the sides, the bezel and the crown finished in high gloss polish. The rest of the case is satin as usual. The mixture of the two creates a more vibrant appearance and makes the watch more dressy. Available in steel, and as a first for Enoksen, in gold, the Deco presents its unisex message in a convincing way. So much for the appearance. To make Deco a watch that is true to what our customers have come to expect from Enoksen, we designed it to have a screw-down crown and a screw-down caseback, which allowed us to achieve a 200m/660ft water resistance. In other words a Deco can go diving without missing a beat.
The dial
We wanted the clarity and legibility Enoksen is known for. The 3-6-9 hour markers steal the show and are deliberately made a bit bigger than they needed to be, creating an Art Deco-esque style from which the watch takes it name. Oversized markers are also a great place to put lots of BGW9 SuperLuminova and achieve superior legibility, even after several hours of complete darkness.
The hour hand is the classic Mercedes design, modified to hold the Enoksen logo instead of the three spoke star. The Mercedes hand is often associated with the Rolex Submariner but that design actually dates back to the 1940s - 10 years before the launch of Rolex’s iconic diver.
Colours are always an interesting topic but we wanted to keep it real with clean and classic colours. To echo the vibrance of the case we decided to go for a sunburst effect on all dials apart from the white. A sunburst dial responds well to light and offers a reflection of its surroundings. Take the black dial for instance, which is available on both gold and steel. It can appear to be everything from pitch black to grey, depending on the light.
All the beautiful dial colours can be enjoyed through the anti-reflective sapphire crystal, which protects the dial and the hands.
The movement
Back in 2019 we launched a special version of our classic Dive E02 featuring a new Seiko quartz movement called VH31. A so-called Mecha-quartz movements which offers the best of both worlds: pinpoint accuracy, lots of moving parts and the delightful sweeping second hand like a mechanical watch. We felt that the VH31 would be ideal for the Deco, making the watch accurate and affordable, without humiliating it with an undesirable 60-steps-a-minute second hand action.
The straps
Like a supermodel the Deco looks good in pretty much everything, and is supplied with a fine mesh bracelet in steel or gold, depending on the model. We also offer a number of rubber straps, leather straps and even a range of NATO straps.
In fact, the more we experimented, the more versatile the watch seemed to become. We put one of our seatbelt NATO straps in Khaki on the warm grey steel version of the watch, and we simply couldn’t stop looking at how the strap colour and the dial colour just engaged in the most enchanting encounter. It was literally watch porn taken to a different level.
Or when Hans added a grey Tropic rubber strap to the black dial steel Deco and never took the watch off for two weeks - a definite record for him. Or when Oliver took a lush brown leather strap with white stitching and fitted it to the black dial gold deco and created a watch that looks and feels like 20x the asking price. It should be obvious by now that we are smitten with this, the newest member of the Enoksen range.
In the end we settled for two different versions of each of the 6 Deco models. One for the ladies and one for the men.
The ladies versions come with a lizard leather strap and a micro-adjustable mesh strap in steel or gold, depending on the colour of the watch. The ladies versions are known as AF, BF, CF, DF, EF, and FF.
For the more masculine look we selected the above mentioned lush leather strap with white stitching, but also a black or white rubber strap to make the watch suitable for the wet element. The men's versions are known as AM, BM, CM, DM, EM, and FM.
So all in all Deco is not just a pretty face but a serious tool watch at the same time. Now it’s your turn.