Before you is the latest limited edition watch from New Zealand watch maker Magrette. This is the first look at the now available Magrette Taniwha watch. Hours of hand engraving has gone into the beautiful fully decorated case, which has been taken up a step with gold inlay decoration. It is a long process with many steps to yield the final result. I personally love the Magrette engraved watches. Not only does no other watch company offer watches like this, but the engravings are beautiful. The designs have characters and scenes, with emotions and the high skill of the engraver.
If you aren't the type of person who is used to wearing "decorated" things, I suggest trying it out. There is a special feeling of worth you get from it. Living in an industrialized world, we are so devoid of things hand decorated, or even decorated at all. We are used to things being just good enough, or often not even good enough at all. Having some decorated object adorn our outfits is quite the exotic treat these days. That is unless you had a mother who hand-made clothes for you. In that case though, you likely ride a horse and buggy. You can still have a mechanical watches though, no electricity use there! In addition to the decorated case, Magrette has extended the use of engraving on to the strap buckle, a design decision that I like a lot. There is also the watch number in the limited edition engraved here.
The Taniwha watch case is 44mm wide in steel (with gold inlay). The crystal is sapphire, and the watch is water resistant to about 100 feet. The strap is soft leather in black and 24mm wide. There is a sapphire caseback window giving you a view into the Swiss ETA 2824-2 automatic movement. The overall watch is based on the Magrette Regattare model line. this includes the case shape and dial design. I find the design enjoyable to look at and quite easy to read. I've reviewed the similarly styled Magrette Kupe's Voyage watch here.
The Taniwha name, like the engraving design is derived from traditional New Zealand Maori people. Taniwha are mythical water based monsters that in certain instances were known to be guardians of the peoples' ancestral canoes. While the fantasy Taniwha monsters were enemies to some, they were often protectors to the native New Zealand people. A more in depth discussion of the Taniwha mythical creatures is on the Magrette Taniwha webpage. Price for each of the five pieces is $5,985, and is Magrette's highest value timepiece to date. Pricey for some of the internal components, but the value is all in the character of the design as well as the skill and many hours of hand engraving.
