While I don’t believe that the hands on the watch need to be skeletonized, legibility is pretty good thanks to the properly-sized hands and clear hour markers. The hands are skeletonized, however, because if not, they are wide enough to cover up much of the chronograph subdials during certain hours of the day. There is nevertheless still luminant applied to the tips of the hands.
In addition to a chronograph complication, the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon watch also has a big date indicator. These features are laid out nicely enough, and like I said, both attractive and easy to read. As much of a “designy” watch that the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon is, you get the idea that Jordi wanted to make sure that it looked and felt like a traditional timepiece when it came to functionality. I did truly appreciate that.
Inside of the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon watch is the caliber MJ 1948.01 automatic movement. It is a Dubois Depraz mechanical movement which is likely a modified Swiss ETA base movement with a Dubois-Depraz module on it for the chronograph and the big date feature. The movement works well, is virtually silent through the case, is very quiet when winding, and has a nicely operating chronograph. This is just what I have come to expect from Dubois-Depraz’ work.
Interesting or not, the success of a watch like the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon comes down to the price. I actually thought that the watch would be more expensive given what I know about independent brands and the highly custom nature of the watch and its parts. It still isn’t cheap, but it does represent a more value-conscious side of the Swiss micro-brands. That will help people interested in the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon watch to become further engaged with the company and perhaps add it to their own collection. On the plus side, it is refined for what it is, even though it is difficult to enumerate what benefits the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon have which allow it to really stand out in a crowded space. Price for the Jordi Chronograph Red Horizon watch is $6,900. micheljordi.ch
Necessary Data
>Brand: Jordi Swiss Icon
>Model: Chronograph Red Horizon reference SIM.100.06.006.80
>Price: $6,900 USD
>Size: 44mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Sometimes
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone with a fondness not just for watches but the Swiss watch industry overall and the people producing unique yet refined watches in small batches.
>Best characteristic of watch: Bold styling is never aggressive or disagreeable. Cool face design, well refined character and components.
>Worst characteristic of watch: Ambiguous personality and intended end-client. Certainly a watch made to satisfy the designer, but without a cohesive theme or unifying factor.
