Fifty Eight Geneva Tribute
Manufacturer: Fifty Eight Watches | Price: from £460 GBP ($640 USD)
As most of my regular readers will be aware, it’s not very often that I review dress watches, as they’re just not my cup of tea. However, when Chris from Fifty Eight Watches contacted me regarding the Geneva Tribute, I decided that I would go ahead and take a look at one. There aren’t a great deal of Swiss Made microbrands out there and way before I received this watch, I had a good look at the images and specification, thinking it was going to be just another dress watch. Around a week or so later, the watch turned up and I will say, first impressions were surprisingly pretty bloody good.
Specifications
- Dimensions: Case – 40.7mm, Thickness – 9.9mm, Lug to Lug – 46.4mm, Lug Width – 20mm
- Movement: Sellita SW200-1, 28,600vph, 4Hz, Hackable, Self Winding, 38hr Power Reserve
- Case Material: Polished 316L Stainless Steel
- Dial: Côtes de Genève Pattern, Applied Hour Markers, Date at 3, Blued Alpha Handset
- Strap: Italian Leather, Quick Release, Polished Buckle & Tang, Signed
- Crystal: Sapphire, 5x Layers of Inner Anti-Reflective Coating
- Water Resistance: 50m / 5 ATM / 165ft
- Caseback: St. Pierre Cathedral Artwork
- Crown: 6.5mm, Signed
- Weight: 66g (On leather strap)
- Where to Buy: Kickstarter (Launching 5th May ’21)
- Warranty: 2 Years International
Fifty Eight Watches
Case & Crown
The case of the Geneva Tribute has an overall diameter of 40.7mm. The lug to lug is relatively compact at just 46.4mm and the overall thickness I measured in at a very impressive 9.9mm. The case, fixed bezel, caseback and crown are all 316L stainless steel. Overall, it does look pretty much what I expected with it being a dress watch, with its fully polished case etc… Even although I’m not normally a fan of this approach, it has been executed to a rather high standard.
The Geneva Tribute has a total water resistance rating of just 50m, but it’s not as if you’re going to jump in the sea with a friggin’ dress watch on is it!? The proportions of the watch, in my opinion are good, although for a dress watch it is on the larger side. The Geneva Tribute does wear very well on wrist and it is really comfortable. The push/pull signed crown is nice, looks great and is simple to operate. The caseback is executed nicely, although I do think an exhibition display caseback would have been more suited to this watch. The etching that 58 Watches have done, although it is nice and detailed, but I feel it is a little too lightly etched. There is the added bonus of a unique serial number though, which is always appreciated.
Strap / Bracelet
Straight out of the box and as standard with the Geneva Tribute, you get a couple of 2-piece Italian leather straps. They are of very nice quality, being both quite soft as well as very comfortable on wrist. You’ll also find signed hardware on both straps, which is polished to match the watch and signed of course, with the 58 Watches logo on the buckle.
Movement / Accuracy
The movement selected for the Fifty Eight Geneva Tribute is the Sellita SW200-1. This Swiss movement is self-winding, has 26 jewels and the oscillating weight spins up giving up to a decent 38 hour power reserve. The balance runs at 28,800vph (4Hz) and the movement is also hackable. Checking the accuracy after running the Geneva Tribute for around a week or so, both on wrist, as well as occasionally in my watch winder, I was rather impressed with the final result, with the Geneva Tribute showing an average of just +4 seconds per day. Nice! I’m perfectly happy with that level of accuracy.
Dial & Hands
Thankfully, Fifty Eight Watches also opted to add a date complication at 3 o’clock, unfortunately though, they are not colour-matched on any reference. Next up though, are the hour and minute hands… they are superbly done, with their alpha aesthetic and they’re also thermally blued, a very nice touch indeed. The seconds hand is also nice, with it’s wee diamond shaped counter-balance. Last but not least, is the gorgeous dial… It’s by far my favourite aspect of this watch, as it plays with the light beautifully. Although, fuckin’ pink salmon? Call me old fashioned if you want, but It certainly wouldn’t be my first colour choice, that’s for sure.
Conclusion
If someone had said to me a couple of weeks ago, “Right Will, I’m going to send you this stainless steel dress watch for review, it’s pink, with blue hands and a green strap“. I’m pretty sure I would have told them to go fuck themselves! As weird as it might sound though, the colours do actually work on this watch, although I will add, it certainly wouldn’t be my first choice. I think if I wanted this dress watch in my collection, I’d opt for the more subtle blue version. As I mentioned earlier, dress watches just don’t really do it for me, as it’s not something I’d wear very often, if at all. If you are in the market for a dress watch though, then you can’t go wrong with this Geneva Tribute from Fifty Eight Watches.
