Marc & Sons Elegance
Manufacturer: Marc & Sons | Price: €680 EUR (£610 GBP, $805 USD)
I’ve had Marc & Sons on my radar for quite some time now, and although I’ve never actually got round to getting one in for review, whether it be one of their professional divers, or something a little more restrained, it wasn’t until I saw a post on Instagram from DoubleOwatches fairly recently, that showcased some rather gorgeous shots of the Marc & Sons Elegance Series. After quite a substantial amount of swearing and thinking to myself, someone has finally made a watch that ticks all my boxes. Firing up my PC and heading immediately to the Marc & Sons’ website to try and get all the information I could get, hoping and praying to fuck that there wasn’t an aspect of the watch that would totally ruin it for me. Eventually, after multiple emails to and from Marc & Sons, the blue version turned up at my door. Sweet! 
Specifications
- Dimensions: Diameter – 39.4mm, Thickness – 12.9mm, Lug to Lug – 45.5mm, Lug Width – 22mm
- Movement: Swiss ETA 2824-2, Fully Decorated, 28,800vph, 4Hz, Hackable, Self Winding, 38hr Power Reserve
- Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel with Polished Accents
- Bracelet: 316L Stainless Steel, Solid Links, Screw Pins, Milled & Signed Clasp
- Crystal: Slightly Domed Sapphire, Multiple Underside Anti-Reflective Coatings
- Bezel: Fixed, Single Piece, 60 Min Dive Style, 316L Stainless Steel
- Lume: Swiss Super Luminova® BGW9
- Crown: 6.7mm, Screw Down, Signed
- Water Resistance: 300m / 30ATM / 990ft
- Caseback: Screw Down, Exhibition Display, Sapphire Crystal
- Warranty: 2 Years Weight: 154g (Sized for my 6¾″ wrist)
- Where to Buy: Marc & Sons (Germany) | DoubleOwatches (United Kingdom)
- Dial Colour Options: Black, Blue, Green, Ice Blue, Silver
- Choice of Clasp: Milled with Dive Extension, Milled with Micro-Adjustment
Marc & Sons - A Brief Introduction
This was the birth of the watch brand Marc & Sons. Mr. Marco Heimrich has constantly developed the Marc & Sons label over the years and now works with a dedicated team of experienced watchmakers, photographers and many others. We at Marc & Sons want to let the worldwide unbroken enthusiasm for mechanical wristwatches live on in the future and create together with you, new innovative models and thus lasting values for eternity."
Case & Crown
The case of the Marc & Sons Elegance has a diameter of 39.4mm. The lug to lug is 45.5mm and the overall thickness, including the slightly domed sapphire crystal, I measured in at a lovely 12.9mm. The entire case, caseback, bezel, crown and bracelet are all solid 316L stainless steel. The finish of the Elegance Series is mostly brushed, but with the addition of very nicely executed polished chamfered edges that run along the top edge of the case and down over the edge of the lugs. Both the brushed & polished finishing is top notch and the transition between the two, is absolutely flawless!
All colourways of the Elegance Series have a water resistance rating of 300m, thanks to the exceptional build quality and inclusion of a screw down caseback & crown. The proportions of the watch are absolutely spot on too! As soon as I sized the bracelet to my 6¾″ wrist, I thought, this bloody thing is made for me! It fits and conforms to the wrist perfectly, all down to the shape of the lugs and the tip to tip length of just under 46mm. The signed crown is also very nicely executed, with plenty of grip, zero wobble when in use, and the nice wee engraved Marc & Sons logo just adds that final flourish!
Strap / Bracelet
The bracelet that’s fitted to the Marc & Sons Elegance is of exceptional quality and there really isn’t anything that I can find fault with. It has everything you’d want in a premium bracelet. It’s very nicely manufactured with no rattles to be found anywhere. It has solid links throughout, screw pins for adjusting and re-sizing, as well as a choice of two signed and fully milled clasps. The end links are of the male variety however, it does actually articulate pretty much immediately and doesn’t extend the effective lug to lug in any way. The bracelet also tapers nicely from 22mm, down to approximately 18mm just before the clasp. The outer links are all brushed, with the centre links polished, without making the bracelet come across as too blingy. The whole watch infact, just has the correct balance of brushed and polished finishing. 
The fitment of the end links is bloody outstanding too, with zero play to be found on either of them. The brushed finishing of the bracelet matches the watch head perfectly too. Finally a bracelet that actually looks like it has been made specifically for this watch and not just another off the shelf item that’s 50 shades of shite! As I mentioned above, when you are ordering this watch, you’re given the choice of two very nice clasps, both being milled & signed of course. One is a bit chunkier with a dive extension, although my choice is the slimmer of the two, with no extension, but it does have six micro-adjustment holes for that optimum fit. I do actually have both styles here to show you… (Thanks Marc).
Movement
The chosen movement for the Marc & Sons Elegance Series is the Swiss made ETA 2824-2, that is fully decorated with a customised rotor. The ETA 2824-2 is self-winding, has 25 jewels and the oscillating weight spins up giving a 38hr power reserve. The balance runs at 28,800vph (4Hz) and the movement is also hackable. As you can see in the image below, there is an absolute shit-ton of detail applied to the movement, including perlage or perlée finishing, blued screws and that very nicely detailed rotor. Checking the accuracy after running the Marc & Sons Elegance Series for a good couple of weeks, both on wrist as well as in my winder, I was extremely pleased with the final results, with the Marc & Sons Elegance showing an average of just +1.2 seconds per day. That’s an absolutely fantastic result. Very happy with that!
Dial & Bezel
The dial of the Elegance Series is for sure, utterly gorgeous! It has like a deep radial brushed style finish, with a sunburst effect. It really is beautiful, even if it is rather difficult to try and capture with a camera. All the hour markers are applied, with double batons at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 and all of them are filled with lume, although more on that later in the review.
As you can see in the images, the hour and minute hands are very nicely done with their very proportionate design. The seconds hand is lovely too, with it’s wee lumed rectangular section, and tip that reaches right out to the minute track when sweeping around the dial. There’s no date complication, which as most of you know, I would normally prefer however, for what I think is the first time I’ve ever said this, I reckon a date cut-out would ruin the gorgeous aesthetic. 
Lume
Excuse my French, but the lume on the Marc & Sons Elegance is fuckin’ outstanding! The actual lume that’s been used on the Elegance Series is Swiss Super Luminova® BGW9 and it’s been applied rather thickly and executed 110% perfectly! Not only is it initially very potent, it actually lasts for many hours during low light conditions, as well as through the night. If, like me, you usually get up at 4am for a slash, it’s no problem with this watch, as you’ll clearly see how bloody early it is.
Conclusion
Well, the conclusion… as you’re probably aware by now, with all the praise that I’ve been throwing at this watch, yep I love it! When I first saw it on Instagram, I immediately thought that I just have to get one of these in for review, no matter what. Well people, this isn’t a review sample, I actually paid for this watch. I am so glad I did too, as I can easily state that it’s my favourite in my entire collection. Even if you’re thinking you like the look of this Elegance Series from Marc & Sons and are contemplating getting one, all I’ll say is BUY ONE! The pictures don’t really do it any justice, as trust me, it’s a lot more gorgeous when you finally get to see it in person. Not only that, the build quality is utterly phenomenal!
I think I’ve pretty much covered every aspect of this watch in this review, apart from one. The price. Yep, £600 is a good chunk of cash to most, but for what you’re getting for your money, the Elegance Series is actually a bit of a bargain. There are many brands out there that would easily charge you more than double for a similar spec, but I seriously doubt they could come close to the build quality and fantastic design of this Marc & Sons Elegance Series. Is there anything I’d change? Nope! Well yeah there is, more cash in my account so I can buy another one. 
Marc & Sons – The Elegance Series, a truly phenomenal timepiece! Without question, most definitely, a favourite of mine!
All nice and good, but a fixed bezel is just stupid. For me, it drops from a 10 to a 0 as a result.