Source: Newmark | Price: £299 GBP (Kickstarter Price) $375 USD, €335 EUR approx))
Introducing the Newmark 71. A premium sports watch brought back from the 1970’s. The Newmark 71 re-imagines a classic design from decades past which has been updated, upgraded, refined and upsized. Newmark prefers to call this a sports watch rather than a dive watch but with 200m WR it could do both.
Specifications
- Dimensions: Case Diameter – 39.7mm, Thickness – 13.3mm, Lug to Lug – 46.9mm, Lug Width – 20mm
- Movement: Miyota 9015 Automatic, 28,800vph (4Hz), Hackable, Self Winding, 42hr Power Reserve
- Case Material: Brushed 316L Stainless Steel with Polished Sides
- Weight: 149g on Bracelet Extras: EPDM Rubber Black Tropic Strap
- Bracelet: Brushed with Polished Accents, 316L Stainless Steel, Solid End-Links, Screw-Pins, Milled & Signed Clasp
- Crystal: Double Domed Sapphire, 2x AR Coating
- Bezel: 120 Click 60min Unidirectional or 60 Click 12hr Bidirectional, Sapphire or Steel Insert
- Water Resistance: 20ATM / 200m / 660ft
- Lume: Swiss Super Luminova® GL X1-C3
- Crown: Signed, Screw Down Caseback: Screw Down Stainless Steel
- Warranty: 2 Years Where to Buy: Campaign currently running on Kickstarter (ends 16th July 2019)
- Options: Colours: Sunburst Blue / Velvet Black / Sunburst Silver
- Bezel: 60min Uni-Directional, 12hr Bi-Directional, Sapphire Insert | Date Complication: Date / No Date *Note – The silver dial version only comes with a steel 12 hour bi-directional bezel with date complication.
Newmark Watch Company
Dating all the way back to 1875, the original Newmark company imported Swiss watches until the late 1940’s where they then received a government grant to enable manufacturing of watches in the UK. By 1950, production was underway and the following decade 6-7 million watches were manufactured at the Newmark factory in Croydon near London. Newmark reverted to the import of Swiss watches in 1960 and over the next 20 years there would come a plethora of designs from dress to dive watches. In 1980 the company supplied the 6BB Chronograph to the Royal Air Force – this was possibly the last watch to bear the Newmark name… until now.
Headed by long-time watch enthusiast Ewan Wilson, Newmark are now based near Cheltenham in the UK; by coincidence, just a stone’s throw from the factory where many thousands of English watches were manufactured by the famous Smiths Company. The Newmark of now is not the Newmark of old and they make no claims to the history of the original company. They are however, very proud to be able to have the Newmark name on their watches. Conceived in late 2016 with the objective of reproducing the rare and desirable Newmark 6BB Chronograph, by late 2018 they had succeeded and spurred on by this achievement they look to the future with a large back catalogue of watches from which to draw inspiration for upcoming models.
The Case
The case of the Newmark 71 is 38.6mm and at the bezel it’s 39.7mm. The lug to lug is 46.9mm and the overall thickness, including the sapphire crystal I measured at 13.3mm. The entire case, bezel, caseback, crown and bracelet are all 316L stainless steel. The Newmark 71 also has a water resistance rating of 200m / 660ft, thanks to the screw-down caseback & crown, so it won’t look out of place with a wet suit or even a dinner suit for that matter.
The finish of the case is brushed with just the sides being polished. The proportions are, in my opinion, perfection. Not too big, not too small and will fit the majority of wrist sizes. Regarding the crown, the diagram below shows how the crown tube screws into the case. This is an approach you would normally get from bigger, more famous brands. This just shows the level of attention to detail that Newmark has went to with their design of this watch. Absolutely no corners have been cut with the Newmark 71 as you’ll soon see below….
Bracelet
The bracelet of the Newmark 71 is one of my many favourite features of this watch. I remember my late father (RIP Dad, I miss you) wearing a watch back in the 70’s when I was a kid, that had a bracelet of a very similar style to this one. The fit and finish of this bracelet is right up there with the best I have ever seen. The brushing of the bracelet matches the case brilliantly, not like some other brands where the bracelet seems like an after thought.
The bracelet has all the features that you’d expect from a much higher priced watch. Solid end links, screw pins for resizing, milled clasp that is signed with the Newmark logo. Additionally, the clasp has chamfered edges with polished accents along each edge. The links also match, being brushed on top and polished along the sides. The clasp also has a fold-over locking mechanism as well as a two push-button release mechanism on the sides. There are also six micro-adjustment holes to ensure that perfect snug fit. Love it!
Movement
The chosen movement for the Newmark 71 is the smooth sweep, high beat, ultra-reliable Miyota 9015. The 9015 is a slim Japanese made 28,800vph, 24 jewel movement regularly compared to the Swiss made ETA 2824-2. Checking the accuracy after running the Newmark 71 for a couple of days, mainly on my wrist and occasionally in my Barrington Watch Winder, I was more than happy with the results with it showing an average of +6.2spd.
Dial & Bezel
This version of the Newmark 71 has a 120 click unidirectional bezel with a fully lumed sapphire insert. It is of excellent quality and everything lines up spot on. The bezel action is smooth with zero backplay. Speaking of the bezel action, I just can’t fault in any way, it’s simply better than any other I’ve used.
The dial has very neat indices all around with the relevant arabics printed at the 3, 6, 9 & 12. The logo and text beneath is neatly printed and very legible. There is also a date complication at the 6 o’clock position, although you can opt for a no-date version if that’s your bag. The hour and minute hands are perfectly in proportion to the dial and actually suit the watch extremely well. I also love the seconds hand with its fully lumed diamond shaped tip that reaches out all the way to the minute track. The sunburst blue on the dial is just gorgeous without being over the top.
The lume used on the Newmark 71 is the newest & brightest Swiss Super Luminova® GL X1-C3 and for those that know me will know that I’m a huge lume junkie. Well, you might be shocked to know that this is the best lume application I’ve ever seen, beating the likes of Christopher Ward with their C60 Trident Pro 600 Mk3 as well as, who I thought, were the champions of lume in the microbrand sector, Zelos. *Shock, Gasp, Horror!!* (Before you ask, yes I’ve owned many of them!) Anyway, back to the lume on the Newmark 71, it’s like a friggin’ night light and although it fades slightly after an hour or so, it still does last all night. And when I say all night, I actually mean ALL NIGHT.
Conclusion
I recently read a review of the Newmark 71 from Mike at Wrist Watch Review UK and thought to myself, there is no way it’s that good. Well, I was wrong. Now that I’ve spent some time with the Newmark 71 I totally agree with Mike, the watch is phenomenal and by far the best microbrand I’ve seen in a long time. The Newmark 71 isn’t built to a price like some, it’s built to a specification with a superb fit & finish to match.
I like this watch so much that I’m now personally backing the Newmark Kickstarter Campaign. Yes, another one! If I could, I would get three, one of each colour. However, as my surname isn’t Kardashian, I just can’t afford it. What one am I getting? The blue version with the 12 hour bezel and date complication. If I had to and only if my life depended on it and had to reduce my watch collection to just 3 (f**k that!) I reckon this would, 100%, be 1 of ’em.
Newmark Watch Company – Truly Outstanding Job!
Guys n’ girls, get your arse over to Kickstarter and back this project. Buy 1, buy 3, buy 7, it doesn’t matter. All I’ll say is, you certainly won’t be disappointed!
10/10
10/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
A huge thank you to Ewan from Newmark Watch Company for sending out the Newmark 71 so promptly even if I will be totally gutted when I need to send it back next week.
To view the Newmark website, or join their mailing list to be informed of updates and future releases, visit Newmark Watch Company.