Alku by Galvin Watch Company
Inspiration
The Alku is the brainchild of Susan Galvin the owner and creator of the Galvin Watch Company. It was a little over a year ago when Susan burst on to the watch collectors forums with her incredible journey. A watchmaker with a decade of experience made redundant at the height of Covid having returned to work after maternity leave. Instead of being deflated about her situation, the master horologer pursued her dream of building a company and the Alku was the start of that dream.
Case
On the Galvin website, it states that “The Alku collection is base on the golden age of watchmaking”. The influence comes through beautifully in both style of case and dials colours. The proportions of the watch are perfectly in the gentlemen’s watch size which makes this watch appealing to both male and female collectors.
This Alku case has been made to a high quality and its finish is excellent and topped with an equally stunning domed crystal with anti-reflective coating. The back of the watch has an open caseback with a view movement and a signed rotor. Finishing the case is the signed crown.
It’s clear a lot of refinements and effort went into the watch which certainly has a more premium feel to it than its price suggests. You only need to look at the high polished edges and the clean angles to see this.
Dial
A beautifully crafted domed dial brings this Alku watch to life. The two I have for review offer a completely different contrast and watch.
Firstly the peach, well I really don’t have enough platitudes to say how much I like the variation. It is almost certainly one of the best unisex watches out there! It looks incredible on my 7″ wrist and considering I avoid watch under 40mm this has now changed my mind on case size. The sunray dial offers a wide variety of depth of colour, when in the sun it glows and in cloudy conditions, the watch flows through the darker shades of the colour and complemented by the stainless steel indexes and hands.
The Alku white is off white in colour and almost looks pearlescent on some lights. The blue steel indexes hands make this dial have a great visual impact. Both dials have excellent legibility and I like the other colour variations in the range, black, green and blue.
Powering the Alku is a reliable Miyota 9039 automatic movement. A 4HZ (28,800) movement offers a smooth sweep, 24 jewels, 42 hours power reserve, hand-winding, hacking, and Parashock system. This movement is a common movement now and is easily serviced and can be attended to by any watchmaker.
Bracelet / Straps
The Alku has a great choice of straps when buying and judging by the two I’ve been sent are excellent quality also. The signed buckle on one on the white appears to be the best choice of the two I have as the quick release is fiddly and doesn’t sit right on my wrist. I must add it’s not a quality issue this is just my preference.
Watch Gallery
Packaging
Susan has done everything else at a premium and she has not cut corners here. The packaging for the Alku is very nice and feels great and more importantly, keeps your watch secure in transit. alongside the watch is a cleaning cloth and warranty card.
Specification
- Miyota 9039 Calibre
- Stainless steel L316 case
- Diameter: 38.65mm
- Thickness: 12.45mm
- Lug width 19.1mm
- Lug to lug 44.59mm
- Domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflection coating
- Transparent case back with flat sapphire crystal
- Domed dial (Black, White, Blue, Green and Peach
Strap Colours:
- Black
- Navy Blue
- Tanned Suede
- Brown
Strap Sizes (relating to the wrist circumference)
- Small – Under 16.5cm
- Medium – 16.5cm – 18.5cm
- Large – Over 18.5cm
Bracelet Sizes:
Bracelet comes in one size; however, it can be adjusted with your preference.
- 5 ATM water-resistant /50M
- 2 Years International Warranty
Final Thoughts
I think the review speaks for itself here I think if you like this Alku its a no-brainer to me at £367.93 this watch is an incredible watch for the price and I applaud all those fine people that back the original Kickstarter especially those who got the early bird offer of £170 my only regret is that I didn’t back it after being tempted. It’s the one that got away!
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