The Stunning Swiftsure by NTH
A Brand With A Reputation
There are many microbrands in the market place but not many come with a reputation for quality like NTH Watches. That said the Swiftsure is my first NTH watch to review. Had I set myself up for disappointment before I even had the watch? Or would the watch live up to the promise of all the positivity that surrounds the brand?
Case
The case is sublime and probably the best watch I’ve ever seen from a microbrand the Swiftsure is a perfect diver. Clean lines down either side of the watch, beautiful polished edge sits above the equally stunning brushed steel side. Elegant crown guards for the large signature screwdown crown with a lume NTH. The crown guards also have this high polished edge that flows perfectly to the underside of the 13mm thick case. Opposite the crown on the other side of the case is the helium escape valve.
At 51mm lug – lug and 43.75mm in diameter you’d think this watch would appear larger on the wrist. However, the watch looks amazing and feels well balanced on my 7″ wrist. I also like the drill lugs which make it easy to remove the bracelet for strap changes. And this watch looks great on a nato!
Additionally stunning is the brushed coated bezel in blue which carries the light as well as the case. In different lighting settings, this bezel offers real depth and tone of colour. The bezel is broken up by minute marker in batons, dots, and Arabic numerals all coated with BG W9 lume and a tringle and pip.
Dial
A beautifully well-balanced dial with bold bright and vibrant blue through to black makes this dial difficult to photograph. The Swiftsure is like a chameleon forever changing it dances in the light with a variety of blues and times it looks black.
Largely applied indexes line up perfectly with the bezel and the chapter ring makers something that even large manufacturers like Seiko get wrong all the time. There has been a meticulous QC it appears with NTH watches and I can see that by the attention paid here to the Swiftsure. A large triangle indexes is applied at 12 o’clock followed by batons and the Arabic numeral 3 this pattern continues through 6 and 9. All Indexes have lashings of lume. I can attest that this watch is like a torch in the dark.
The large hands are sword-shaped and broken into sections to allow for another wonderful dose of BG-W9 Lume. A seconds hand finishes the set with a rectangular box to hold even more luscious lume.
Movement
The beating heart of this watch is the Miyota 90S5, A reliable workhorse movement that offers a 4Gz (28,800 vph) sweeping movement. This automatic movement is powered by the movement of the wrist and has a hand-winding feature to get the watch started after a short stay in the watch box. It also offers a 42 hour power reserve. This watch is easy to service as any watchmaker can deal with this common movement. This is a good choice for the Swiftsure and has helped keep the design thickness down on the watch.
Bracelet / Straps
What sets the Swiftsure from the crowd is the attention to detail and none of this is lost on the bracelet. Again I’m surprised at the attention the detail, finely brushed stainless steel bracelet tapering from 22mm to 18mm at the folding push button clasp.
The clasp itself is excellently done and offers 6 micro-adjustments holes to offer a perfect fit. I really can’t tell you how much I like when a brand does this as it the ability to add an extra link or two under it and release out when going diving. However, this is not the only thing NTH has to ensure a nice fit. The removable links are screwed adjustment and two of those links are half links. Can I point out this is a major bone of contention with high-end watches such as Rolex. This is the level of detail I’m talking about that sets this watch apart. The Swiftsure and NTH from its competitors.
Watch Gallery
Packaging
NTH has very environmentally friendly packaging. The watch is transported in a beautiful leather travel case with an outer cardboard box. It also comes with an information card about warranty and operations manual and that is also in a nice rubber holder.
Specification
- Miyota auto cal. 9015 (with date) or 90S5 (no date).
- 28,800 BPH with 42+ hour power reserve
- Average daily rate of -10/+30 secs/day with max 40 secs/day positional variance
- 316L Stainless Steel
- 43.75mm diameter (without crown) x 51mm lug-to-lug x 13mm thick
- 120-Click Uni-Directional Bezel with Top-Grade PVD/DLC Stainless Steel Insert
- Bezel: BG W9
- Screw-Down Crown
- Double-Domed Anti-Reflective Sapphire
- Dial & Hands: BG W9 White, (Glows Blue)
- 22mm lugs with tapering bracelet & 18mm double-locking diver’s clasp
WATER RESISTANCE : 61 ATM/ 610M / 2001 FT
- Weight with Bracelet: ~6 oz / ~175g
WARRANTY : 2 Years International
Final Thoughts
If you cant already tell that I like the Swiftsure by NTH I don’t think you read the review. Upon arrival, this watch was screaming give me a home and I happily obliged. Fortunately for me, I was the last in the review chain in the UK and asked Chris if I could buy it. The watch has barely left my wrist since then only being relegated to the bench when my new alkin model two arrived.
However, at £675, this is right at the top end of where I’d pay for a microbrand. Is it worth that money, in my honest opinion it is and I’ll tell you why! The quality of the finish is second to none and is on a par with the quality of the watches produced by Christoper Ward, and as CW seems to be leaving this area open as their prices increase NTH offers watches of stunning quality and price.
NTH sells from the following hubs across the globe including its own shop.
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