I told you guys to back this project back in November. Well, good things come to thee who wait, because the Cobra de Calibre Crossfire is currently back on Kickstarter at a reduced price (and fully funded at this point). I have looked at a number of Cobra de Calibre watches, and keep saying “hey you should check this guy’s work out.” There great success stories where one project turned into two or three and then into a full blown brand, and I am hoping that John Lee will developed a cult following that funds all his projects.
As I noted previously, most the inspiration for the look of these projects comes from the creator’s tattoo art style, which really translates well to a watch dial. The Crossfire is a three hand dive watch with a California dial (Roman numerals in the top half hour, Arabic in the bottom half). The font for the numbers are created by John Lee for these watches, bold, unique, and definitely readable.
As I noted previously, the 42mm case fits in very nicely in the Cobra de Calibre line, with the cushion style and the fin crown protector. Driving the watch is a Miyota 9015 automatic movement with a rotor branded and decorated with Geneva striping. Again, I miss the artistic casebacks that he has done with previous watches, but the decorated rotor looks nice and will add to the look of what is actually a pretty plain movement. Both the domed front crystal and exhibition caseback are sapphire, the dial and handset have Super-Luminova paint, and the watch comes on a leather strap with contrasting stitching. As a dive watch, I don’t know if you want to take the strap underwater, but to be honest, the vast majority of dive watches never go diving. If you are a diver, pick up a silicone strap and take comfort that the watch head is rated to 500 meters.
This go-round, the Cobra de Calibre Crossfire is offered in four options, with black dials in either a brushed stainless steel or black PVD finished case. The stainless watches are $479 CAD (about $336 USD) and the PVD watches are $499 CAD (about $350 USD). I will remind everyone that the project is crowd funded, so you are funding the development of a project, not making a retail transaction. Things sometimes change during development, and there may be delays. The brand already has two successful campaigns, so I expect a lot of the growing pains and learning curves have already been crossed, but please do your own research. The project has already met its funding goal and will close on February 9. cobra-de-calibre.myshopify.com
Watch Overview:
- Brand & Model: Cobra de Calibre Crossfire
- Price: ~$336 USD for stainless steel or ~$355 USD for black PVD
- Who we think it might be for: Anyone who likes bold styling in their tool watches.
- Would I wear one myself based on what I’ve seen?: Yes.
- If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: I would rather have the tattoo style art on a solid caseback.
- What spoke to me the most about this watch: It looks great.
Tech Specs from Cobra de Calibre:
- Movement: Miyota 8015 automatic
- Functions: Three hand with date
- Case: Brushed stainless steel with optional black PVD finish
- Crystal: Domed sapphire (front) sapphire (caseback)
- Water resistance: 500 meters
- Lug width: Not specified
- Straps: Leather
- Diameter: 42mm
- Thickness: Not specified
