Quartz watches are a stick in my craw. The 1970s Quartz Crisis dealt a great deal of damage to the watchmaking industry – arguably it was in no position to fight back – but ultimately they destroyed much of what was great about classic watches. So when I see a quartz watch I’m immediately suspect. Luckily, MQT hits all the right spots and seems to be doing everything just right.
MQT makes ultra thin pieces on leather or Milanese bands. The Essential collection consists of two styles – black and mirrored – and they make a few smaller watches for women in the same style. They also make a Marble series with faces made of thin slices of real marble. In all, it is a very impressive showing.
I also like the understated design and logotype as well as the beautiful finishing. Because this is a two-handed quartz there is no tell-tale dead beat seconds hand ticking around the face to distract from the very lightly applied logos. The mirror model that I tested costs a mere $251 (20% if you buy it tomorrow for Black Friday) and I think it’s well worth the price.
MQT is run by Hanna and Tom Heer who hail from Berne, Switzerland. Their goal at MQT is to create elegant, inexpensive Swiss watches and they’ve definitely succeeded. While I rarely wear quartz, this watch could very well enter my regular rotation. It has the understated elegance of the Movado Museum watch and the size of a modern man’s timepiece. It’s well worth checking out if you’re in the market for a piece that goes great with suits, blazers, and delicate Merino sweaters to protect your corpus from the bitter Zurich cold.
