The independent brand Horage has produced some of the most genuinely interesting watches of the last several years. They’re a bit of a tough brand to pin down. Depending on how you discover them, you could mistake them for a brand obsessed with links between watches and photography, or one of a handful of small indies doing interesting things with tourbillons and other watchmaking tech for quite a bit less money than you’d typically expect. But the thing that links all of their products together is a desire to come up with creative solutions to long standing watchmaking problems and to do so in a way that doesn’t leave anyone out of the experience. Accessibility and approachability are as vital to Horage as their love-it-or-hate-it design language, often embracing an ultra contemporary sensibility.
Two new announcements from Horage over the last week or so perfectly illustrate their commitment to quietly pushing horological boundaries. First came the introduction of their new K3 movement. Over the last several years, most of Horage’s big movement developments have come with some high end features and represent big swings for the brand. The tourbillon, of course, is arguably the centerpiece, but they’ve also introduced a micro-rotor caliber as well as a fascinating tool that allows for the periodic electronic regulating of that very movement. But the K3 is a comparatively simple idea, a high quality movement made from advanced materials at a relatively low cost.
The K3 uses silicon in its escapement (the pallet fork and balance wheel) as well as the balance spring. These components are lighter in weight, less corrosive, and of course resistant to magnetism, a combination that Horage believes will lead to far more reliable and easy to service movements over the long run. The K3 also offers 96 hours of power reserve and is just 4.2mm thin. A movement this thin which also benefits from the robust nature of its high tech materials obviously offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of the types of watches that can be designed around it.
To that end, Horage has also announced the first watch to take advantage of the K3, the Decaflux. The Decaflux is conceived as a modern, everyday sports watch, and takes particular inspiration from the work done at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, not far from Horage headquarters. The machines and technology at CERN generate massive magnetic fields, and have provided inspiration to other watch brands over the years to move the ball forward when it comes to antimagnetic watchmaking. Horage sees the Decaflux as a piece of that tradition, and borrows the lightning bolt second hand from the Rolex Milgauss as a tip of the cap to the history of these watches.
The Decaflux measures 40mm in diameter and is just shy of 10mm tall. It’s crafted from stainless steel and water resistant to 100 meters. At launch it will be available in two dial options, one in blue sunray and other in black. Both, of course, make use of the K3 movement, which is COSC certified as a chronometer and viewable through the exhibition caseback. The retail price is CHF 2,500.
There have been times over the last decade or so where it has seemed like Horage was perhaps on the precipice of breaking through in a meaningful way to larger swaths of the watch enthusiast community. They’ve always struck me as a very niche brand with ambitions to capture a market that goes well beyond that niche. Their investments in developing new movement technologies, particularly at an affordable price point, would seem to be a strong indicator that they aspire to be more widely adopted. The Decaflux, then, while not a particularly adventurous design, is a big moment for Horage in the sense that it will give many more collectors an opportunity to buy into the brand. There’s no doubt that for the money, this is a compelling package when all of the specs and tech are factored into the equation. Horage
