One of my favourite shops in Adelaide is called Aptos Cruz. In fact I would describe it as more of a gallery than a store because of its range of eclectic products. Some of the furniture and artwork is absolutely exquisite although a bit pricey for my budget. However there are a few affordable options and the service is second to none. The reason I mention this is that the owners of the business are obsessed with minimalistic design. This means that there is no room for error as every element is exposed. Recently I have spoken with a few watch brands at all price levels that share this ethos. A great example is Danish company Bubul.
Originally I became aware of Bubul a few months ago and have been liaising with the owner Jacob Juul. He established the company in 2013 and is situated in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark. Interesting Bubul is derived from the Persian word bobol and means Nightingale. Effectively what Jacob is trying to produce is a stylish range of entry-level watches. Certainly from what I have seen so far he has definitely achieved his objective. Although I suspect the timepieces are manufactured in China, quality control doesn’t appear to be an issue at all.
Very kindly Jacob Juul was very forthcoming with the delivery of one his watches. The timepiece I was interested in testing is the Facette 05 (Matt Steel on Black Italian Leather). This is the second collection from the brand and a tiny bit more detailed than the Pebble. For a price of €299 (approximately $330) I feel the watch offers good value for money. With a lug free case measuring only 40mm x 8mm it is definitely smaller than the ones I like to wear but should appeal to wide cross section of buyers including the unisex market. It also felt incredibly lightweight and I hardly even noticed it was on my wrist.
Visually the Facette 05 has a clean and crisp minimalistic appearance. Every element has been carefully thought of and the uncluttered white dial is really effective. Other details include subtle black markers, discreet crown, sapphire crystal lens and slender hour/minute hands. Danish Design firm KiBiSi (http://kibisi.com) has conceived the composition. As well as creating cool watches the company has also designed a range of attractive industrial products like bicycles, chairs and headphones. They also came up with the idea for Bubul first watch called the Pebble.
Beneath the slender façade lies a Swiss made 14-karat gold plated 4-jewel quartz movement that delivers an impressive ten-year battery life. Obviously in an ideal world I would have preferred the watch to be powered by a mechanical movement. However I realize that this would have serious price implications because only a few companies can produce a caliber this slim. Functionally the Facette 05 features hour and minutes.
The Facette 05 has a high quality Italian black leather strap with matching stainless steel buckle.
For more information about Bubul visit the company’s website: http://bulbul.dk
