Dufrane Waterloo
Dufrane is an Austin (TX) based watch brand founded by Steven Lee. The brand has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to promote their latest timepiece, The Waterloo.
Named after the city of Austin’s original name, The Waterloo is an elegant dress watch that also captures the essence of Dufrane’s previous models. It boasts a more simple and refined design. Also added with versatility and clarity, this watch is perfectly suitable as an everyday watch that can be worn during any occasion.
The Waterloo comes in two choices of Swiss movements. For traditionalists, the brand offers an automatic mechanical version equipped with the renowned and robust Sellita SW200. For those looking for a little less maintenance, a quartz version will feature a Ronda 715 movement with approximately 5 years of battery life.
The Waterloo houses a strikingly clean and minimalist dial, which combines industrial and vintage elements but with complex undertones. The Waterloo dial features milled Arabic numerals on the brushed chapter ring, linen textured main dial surface, and an understated date window at the six o’clock position. It also employs the Swiss C3 SuperLumiNova coating under the 12, 3, 6, and 9 markers for reading in low light.
The automatic version of Dufrane Waterloo features heat-blued steel hands for a classy and traditional touch. Quartz models comes with precision diamond cut brass hands with rhodium plating and polished finish for silver versions or PVD coated in the Rose Gold finish in case of rose gold PVD models. The leaf-shaped hour and minutes hands enhance the aesthetics of this classic dress watch. All the three hands are coated with Swiss SuperLumiNova on their tips (2mm) for ensuring good visibility during low light conditions.
Measuring 39 mm diameter, the watch case is topped with a 1.6mm sapphire crystal making the Waterloo extremely durable and scratch resistant. The flat crystal features 6 layers of anti-reflective coating for reducing glare.
The Waterloo case was also carefully designed featuring striking, brushed 316L stainless steel, the tightest tolerance case Dufrane has built to date. The result of this precision is a mechanical version of the Waterloo that is just over 10mm thin with the quartz version measuring 8.8mm for extreme comfort and wearability with both watches retaining a 10 ATM (330 ft) depth rating. The vintage style, drilled lugs provides easy strap changing. The knurled, push-pull type crown features a triple gasket locking system.
The brushed finish of the case surface has been offset by highly polished chamfers and mirror-polished stepped bezel. The case is available with brushed/polished finish in silver or in rose gold PVD finish. Secured with four screws, the solid stainless steel case-back of the watch boasts an engraved Texas Star as a nod to the brand’s roots.
The Waterloo watch comes with custom crafted full grain; padded 20mm leather strap. Its curved CNC machined quick release spring bars allow the straps sit very close to the case for seamless integration and clean look.
DuFrane launched a Kickstarter campaign on first October this year with the Waterloo for sale at a heavily discounted price of $299. This crowd-funding campaign will be active till 31 October 2020. After the Kickstarter campaign ends the Waterloo will be available on the DuFrane website starting at $399.
Technical details
Model: Dufrane Waterloo
Case
316L Stainless steel
Finishing: Brushed main case and polished chamfers and bezel
Diameter: 39mm
Lug to lug: 47mm
Lug width: 20mm
Thickness: 10.4mm (Mechanical version)/ 8.8mm (Quartz version)
Sapphire Crystal
6x Anti-Reflective Coating
Triple Gasket Crown System
Water resistance: 10ATM (100 meters/ 330 feet)
Dial
Heat blued steel hands or Polished brass hands
Swiss C3 SuperLumiNova
Movement
Automatic version: Swiss Sellita SW200 with 38-hours power reserve, 26-jewels
Quartz version: Swiss Ronda 715
Strap
Custom crafted full grain, padded leather strap
Curved CNC machined quick release spring bars
316L Stainless Steel Buckle
