Founded by Fouad Tolaib, young watch brand Belhamel has launched a Kickstarter campaign (from 16th May to 15th June, 2023) to promote its debut timepiece, the Contra A40.
The Belhamel Contra A40 is a diving watch inspired by the iconic SKX. To perfect the design, the founder of the brand efficiently utilised the feedback from thousands of watch enthusiasts.
Belhamel first started out selling fitted rubber straps for the Seiko SKX series, and this allowed them to amass a large online following. Almost a year later, the brand pivoted away from selling rubber straps and started working on their first watch. The aim was to design an ingenious diving timepiece with some of the qualities that the SKX stood for, like its durability, sleek design, and affordability.
According to Fouad, Belhamel Contra A40 is a sporty retro-contemporary dive watch that fuses the 1960s aesthetics with modern design. It stands out with its elegant yet sporty aesthetics, practical features, and affordability.
Water-resistant up to 300 meters, this stainless steel diver has a 40mm diameter case. It comes with a 120-click, stainless steel unidirectional bezel with a flat and micro-toothed surface. The steel bezel-insert features a luminescent (blue lume, BGW9) dot on the orange colored triangular marker.
The Belhamel Contra A40 watch has a raisin black dial with a clutter-free time-only configuration. Two lozenge-style hands indicate the hour and minutes.
All the three hands (hour, minute and centre seconds), and the large, geometric shaped applied indexes employ Swiss Super-LumiNova® BGW9, which offers a captivating blue glow in the darkness. The pointer head of the centre seconds hand and printed five minute markers are in orange colour.
Protecting the dial side is a domed sapphire crystal glass with inner AR-coating. The rear-side of the watch is secured with a screw-down stainless steel case-back, which highlights the engraving of Aquarius symbol.
Inside the Belhamel Contra A40 watch beats the Cal. 9039, a high-quality mechanical movement from the Miyota premium automatic range. This 24 jewel calibre offers a power reserve of 42 hours.
On 16th May this year, the brand launched a Kickstarter online crowd funding project to raise funds for initial mass production of this timepiece. The funding goal is £30,000 and Belhamel has already achieved this mark within first two days.
All the 100 super-early pledges (£299) are gone as on date. No worries! The customers can still utilize the remaining pledge options that start at £359 (about $449) until 15th June 2023 through the Kickstarter. Estimated Delivery: Oct 2023.
The brand has also proposed a charcoal blue dial choice if the campaign reaches the second stretch goal: £50,000.
For more details, please visit Belhamel Contra A40 Kickstarter campaign page.
Technical details
Model: Belhamel Contra A40
Movement
Miyota cal. 9039, automatic, 28,800 BPH, stop second device
Hand-winding option
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case
316L stainless steel
Diameter: 40mm
Lug to lug: 48mm
Thickness: 13.8mm thick (incl. crystal)
Bezel: 316L Stainless Steel, 120-Click Unidirectional, Swiss Super-LumiNova®BGW9 Lume, 316L SS Bezel Insert
Sapphire crystal, domed, inner anti-reflective & scratch resistant coating
Stainless steel screw-down case-back
Water resistance: 300M
Dial
Applied hour markers, Swiss Super-LumiNova®BGW9 lume, 3 hands, multi-color scheme
Bracelet
316L Stainless Steel, 20mm tapering to
16mm, 3-Link (oyster style), adjustable clasp
Kickstarter price
£359 (about $449)
