Credits: Article and images by Colin Alexander Smith @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/03/02/6-steel-sports-watches-that-are-both-relatively-affordable-and-definitely-obtainable/
Unless you have been residing under a large rock in recent years, you are most probably (and perhaps quite painfully) aware that the classic steel sports watches designed by Gérald Genta for Audemars Piguet (Royal Oak) and Patek Philippe (Nautilus) are both beyond the financial reach of most people and in many cases simply not available for purchase at retail even if you can afford them.
This leaves sports watch enthusiasts little option other than to consider similar designs from other brands.
To my mind, the criteria for eligibility as a Royal Oak or Nautilus alternative are fourfold:
1. It should be an automatic watch.
2. It should on an integrated steel bracelet.
3. It should be available with a blue or black dial.
4. It should have some degree of texture or structure and a bezel with something unusual going on such as top screws and/or a non-circular bezel (which is why the otherwise excellent Tissot PRX with its polished circular bezel doesn’t make the cut).
All of these elements have to be present without sailing so close to the wind that the watch is simply a Royal Oak or Nautilus “homage.”
With no further ado, here are some candidates that have caught my eye over the last few years.
Maurice Lacroix Aikon
The Maurice Lacroix Aikon is a watch that needs no introduction to regular Quill & Pad readers as Martin Green has already covered the Simon Nogueira edition and Joshua Munchow the Master Grande Date.
Maurice Lacroix started life as a third-party watch supplier in the 1960s before launching under its current name and finding a great degree of success in the mechanical renaissance era. The brand brought out the Aikon in 2016 as a reworking of its “iconic” (pun intended) Calypso model from the 1990s, an accessible quartz model that now looks as dated as Don Johnson’s mullet but that nevertheless sold more than 100,000 units per year in its heyday.
Its features have now been skillfully reworked in a steel sports watch that ticks all the quality and design boxes and then some, notably with a brash orange-and-black version of its Master Grand Date having been donated to the 2021 Only Watch auction.
Featuring a clous de Paris dial and “claws” on the bezel that echo the Calypso (and the Omega Constellation Manhattan in its updated versions as well) the base-model Aikon runs on the ML 115 automatic movement, which is a modified version of the Sellita SW 200-1.
The tapered, brushed, and polished steel bracelet, which owes more to the style of the Royal Oak than the Nautilus, flows perfectly into the case and bezel. There is also a stunning 42 mm Aikon with salmon dial (a color that Maurice Lacroix calls “champagne”).
Ranging in price between €1,590 and €2,100 depending on size and configuration, the Aikon hits a sweet spot in terms of price and quality.
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Credits: Article and images by Colin Alexander Smith @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/03/02/6-steel-sports-watches-that-are-both-relatively-affordable-and-definitely-obtainable/