Introducing the Pinion Atom

Ever since their introduction in 2013 we’ve been following Pinion very closely. We performed a couple of long time reviews of the Pinion Pure and Pinion Axis watches and we praised them for the high level of detail and quality given to the dial, hands and casing. Now, we introduce to you the Pinion Atom. A Pinion watch with a very friendly price tag, without giving up the high level finish and quality we praised them for in the past.

Pinion Atom

You can’t have missed the fact that BaselWorld this year was about affordable watches. “Affordable luxury” as some brands rather put it. SIHH in Geneva was a different story of course, as they aim at ‘haute horlogerie’ anyway, with the exception of brands like Baume & Mercier. Anyway, we noticed that some brands came up with price corrections, new cheaper models, some based on existing models but stripped-down to be able to put a friendlier price tag on it. The times of the perpetual annual price increases are hopefully over to be honest, it didn’t make sense anymore in the end. Brands like Seiko, Oris and Sinn for example, have taken advantage over the demand for watches with a lower price tag and yet have something interesting to offer. The interest in microbrands and affordable new comers in general increased quite a bit among enthusiasts, which is a clear signal to the established brands. The question is whether they will pick up this signal.

Anyway, we can add another interesting and affordable watch to the list. The Pinion Atom. According to a Pinion representative, they did everything to keep the quality and finish of the case, dial, hands, crown and strap on par with the previous Pinion models. The main difference is in the use of the movement. Where other collections used a new old stock Valjoux 7734 and manual-winding Unitas 6498 with a Glucydur balance, the Pinion Atom relies on a Miyota caliber 9015 movement.

This way, Pinion is able to keep the price down to 790 GBP (~ 935 Euro) for their Atom watch. For this type of money, a Seiko Presage or Sinn 104 will be the main competitors from the aforementioned brands. Oris has no proposition in this price range.

Of course, we have yet to see the watch in the flesh, but based on the design and the previous Pinion models we have a positive outlook on the Pinion Atom.

The Pinion Atom has a 42mm diameter, bead-blasted stainless steel case, sapphire convex crystal and comes on a hand-made 22mm leather strap. It has a water resistance of 100 meters. The large dial will have Arabic numerals, a centered Clous-de-Paris finish and a date aperture at 6 o’clock. All built, assembled and tested in England and comes with a leather and canvas watch roll and two-year warranty.

Expected delivery in July 2017 but ready for ordering now. The first 25 orders can pick their serial number (001-025). When it is out, we will make sure to get one for a review.

Visit Pinion on-line.