Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The March LA.B Bonzer Bronze Edition
Surfing in style with the attractive new bronze-and-black Bonzer.
French brand March LA.B was founded in 2008 by three partners with a strong focus on retro design and a passion for surfing. With roots in Los Angeles and Biarritz (hence the LA.B acronym), March LA.B is not the easiest brand to pigeonhole. Its repertoire of shaped watches and surf watches have a twang of 1970s nostalgia, and March LA.B’s watches stand out from the crowd with unexpected details like chiselled crowns. The world of surfing exerts a strong pull at March LA.B, and its Belza and Bonzer models comprise the surfer range. Earlier this year, we covered the Belza Bronze Edition, a 200m water-resistant diver (sorry, surfer) with a chunky bronze case. Next in line for the bronze makeover is the more svelte Bonzer. In keeping with the brand’s philosophy of producing watches that are “as French as possible,” the Bonzer is designed and assembled in France and powered by a Franco-Swiss automatic movement.
Just before we look at the watch, the name Bonzer is taken from the legendary surfboards made in the 1970s by brothers Duncan and Malcolm Campbell. Like black-and-gold John Player Special models, the combination of bronze and black makes for a very attractive, verging-on dressy watch. It is an oxymoron in the context of a surf/dive watch, but it works very well as a stylish sports watch. The case has a diameter of 41mm, a thickness of 12.25 and a 100m water-resistance. It is crafted in bronze with a predominance of brushed finishings and polished accents on the inner face of the lugs. However, it also features some finishings that are rarely seen on a dive/surf watch. Inspired by the brand’s logo, the knurled bezel is chiselled with a series of intertwined lines matching those on the screw-down crown at 4 o’clock.
The unidirectional rotating bezel has a black ceramic insert with bronze-coloured markings and is surmounted by a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment. With its etched retro-inspired crosshair, the black sandblasted dial has a precision minutes/seconds track on the periphery and eye-catching gold-tone metal indices inserted into the peripheral track. With their accordion-like or stepped structure, the applied chiselled indices are unlike anything you’ve encountered on a dive watch before. At noon, a metal applique represents the brand’s M-shaped logo.
As a watch that seems to defy traditional features of dive watches, there is no trace of luminescent material on the bezel or indices. The fork-shaped hour and minute hands, with their open-ended tips that look like tuning forks, are the only elements on the dial treated with luminescence. The golden-framed date window at 3 o’clock occupies the position of the index and reveals a bright green numeral every third day of the month, a nod to the brand’s favourite colour and month of the year (March).
The screwed caseback hides the outsourced La Joux-Perret calibre G100, an automatic movement produced in Switzerland but assembled in France (hence the Franco-Swiss mention). Fitted with a customised semi-openworked rotor, the movement delivers a robust 68-hour power reserve and has a precision of -4 and +6 seconds per day.
The March LA.B Bonzer Bronze retails for EUR 1,995 (incl. tax). For more information and to place an online order, please consult march-lab.com.
