The New Norqain Wild One Skeleton, Dressed In Summer Attire (Live Pics & Price)

In just five years, Norqain has experienced solid growth and cornered the market with over 200 points of sale thanks to its well-designed, contemporary sports watch collections. Coinciding with the official arrival of summer, Norqain introduces a new model fusing aspects of the best-selling high-performance Norteq case of the Independence Wild One with the skeletonised movement of the Independence Skeleton. Offered in two eye-catching summery colours, the new Wild One Skeleton comes in bright turquoise and warm burgundy tones and is being promoted by Italian Olympic swimmer Filippo Magnini.

Ben Kuffer, the family-run brand’s CEO, is lucky to have industry heavyweight Jean-Claude Biver on his advisory board. Biver’s valuable input resulted in the creation of the wildly successful Independence Wild One in 2022. A high-performance sports watch, the Independence Wild One takes its design cues from the Independence collection but enhances the case construction to make it lighter and more resistant. The complex case construction has a protective cage made of Norteq, a super-light, ultra-resistant proprietary carbon fibre composite, resulting in a watch weighing 84 grams – 50% lighter than a steel Independence model. Shock-tested to 5000g, the screw-down crown ensures the 200m water-resistance.

The combination of the Wild One case with a skeletonised movement further reduces the weight of the watch to just 78 grams. Given the popularity of skeletonised movements today, Norqain responded with its first Independence Skeletonised model in 2021 in a black DLC-coated case, proving that delicate skeletonised movements can be housed inside a sports watch case. A second version appeared in 2022, and today, Norqain introduces its third skeletonised model, now housed in the high-performance Wild One case.

Both the Turquoise and Burgundy models share the same 42mm marbled-effect Norteq case with a thickness of 12.30mm. The complex shock-absorbing case construction is made of 25 parts and can withstand up to 5000g making it suitable for extreme sports. An exploded view of the case construction reveals the different layers with its external Norteq cage followed by a rubber shock absorber and a titanium container for the movement. Another particular feature of the carbon fibre composite is that it can be dyed in different colours.

By far the most vibrant of the two, the Turquoise Wild One has a black marbled case with bright turquoise rubber accents on the left lateral shock absorber, crown guards, rubber seals, and its matching rubber strap with a black border. The Burgundy model, a limited edition of 300 pieces, is mellower and has a burgundy-coloured marbled Norteq cage with black rubber shock absorbers, crown guards, rubber seals and strap. Both feature the signature Norqain plaque screwed in on the left side of the case.

The applied and luminous indices suspended over the dial are placed on the peripheral chapter ring with its five-minute markings. The Burgundy model plays with skeletonised red gold-plated indices and hands with white Super-LumiNova, while the Turquoise model uses silver indices and hands with turquoise Super-LumiNova material. The central seconds hand has an arrow-shaped tip, also filled with lume.

Beneath the sapphire crystals on both sides of the case is the brand’s proprietary skeletonised NN08S based on the Sellita SW 200-1S. To make it more shock-resilient, the skeleton movement has a beam construction and each support point is held by at least two arms. Beating at 28,800vph, this COSC chronometer-certified movement delivers a 41-hour power reserve and has a personalised Norqain rotor.

Availability & Price

The Wild One Skeleton Burgundy is a limited edition of 300 pieces and retails for CHF 5,450; the Wild One Skeleton Turquoise joins the Independence collection and retails for CHF 5,250. For more information, please consult Norqain.com.