The New Blue-Bronze Norqain Freedom 60 GMT 40mm

In just over a couple of years, Norqain has demonstrated a rather impressive coherence in its collections and also quite a rapid expansion. Right from the beginning, the brand even announced partnering with Kenissi, a renowned Swiss movement manufacturer (also working for Tudor, Chanel or Breitling), propelling them straight in a more high-end league. From all the models we’ve seen recently, the Freedom 60 GMT, a vintage-inspired watch with practical complication, has certainly been amongst our favourites and it returns this year with a cool combination of colours and a compact case. Here’s the new Norqain Freedom 60 GMT 40mm Bronze with Midnight Blue dial. 

The Freedom 60 GMT, a watch presented in late 2020, was the first important evolution of the collection – the most classic collection of the brand, with the least rugged appeal. As explained by the brand’s CEO, Ben Küffer: “When we began designing these new Freedom watches, we listened closely to what customers and followers wanted. And they wanted smaller cases.” While the first editions of the Freedom models were rather large, at 42 or 43mm in diameter, the GMT model was downsized to a more reasonable, more wearable 40.5mm diameter, more in line with the overall retro spirit of this line up.

First launched in steel with a black dial or in bronze with a cedar-brown dial, we’ve seen evolutions last year with a rather cool white version with “Pepsi” accents or in bronze with a green dial. Now, there’s this new limited edition with again the bronze silicon aluminium alloy used for the case. This specific blend of metals is resistant to corrosion, so it will develop a light patina over time and will be rather stable. The caseback is steel to avoid any allergic reactions but treated with a bronze PVD-coating to match the case.

The proportions are the same as before, meaning a versatile 40.5mm diameter – sort of an ideal size for a sporty/casual watch – yet with a 14.5mm height, due to the combination of a box-shaped crystal and the movement inside… That GMT by Kenissi is not known to be ultra-thin (isn’t it, Tudor?) For this edition, the Norqain Freedom 60 GMT 40mm Bronze is once again offered on a variety of different straps, ranging from a colour-matched blue Perlon strap (a vegan option, if you’re interested in this) to a Nortide Ivory strap or an Alcantara ebony strap – all being closed by a bronze pin buckle.

The main novelty in this edition is the new dial, which sees the sunray-brushed surface coloured in a rather striking midnight blue – a nice match with the bronze case. The faceted applied markers and hands are still made of bronze and filled with Old Radium Super-LumiNova. One the GMT side, the 24h scale is black and white, to differentiate night from day, and the current home time is indicated by a red arrow hand. And this watch is a real traveller’s watch, were its the local time that has the jumping function, with one-hour increments and change of the date forward and backward.

Inside the case is the COSC-certified Calibre NN20/2, based on the classic and now well-known Kenissi base. This automatic movement, with tranversal balance bridge, has a weekend-proof 70h power reserve and beats at 4Hz. It is visible through the sapphire caseback with matte surfaces on the bridges and a personalised Norqain oscillating weight.

Availability & Price

The Norqain Freedom 60 GMT 40mm Bronze and Midnight Blue is a limited edition of 300 pieces, now available from the brand’s website. Prices start from CHF 3,790.

For more details, please visit www.norqain.com.