The Tertium Quid Watch Model R Rings The Alarm With A Vintage A. Schild Movement

They seem to come in thick and fast, high-end Japanese indie watchmakers. In just a couple of short years, we’ve seen a whole range of them emerge from the Land of the Rising Sun. Through clever conception, unbridled devotion to craft and tradition and a unique perspective on watchmaking, they seem to capture the hearts and minds of collectors the world over. Take Quiet Club with their uniquely crafted alarm mechanism, or Otsuka Lotec and its No. 9 featuring a tourbillon and striking and jumping indications. Next in line to win you over is Tertium Quid Watch Tokyo, a new brand founded by a duo of passionate watch collectors. Making its debut with the Model R alarm watch, it’s yet another Japanese independent watchmaker to look out for!

Shun Horiuchi and Taku Yamashina, lifelong friends and veteran watch collectors, decided to launch their own brand to satisfy their own desires. But establishing a brand from scratch isn’t easy, even more so if you’re not a watchmaker or designer by trade. The two men, however, have a big network of friends and acquaintances in the Japanese and Swiss watchmaking industry, giving Tertium Quid Watch Tokyo a head start. The name refers to ‘a third of something’ in Latin, giving meaning to the men’s mission to make Tertium Quid watches ‘a third entity’ in a collector’s life. What the first and second entities are remains a bit of a mystery, though…

Regardless, the Model R has a lot going for itself. The size is pretty much spot-on, at 38mm in diameter and 11.1mm in height. The stainless steel case is fully polished, with a dual crown set-up on the left, a sapphire crystal on top and a see-through caseback revealing the movement. The top crown is used to set the running time of the watch, with the bottom one reserved for the alarm function, which can be turned on or off. The water resistance is rated at “daily life” with the alarm function off, and pretty much non-existent with the alarm turned on. So either way, you should keep it away from water as best as you can.

Moving to the dial, the Model R features a very classical and nicely balanced Sector-style dial in black and silver. The outer ring, in silver, has a circular brushed finish with a black printed track with multiple scales to keep track of the passing of time. The black centre section also has a printed track, but this time in silvery-white for contrast. The blued steel hands are for the hours, minutes and seconds, and then there’s a fourth one, polished, for the alarm function. It’s all neatly done and charmingly vintage, ticking a lot of boxes that make watches like the JLC Memovox and Vulcain Cricket such fan-favourites.

The movement is actually vintage as well, as Tertium Quid opts for a restored and modified A. Schild AS1475. This manually wound movement gets newly manufactured bridges, plus a new hammer and gong to make it perform as best as it can. It runs at a rate of 18,000vph and has a power reserve of 40 hours. Nothing spectacular in that respect, but expected with such a vintage movement as a foundation. Everything is finished to Haute Horlogerie standards, with black polishing on the hammer and gong, chamfered edges, hairline brushing, polished and chamfered screws, rhodium or yellow gold plating and so on. And don’t make the mistake of thinking the movement casing ring is visible from the backside, that is, in fact, the gong for the alarm system.

The Tertium Quid Watch Tokyo Model R is supplied with a deep blue French calfskin leather strap with contrasting stitching, edge finishing and a seamless lining, and a stainless steel pin buckle to secure it to the wrist. Only 8 will be made, for a price of JPY 4,600,000, which comes down to about EUR 24,900 excluding VAT at the time of writing.

For more information, please visit TertiumQuidWatch.com.