RALF TECH Academie Automatic Riviera 41mm
Some watches make you think about time. The Riviera makes you think about where you would rather spend it.
RALF TECH takes the classical Académie and gives it perhaps its most relaxed personality: a sunray white dial, polished 41mm steel case and the unmistakable suggestion of summer somewhere on the Mediterranean.
It is simple, bright and wonderfully clean.
Applied steel indices and BGW9 Super-LumiNova® provide definition without disturbing the dial, while the absence of a date keeps everything beautifully balanced. Above it sits the Académie's distinctive glassbox sapphire, bringing a hint of mid-century softness to an otherwise thoroughly modern watch.
And modern it certainly is beneath the surface.
The RTA003 automatic movement offers up to 40 hours of power reserve, while a screw-down crown and caseback give the Riviera an impressive 200 metres of water resistance.
A hand-sewn black calfskin strap provides the more elegant option, with a black Tropic silicone strap supplied when the sea becomes more tempting than the restaurant.
Only 100 pieces will be produced.
Why buy it?
Because white dials have an effortless quality that few colours can reproduce.
The Riviera feels fresh without being fashionable, elegant without being formal and just unusual enough to make you look twice.
More importantly, this isn't a summer watch that needs protecting from summer.
Two hundred metres of water resistance means you can wear it beside the sea — and then actually go into it.
A little Mediterranean light for the wrist, whatever the weather happens to be doing outside.