RALF TECH Academie Automatic Roadking 41mm
Some watches are about arriving. The Roadking feels more interested in the road that gets you there.
Inspired by the freedom and aesthetics of the 1960s, the Académie Roadking combines a polished 41mm steel case, matte black dial and warm Old Radium Super-LumiNova® with a hand-sewn chocolate calfskin strap.
It is a beautifully judged combination.
The black dial is deliberately restrained, with no date window interrupting its symmetry. Warm vintage-toned hands and markers soften the contrast, while the Académie's thick glassbox sapphire adds the slightly rounded appearance of a watch from another era.
Yet this is no fragile exercise in nostalgia.
Inside is RALF TECH's RTA003 automatic movement, offering up to 40 hours of power reserve, while a screw-down crown and caseback provide an impressive 200 metres of water resistance. A black Tropic silicone strap is also supplied for more active use.
Only 100 pieces will be produced.
Why buy it?
Because the Roadking understands that motoring is not always about speed.
There is something wonderfully evocative about the combination of polished steel, black dial, aged lume and chocolate leather. It suggests old roads, mechanical things and journeys taken simply because there is time to take them.
But underneath the romance is a watch built to be used.
Two hundred metres of water resistance means you don't need to treat it like something from the 1960s, however convincingly it captures the atmosphere.
A watch for people who understand that sometimes the long way round is the whole point.