In The Details

Introducing the M-1, Aera wrote its fourth chapter for a range that already includes a pilot’s watch, a diver's watch, and a chronograph. All are known as archetypes of watch design, but the brand savours the challenge of reimagining their aesthetics, functionality, and ergonomics. 

All Aera watches result from subtracting the superfluous, distilling a design to its purely functional purpose. Tool watches are the brand’s focus and should last a lifetime of everything you, as the owner, can throw at them. Timepieces from Aera, including the latest C-1 and M-1 ranges, are offered in editions of 300, nurturing the ethos of quality over quantity while offering an Aera owner the chance to be part of a small group of likeminded enthusiasts that value the work behind each design.

The Inspiration 
Designing the Aera M-1 involved distilling one of the most evocative watch archetypes, the Field watch. Founder Jas Minhas tells us more about the inspiration behind the M-1 Field and M-1 Blackbird:” We make contemporary tool watches that are a nod to the past. With our M-1, which was conspicuously inspired by the dirty dozen, we managed to contemporise it, bringing out something with a strong identity. We are unique in that aspect, especially in the case shape and features like our domed sapphire, one-piece dial, ergonomic lugs and fitted straps. “

A new case design and its challenges
The Aera M-1 is crafted from 904L steel, a superalloy stainless steel considered superior to the 316L surgical steel, which most watchmakers still use. It is the brand’s first 39mm diameter watch, and creating the M-1 came with its challenges. Jas says that designing and developing the initial P-1 & D-1 cases took three years, including about four to five different iterations of the case and strap design, including prototypes, which was invaluable as it set the design principles of their future watches in stone. 

Jas tells us more: “We used our design principles to create the M-1 in around 18 months, starting from scratch, taking into consideration a 4mm reduction in case size. By definition, tool watches have a certain weight, are robust and have substance but they have to be comfortable. The M-1 is designed with the recognisable Aera shape but it wasn't just a case of reducing the size of our existing case shapes. A lot of development still had to be done. We had to change the angles of the lugs by degrees and the sapphire crystal's dome so that you would still have a balanced design. Not only aesthetically but including the weight and how it fits your wrist together with our fitted straps”.

Dished legibility
Aera is a company led by design that seeks to redesign the recognisable traits of what we know as instruments of time. In this context, with a focus on tool watches, the clarity and legibility of the dials are paramount. That is why all Aera dials have a single-piece dished design that gently curves to echo the strong curvature of the AR (anti-reflective) treated domed sapphire crystal and steel bezel. The finish is a subdued matt black, focusing on the bold, raised white Arabic numerals that appear in a modern font. As a first for the brand, the one-piece dial of the M-1 is encircled by a railroad minute track in crisp white on the dished edge. 

Indicating the time of day or night on the dial is a set of bold sword hands in matt black with a liberal centre section of white X-1 Super-Luminova. The hour and minute hands are vital to the functionality of a watch, and their proportions are imperative within the circular confines of the dial. Following exhaustive prototyping, the choice for the third, fastest rotating hand fell on a classic small second dial at six o’clock. Again, This is a nod to archetypal military watches, but a detail that the M-1 is pared down to its essence, with discreet but highly legible markings.

Super-LumiNova X-1
A tool watch is an instrument of time that must always be legible, whether worn during your adventures or everyday wear. For this reason, Aera picked the best Swiss-manufactured luminescent material to be liberally hand-applied to the hands and markers of the Aera M-1. The choice fell on Tritec’s Swiss Super-LumiNova X-1, and CEO Albert Zeller underlines the importance of our choice: "Swiss Super-LumiNova Grade X1 is one of the best performing luminous materials on the market. After years of research, we managed to increase the charging speed of the pigments while offering in parallel a double as bright and long-lasting luminous performance compared to the first Super-LumiNova type we launched”. The same grade Super-LumiNova is used in the Globolight XP numbers and Aera logo offering an unparalleled and long lasting glow. 

A hand-wound, Swiss heart 
The smaller 39mm case also called for a smaller movement, and the mechanical heart of the Aera M-1 is a proven Swiss movement from Sellita. The hand-wound SW216-1, resides under a closed, screw-in 904L steel, two-piece case back with a personal serial number. The SW216-1 movement has a useful 42-hour power reserve, is known for its superior reliability, and is wound by hand using the well-proportioned crown. This Sellita calibre is refined with an Elabore-grade finish, providing greater accuracy and a superior finish. Hand-winding a mechanical movement allows for a closer relationship between the owner and their timepiece. All Swiss watch movements from Sellita are serviceable, offering many years of use following Aera’s ethos of ‘Tools For Life’ or, in other words, producing future heirlooms that can be passed on. 

Bespoke strap design
A good tool watch is about everyday comfort, and choosing a strap means more than most brands will admit. Jas knows this too well: "We decided to design fitted straps for our watches, which is the hard way to go. Because our elliptical cases have the superlative ergonomics of having the bezel, crystal and case all fitting flush with micro-tolerances, the strap choice has been difficult. This shape is seldom produced because you generally have to accept larger manufacturing tolerances."

As Jas explains, the nature of Aera’s smooth, elliptical case design impacted the strap design: "When it comes to the straps, again, it was a case of trial and error because of how our lugs are shaped. The general straight-ended strap that the rest of the industry uses, which is not fitted, emphasised our inside lug edges being quite sharp. This caused us to rethink our choice and consider a bespoke design. The challenge lay in finding the right choice without changing the design language because if we'd softened the edges, it would have changed the watch aesthetics. This cemented our choice of designing our own bespoke fitted straps, a characteristic and integral part of all our watch designs, from the debut D-1 and P-1 through the introduction of the C-1 Chronograph and the latest M-1."

Talking to Jas Minhas and being allowed into the perfectionate mindset of Aera, the innovative watch brand, only proves that good design lies in the smallest details.