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GUARDIAN AT THE GATE - by Audiomachine
Click video for sountrack to this review
Benarus MORAY 47mm CuSn8 Bronze
SPECS
INTRO
Benarus is a boutique watch brand that is a part of the StevRal watch group based out of Overland Park, KS. StevRal is co-owned by Steve Laughlin and Ralf Schreiner and also includes Raven Watches and SuppaParts. Starting with the Barracuda in 2008, Benarus is famous for producing unique designs in very small quantities that are often entirely reserved before they ship the first piece.
One of their most popular series over the years has been the Moray. The first Moray was originally released in 2009 and has seen several generations as well as size variations from 42mm up to 47mm and material compositions from 316L stainless steel to titanium and CuSn8 bronze.
A few weeks ago, I had a chance to meet Steve Laughlin for dinner along with a small group of watch collectors and was very impressed by his enthusiasm and his devotion to his designs. By the time the evening was over I was a huge fan and the search was ON for my first Benarus.
At the dinner Steve had his own personal black dial Moray 47mm Bronze so this watch was still quite fresh in my mind. It interesting to note that Steve does not keep an example of every watch that he designs in his collection as he feels that his creativity is blunted when his collection is full. More importantly the Moray 47mm Bronze is one of the few that he felt he needed to keep. Through our conversation I found that Benarus had only produced 30 of the Moray 47mm in bronze and only half of those with the black dial that I preferred. Unfortunately, all of them had been long sold out so my chances of finding this watch was going to be slim... That is, until I found one!
PRESENTATION
The Moray 47 comes packaged inside a nice, zippered, black leather travel case with the Benarus logo imprinted on the top. The travel case has two watch shaped slots w/ elastic straps large enough to accommodate the Moray 47. There is a leather flap that covers the watches when the case is closed. On the opposite side of the case is a storage compartment containing the Benarus warranty card with the purchase date and case number hand written by Steve along with the StevRal contact information card and a small bag with extra strap tubes and screws. The Moray 47 comes on a black rubber strap with a bronze signed buckle. Also included is an extra brown leather strap with white contrast stitching.
CASE
The highlight feature of this watch is the 47mm CuSn8 Bronze case. Bronze is a reddish golden metal alloy of Copper and Tin and has been used by man to manufacture tools and weapons dating back to as early as 4500 BC. As a material it was more durable than copper and stone and its discovery led to the period of history known as the "Bronze Age". The CuSn8 indicates that the particular bronze alloy used by Benarus is 92% Copper and 8% Tin. Bronze is a "living metal" and as such will oxidize and its surface coloring will change over time going from a dark golden honey color to a dark brown or black.
The Moray case is a 1950's cushion style divers case like those popularized by Panerai. To this basic shape, Benarus has added a 120 click, coin-edge, unidirectional rotating divers bezel with a lume pip indicating the 0 position, engraved arabic numerals at 15/20/45, and engraved stick markers at the remaining 5 minute increments. There is almost zero play in the bezel and it provides a good resistance and tight operation.
The signed crown is made of titanium as is the screw down medallion style case back. This is done because bronze reacts to skin/perspiration and can leave green staining on ones wrist. Furthermore it was felt that bronze would not be a good material for the crown for long term durability of its threading.
There is a stainless steel automatic helium release valve on the 9 o'clock side of the case.
DIAL
The dial on this Moray 47 is done in a deep black enamel finish. The overall design is very simple and highly legible. It has large arabic numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions along with round markers at the other hour positions. There is a small date window at the 4:30 position with a white on black display. Pointed stick/pencil shaped hour and minute hands are joined with a thin coaxially mounted seconds hand.
MOVEMENT & ACCURACY
Powering the Moray 47 is the ETA 2824-2 Swiss automatic movement. This movement features 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, and a power reserve of 38 hours. On my TimeGrapher 1000 in the face up position it proved to be very well regulated showing a daily rate deviation of only 4 seconds. It had a very low beat error of only 0.2 milliseconds and a beat amplitude of 268 degrees. All of these show that Benarus is paying attention to the regulation of the movements going into their watches.
STRAP
As mentioned in the beginning, the Moray 47 Bronze comes with two sets of straps that attach to the case using a two-screwdriver lug tube and screw system. The first strap is an Isofrane-style thick black rubber CUDA strap with a signed bronze buckle. It features rectangular cutouts for ventilation and a light vanilla scent. I find the rubber to be neither too stiff nor overly soft. Sometimes it is a little tough to get the thick strap tail into the keepers but once it is in it will absolutely stay in place. Overall, the rubber strap is quite comfortable on the wrist but I need to mention that its thickness can put pressure on the underside of the wrist when doing desk work such as typing. The included brown leather strap features white contrast stitching and the same signed bronze buckle. One nice touch is that Benarus has installed stainless steel tubes into the straps to accommodate the lug tubes for strap changes and to reduce wear and tear on the strap. There is a spare set of lug tubes and screws included with the watch but no screwdriver.
LUME
The lume on the Moray 47 Bronze is C3 Super Luminova. Because of the extremely large dial markers wide stick hands, and bold arabic numerals this Moray will outshine most of its competitors
CONCLUSION
As only 1 of 15 black dialed CuSn8 Bronze Moray 47mm in existence this is an extremely rare bird that I feel very privileged to be able to add to my collection. What makes it even more special is having met the Moray's creator, Steve Laughlin, and hearing about his design inspirations and knowing that this is one of the few of his designs that he has chosen to keep in his personal collection. From the Moray's bronze case that will age and change over time, to the well regulated ETA 2824-2 heart beating inside, this is certain to be one of the few true "keepers" in my collection.
PROS
CONS
Benarus MORAY 47mm CuSn8 Bronze
SPECS
- Model: Moray 47
Case: CuSn8 Bronze
Diameter: 47mm
Movement: ETA 2824-2 automatic
Crystal: Sapphire
Lume: C3 Super Luminova
Crown: Screw down signed titanium crown
Caseback: Screw down titanium medallion
Strap: CUDA black rubber w/ bronze buckle, brown leather w/ bronze buckle and steel tubes for lug bars.
Strap Measurements: 24mm
Water Resistance: 2000 meters
Weight: 202.5 grams on the rubber strap
Features: Automatic helium release valve
INTRO
Benarus is a boutique watch brand that is a part of the StevRal watch group based out of Overland Park, KS. StevRal is co-owned by Steve Laughlin and Ralf Schreiner and also includes Raven Watches and SuppaParts. Starting with the Barracuda in 2008, Benarus is famous for producing unique designs in very small quantities that are often entirely reserved before they ship the first piece.
One of their most popular series over the years has been the Moray. The first Moray was originally released in 2009 and has seen several generations as well as size variations from 42mm up to 47mm and material compositions from 316L stainless steel to titanium and CuSn8 bronze.
A few weeks ago, I had a chance to meet Steve Laughlin for dinner along with a small group of watch collectors and was very impressed by his enthusiasm and his devotion to his designs. By the time the evening was over I was a huge fan and the search was ON for my first Benarus.
At the dinner Steve had his own personal black dial Moray 47mm Bronze so this watch was still quite fresh in my mind. It interesting to note that Steve does not keep an example of every watch that he designs in his collection as he feels that his creativity is blunted when his collection is full. More importantly the Moray 47mm Bronze is one of the few that he felt he needed to keep. Through our conversation I found that Benarus had only produced 30 of the Moray 47mm in bronze and only half of those with the black dial that I preferred. Unfortunately, all of them had been long sold out so my chances of finding this watch was going to be slim... That is, until I found one!
PRESENTATION
The Moray 47 comes packaged inside a nice, zippered, black leather travel case with the Benarus logo imprinted on the top. The travel case has two watch shaped slots w/ elastic straps large enough to accommodate the Moray 47. There is a leather flap that covers the watches when the case is closed. On the opposite side of the case is a storage compartment containing the Benarus warranty card with the purchase date and case number hand written by Steve along with the StevRal contact information card and a small bag with extra strap tubes and screws. The Moray 47 comes on a black rubber strap with a bronze signed buckle. Also included is an extra brown leather strap with white contrast stitching.
CASE
The highlight feature of this watch is the 47mm CuSn8 Bronze case. Bronze is a reddish golden metal alloy of Copper and Tin and has been used by man to manufacture tools and weapons dating back to as early as 4500 BC. As a material it was more durable than copper and stone and its discovery led to the period of history known as the "Bronze Age". The CuSn8 indicates that the particular bronze alloy used by Benarus is 92% Copper and 8% Tin. Bronze is a "living metal" and as such will oxidize and its surface coloring will change over time going from a dark golden honey color to a dark brown or black.
The Moray case is a 1950's cushion style divers case like those popularized by Panerai. To this basic shape, Benarus has added a 120 click, coin-edge, unidirectional rotating divers bezel with a lume pip indicating the 0 position, engraved arabic numerals at 15/20/45, and engraved stick markers at the remaining 5 minute increments. There is almost zero play in the bezel and it provides a good resistance and tight operation.
The signed crown is made of titanium as is the screw down medallion style case back. This is done because bronze reacts to skin/perspiration and can leave green staining on ones wrist. Furthermore it was felt that bronze would not be a good material for the crown for long term durability of its threading.
There is a stainless steel automatic helium release valve on the 9 o'clock side of the case.
DIAL
The dial on this Moray 47 is done in a deep black enamel finish. The overall design is very simple and highly legible. It has large arabic numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions along with round markers at the other hour positions. There is a small date window at the 4:30 position with a white on black display. Pointed stick/pencil shaped hour and minute hands are joined with a thin coaxially mounted seconds hand.
MOVEMENT & ACCURACY
Powering the Moray 47 is the ETA 2824-2 Swiss automatic movement. This movement features 25 jewels, 28,800 vph, and a power reserve of 38 hours. On my TimeGrapher 1000 in the face up position it proved to be very well regulated showing a daily rate deviation of only 4 seconds. It had a very low beat error of only 0.2 milliseconds and a beat amplitude of 268 degrees. All of these show that Benarus is paying attention to the regulation of the movements going into their watches.
STRAP
As mentioned in the beginning, the Moray 47 Bronze comes with two sets of straps that attach to the case using a two-screwdriver lug tube and screw system. The first strap is an Isofrane-style thick black rubber CUDA strap with a signed bronze buckle. It features rectangular cutouts for ventilation and a light vanilla scent. I find the rubber to be neither too stiff nor overly soft. Sometimes it is a little tough to get the thick strap tail into the keepers but once it is in it will absolutely stay in place. Overall, the rubber strap is quite comfortable on the wrist but I need to mention that its thickness can put pressure on the underside of the wrist when doing desk work such as typing. The included brown leather strap features white contrast stitching and the same signed bronze buckle. One nice touch is that Benarus has installed stainless steel tubes into the straps to accommodate the lug tubes for strap changes and to reduce wear and tear on the strap. There is a spare set of lug tubes and screws included with the watch but no screwdriver.
LUME
The lume on the Moray 47 Bronze is C3 Super Luminova. Because of the extremely large dial markers wide stick hands, and bold arabic numerals this Moray will outshine most of its competitors
CONCLUSION
As only 1 of 15 black dialed CuSn8 Bronze Moray 47mm in existence this is an extremely rare bird that I feel very privileged to be able to add to my collection. What makes it even more special is having met the Moray's creator, Steve Laughlin, and hearing about his design inspirations and knowing that this is one of the few of his designs that he has chosen to keep in his personal collection. From the Moray's bronze case that will age and change over time, to the well regulated ETA 2824-2 heart beating inside, this is certain to be one of the few true "keepers" in my collection.
PROS
- CuSn8 Bronze case
Rarity with only 15 made in this case/dial combination
ETA 2824-2 movement tested to show excellent movement regulation
C3 SuperLuminova lume
Sapphire crystal
Excellent presentation with zippered travel case
Two sets of straps included
CONS
- Rarity makes this watch difficult to find on the preowned market.
Two screwdrivers needed to exchange straps
Extra thick rubber strap can be uncomfortable for desk work/typing
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