Hands-On: Akrivia AK-06
Here’s a watch I have been wanting to get my hands on for quite some time now. The Akrivia-06. The men and women behind Akrivia are one and the same as the Grand Prix winning team behind Rexhep Rexhepi.
Akrivia caught my attention not with their recent win with the Rexhep Rexhepi line, it was indeed with this watch from a while back. It just looks so very different from anything else out there. The brand also speaks to me as the team behind it is young and hungry, and facing a bright future if they keep pushing the way they do.
As this is a not so new release a lot has been written already about this particular piece, so I won’t bore you with that. I’ll leave you with my short impressions following that fleeting moment where I could actually hold this unique watch up close. And where possible a picture or two as well 😉
This particular AKRIVIA watch does not feature a tourbillon, a rarity for the brand that seems quite fond of those. That said you still have plenty of mechanical wonder to marvel at both on the front and on the back, especially since it is a manual wind allowing full viewing access to the in-house calibre. More on that below, let’s briefly zoom in on that beautiful face first.
They pride themselves on hand finishing everything they possibly can and that certainly shows. This is by no means a watch intended for the average consumer. Not only due to its very particular look, also because these are not mass produced. In fact, they’re made the good old fashioned way, one at a time. These are watches for watch lovers and watch collectors.
Take a moment to take all of that detail in, just take a moment. Once you get past the deliciously finished and blued hands I invite you to find anything that is not intricately finished.
On pictures this watch always appeared massive to me, much to my surprise however this is not the case in real life. It has a 41mm diameter (less than a Speedmaster) and is just 9,9mm thick. Very good. It is practical too, with a 100 hour power reserve, which you can monitor on the disk on the front of the dial which I bet you didn’t notice just yet.
The movement has that symmetry that we find back in other watches from the brand, it is glorious. The effort the team puts in the finishing of the parts is visible from afar and even more when bringing in a loupe. My personal favourite part is that insanely beautiful bridge. Finishing is excellent and one can only Imagine how much better this will get as the team further hones their skills as the year’s go by.
When you buy an Akrivia you buy more than just a watch, you’re buying sincere craftsmanship and investing in the future of Swiss watchmaking.
Price of these at the time of their launch started at CHF 79K for the steel version.