DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

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gaf1958
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DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by gaf1958 »

DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased. By quite a margin...

So... some background. I’ve been away from the forum for a while, maybe 5-6 months, largely because the “CW Gateway to Yet Another Watch Forum” wasn’t good for my purchasing habits. For those who don’t know me, I’ve moved home and I’m in temporary rented accommodation until the construction of our apartment block is complete. As a result many of our possessions are in storage - including all of my watch boxes; meaning that selling any watch was not going to happen until I had the associated watch box and documents back in my possession. As I prefer to keep the collection size under 3 digits, that meant keeping my purchases down. Sadly, that was not happening while I had my daily forum “fix”. So I managed to stay away, but with the home move imminent I figured I could put a toe in the water and come back for a visit.

Having said all that, there have been a few purchases in that time, mostly Kickstarter watches dribbling in - those purchases were made prior to my hiatus but as is the nature of the Kickstarter beast, they appear when you least expect them...

The eponymously named DiRenzo DRZ 02 is the second watch from Sergio Godoy Di Renzo and, unlike the majority of watches on Kickstarter, it is Swiss made and the quality is simply superb. The fit and finishing of the case and dial/hand components is beautifully done and is the equal (or better) of most of the mainstream Swiss manufacturers. This is simply a bonus side benefit of the watch - I bought it because of the design - the quality of the finish is simply the icing on the cake.

What drew me to it was that it’s unlike any watch I’ve seen before, yet unlike most watches in “that category” it was not an “ugly duckling”. The resulting watch has a definite seventies vintage feel, but is a new design in its own right.

One of the big draws for me was the cushion case - with a twist. The case sides are *concave* and the bezel sits slightly proud of the case, but flared out somewhat like that of an Omega Speedmaster, but much less pronounced. The combination of finishes is superb: the concave case sides are finely brushed, with a highly polished edge that shows them off next to the rest of the brushed case. The bezel is brushed top and bottom, yet has a very fine polished edge that is perfectly executed the entire way round.

The dial has no chapter ring - instead the dial itself curves upward to form an integrated chapter ring with the minute track markers placed there. The dial is also in two layers, with contrasting lume under the very well finished top dial. The lume lasts quite well too; maybe not Seiko dive watch brightness and longevity, but very good for a dress watch.

The hands are finely bead blasted and I can attest (from many days of wearing these) that they are very legible in almost any lighting situation, much more so than if they’d been polished.

The 41mm case is quite short L2L, making it very wearable on my 7.25” wrist. At only 11mm including the slightly (double) domed sapphire, wearability is very good. The case back is flat, with the engraved display back showing the same attention to detail that the rest of the watch has received.

I originally ordered a blue version - as much as I love a green dialled watch, I liked the combination of blues more. A few weeks after it arrived (and it was rarely off my wrist) I decided to order the green dialled version as well. The faux vintage lume on the green version makes for a very different looking watch in the flesh and if I’m honest, I prefer the green - something I had doubted up to the moment that I unpacked it.

Anyway, enough waffling - here are some pretty ordinary photos of both watches. I currently have the blue on a shark mesh (which surprised me - even more surprising was that my wife liked the combination as she usually hates shark mesh). I’m awaiting a strap for the green which will match the lume colour, but in the meantime I’m very happy with it on a green genuine alligator strap.

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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by Thegreyman »

Welcome back to the forum Gary :thumbup:

Those DRZ’s look excellent, I love the sandwich dial, quite original.

You couldn’t resist a green dial... who knew :wink:
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by nbg »

Welcome back Gary. :thumbup:

Repeat after me “it is possible to look at the forum, without wanting to buy more watches”. Simple, you are now cured! :lol:

I like the look of that and would happily wear it on the “wear something different today” days. As you say not just a reinvented 70s Compressor style.

Concave bits on case sides, particularly if done well, are usually the preserve of some of the big boys, quite a result to find at KS level.

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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by EddieTheBeast »

Great to see you back Gary :wave:

Nice looking watches that have a good different / original look and a nice wearable case size :thumbup:
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by 0uatiOW »

Welcome back Gary, I’d noticed you hadn’t been around, then saw you pop up yesterday on the Apex post. Good to see you.

Interesting look - and good to hear a good experience of KS, which can be a bit of a punt sometimes. Just browsed the KS page - backers are very happy.

The blue (my favourite colour on watches and elsewhere) is striking - assume that’s BGW9 under the sandwich dial, a great match to the dial colour.
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by monkeymax »

Hello Gary! I'm proof that you can browse this forum without making a watch purchase - having not made a purchase for some years. But it's very hard and the Mk3 trident keeps calling out to me. :lol: Although I'm not the most active user either so maybe that helps somewhat.

I'm not normally a fan of cushion cased watches but these look lovely to me! Probably just as well I'm not buying watches at the moment!!
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by albionphoto »

Welcome back Gary. I hope the rest of your home move goes well and that you can resume forum browsing and keeping the collection less than 3 digits.
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by TigerChris »

monkeymax wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 10:45 am Hello Gary! I'm proof that you can browse this forum without making a watch purchase - having not made a purchase for some years. But it's very hard and the Mk3 trident keeps calling out to me. :lol: Although I'm not the most active user either so maybe that helps somewhat.

I'm not normally a fan of cushion cased watches but these look lovely to me! Probably just as well I'm not buying watches at the moment!!
Not being an active user in the main does help. Its a weird place, I took a couple of months away a while back but kept browsing and had no ‘urges’ to buy. As soon as I started contributing regularly again the urges returned :lol: :lol:
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by monkeymax »

TigerChris wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 12:34 pmNot being an active user in the main does help. Its a weird place, I took a couple of months away a while back but kept browsing and had no ‘urges’ to buy. As soon as I started contributing regularly again the urges returned :lol: :lol:
Good to know. Half of my posts so far have been this year, so maybe I ought to go back to my usual 99.999% of the time lurking! :lol:
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Re: DiRenzo DRZ 02: THE Best Kickstarter watch I’ve purchased.

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

They're a fine pair Gary. Top notch.

I think the concave side profile with the Speedmaster-esque is beautiful. Not seen anything like it before. Somewhat '70s but with a futuristic, space age, twist.

Glad you are enjoying them.

Guy

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