Category: STERNGLAS

About three years ago when I was looking for a watch inspired by the Bauhaus style and which was not very expensive, but which at the same time had quality and an attractive design, I discovered Sternglas, about which at the time I knew little or nothing, but what caught my attention the most was the fact that it met all the requirements that I had defined, in the end, I ended up not buying any watch, but I was very pleased by what the German brand had been doing and since then I started to follow with some regularity, still we hadn’t had the opportunity to talk about it here and today with the launch of yet another watch, we thought it was the right time to approach it.

Sternglass was born in 2016 at the hands of its founder Dustin Fontaine, who as a young man worked in a small watch manufactory where he developed a taste for watches and since then the desire to create a company that produced beautiful and quality watches that were within reach all people.

Over the five years of its existence, Sternglas has created close to a dozen new watch models, all inspired by the German Bauhaus school, with very attractive designs that do not lag behind other German brands but at much more competitive prices, since internally their watches are normally equipped with Japanese Miyota movements, which, although they cannot be placed in the category of in-house movements of other German brands, they are nonetheless quite reliable and accurate.

But today Sternglas turns a new page in its still short existence with the launch of its most recent model, the Marus Automatic, it is the first dive watch produced by the brand and goes outside its comfort zone, in the minimalist Bauhaus style.

First impressions

Before even reading the specifications of Sternglas Marus and seeing the photos, I confess that I was very pleased by its design, reminiscent of Seiko’s Prospex SPB line inspired by the historic 6217-8001 from the 60s, the next challenge was to know its dimensions, 42mm in diameter, 14mm thick and 53.8mm lug-to-lug, which, as you may have already noticed, shows a very considerable presence in a middle wrist, but which we will only address in the end.

The watch comes in two variants, with a black dial or with green dial, steel case with a brushed finish, equipped with rotating diving bezel that is presented in steel in the green variant and with a black ceramic bezel insert in the black variant both with 60-minute scale, domed sapphire glass anti-reflective, crown and case back screwed down. The dial features a minimalist style with hour markers printed in white and just like the fine hands are filled with Nemoto Luminova, a discreet aperture date at 6 o’clock preceded by the inscriptions “Automatic” and “200M = 660F” and at 12 o’clock the signature brand. Both variants can be purchased with a black rubber strap or a stainless steel bracelet. Inside, the Miyota 8215 automatic movement operates, offering up to 42 power reserve. The price varies between € 389 for variants with a rubber strap and € 429 for variants with a steel bracelet.

Final considerations

This is one of those releases that we say at the outset that it has everything to be a success, but then as we get to know the details we feel the need to release a huge sigh because something has failed. We are talking about the dimensions, 42mm in diameter and 53.8mm of lug-to-lug leaves a lot to be desired, we do not think that it fits comfortably in a medium wrist and even less in a small wrist. And then when we appreciate its attractive design, a bezel with a ceramic insert, which is rare to see in watches at this price, 200 meters of water resistance, an automatic movement and with such attractive prices, even less understand the dimensions of this watch. In addition to the dimensions, we were also not fans of the steel bracelet, we understand the design with vintage inspiration, but it does not seem to match a diver watch, not to mention the huge gap between the case and the bracelet’s ends link.

Our verdict, we liked the watch very much and we think it will attract the attention of many enthusiasts, however as we already mentioned we consider that the dimensions will take away a lot of these enthusiasts, so we would like to see in the near future the dimensions are adjusted to values ​​closer to 39 / 40mm in diameter, that alone is enough.

General Specifications:

Brand: Sternglas

Model: Marus Automatic

Dial: Black, green

Lume: Nemoto Luminova

Case Material: 316L Stainless steel, ceramic bezel (black variant only)

Case Dimensions: 42 mm Diameter, 14 mm thickness

Crystal: Sapphire Glass

Case Back: 316L Stainless steel

Water Resistance: 200 Meters

Strap: Black rubber strap, stainless steel bracelet

Calibre: Miyota 8215

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, diver bezel

Winding: Automatic

Frequency: 21,600 Vph

Jewels: 21

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Price: € 389 (rubber strap), € 429 (steel bracelet)