(This page features affiliate links, for more information click here.)

If there’s one thing the watch community can agree on...it’s that we can never agree on anything. Nevertheless, there’s perhaps one thing we can all agree on. One thing to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!

That being logos. More specifically, the fact that bad logos can negatively impact the look of a watch.

Now, I’ve showcased some pretty tragic logos and brand names over the years, but there’s one in particular that stands out due to the near-universal panning it received from both reviewers and commenters alike.

Enter ‘Swiss Watch Company’. A small, American, family-run watch brand offering Swiss-made watches.

It wasn’t a case of whether you liked their logo or not; nobody liked it! It was more a matter of how much you disliked it!

While the brand name itself has also come under fire for its genericness, it’s undoubtedly the cartoonish typeface and icon that were the leading cause for complaint, with a look straight out of a Windows 95 clip art menu.

It’s a shame, too, as the consensus on build quality was usually the opposite. The Trench and Ark watches I previously reviewed were very well-made, with impressive features and AliExpress-rivalling specifications, despite being Swiss-made. With a particularly thin case that boasted a steel-like final appearance, the Trench is still the best-finished titanium watch I’ve seen to date, beating out many larger brands. Outside of the disastrous branding, it was even pretty attractive in every other way.

Nonetheless, I was still with the crowd. I simply couldn’t buy or wear a watch with that eyesore sitting right there on the dial. Sure, you can call me a snob! I ain’t wearing that shit!

As I see it, watches are outdated technologically; you buy one as much for looks as anything else. And the appeal of Swiss Watch Company was completely stymied by this botched branding...until now, perhaps.

Indeed, after many months of planning, Swiss Watch Company has returned. They’re still Swiss Watch Company, but they’re back with a proper fresh lick of paint. A completely revamped logo that they’re hoping can turn some more heads or at least prevent a bunch of them from turning away!

They’ve sent me a concept unit of their latest release, which features some of this new branding, so today, I’ll take a look at it, I’ll give you my thoughts on the watch, and then we’ll delve into the logo specifically, to decide whether or not Swiss Watch Company is worth putting back on your radar.

Now, as this unit is an early concept model, some elements still feature the old Swiss Watch Company branding. Originally, they’d planned to include both logos on different parts of the watch to celebrate the transition, but thankfully, they’ve reversed this decision. All retail units use the new branding across the board.

Packaging

For now, though, this test unit ships in a leather pouch with the old logo.

While it lacks the rustic, grainy character of the pouch that the last two watches came in, the new pouch does appear to be better constructed and uses much thicker leather despite the plainer appearance. It’s truly practical packaging, with enough room for a watch, multiple straps, and the included three-year warranty card: far better than a throwaway plastic box if you ask me!

SWC Tumbler Review

Hiding within is the new time-telling-ticker, the Tumbler. This is an automatic, Sellita-powered titanium watch paired with a matching titanium bracelet and what they’re calling a ‘go anywhere, do anything’ design.

Case

Aside from the logo, the first thing that struck me was the case color. It’s much darker than the last one, with a more subdued, matte finish, partly due to a switch in materials. It’s still grade two titanium, but the hardened DLC coating has been switched for an alternative that offers a higher Vickers rating, supposedly improving the scratch resistance. Next time we do a scratch test video, I’ll lob this into the mix, though they don’t make a great number of claims about its performance.

While this coating may have performance benefits, and while I’m sure some will appreciate the more tactical vibe, visually, I don’t find it nearly as impressive as that on the Trench. Of course, the Tumbler was never going to be as slim, as it uses an automatic movement, and the increased size could have left it looking pancake-like anyway. It’s 2.5mm wider, by the way, at 41mm, and has a longer 47mm lug to lug. Instead, it’s the tone of the case that is the real differentiator.

The standout feature of the Trench was that case trickery. It looked just like stainless steel, retaining that classic high-contrast, light-catching shimmer to such an extent that I had to check the spec sheet numerous times, as I got some of the old ‘imposter syndrome.’ The illusion was that convincing!

With the Trench, you got the best of both worlds. But this new one? Not so much. The Tumbler case is far duller, and while that may be intended to match the field theming, the final result lacks the same level of finesse. While it’s less performant, the Trench just looks cleaner and more premium than the Tumbler when the two are side by side.

Bracelet

That’s not to say that the finishing is poor on a technical level. For a titanium watch, the brushing and polishing is excellent, just like last time, and Swiss Watch Company has also done a good job of matching the bracelet. Unlike some titanium watches (Citizen, for instance), this titanium bracelet is well-tailored to the case, particularly as far as coloring goes.

It’s got screw-links, which is good for hassle-free alterations, and even boasts a titanium clasp to reduce the weight even further. When sized for my wrist, the Tumbler weighs in at a quartz-rivalling 94 grams. Larger watches don’t get much lighter than this.

While it only has two micro-adjustment holes, it does at least have some half-sized links you can play with to find a good fit, and again, the clasp logo should be updated for the final release.

The same is true of the logo on the case rear, below which you’ll also see an inscription of the model name. This is a welcome relief from the previous watch, where the model name was instead stamped right onto the dial in a gigantic, capitalized font that dominated the lower-half. This is the type of switcharoo you love to see!

Watch Movement

As far as water resistance goes, it’s 10 bar, which is solid, and under the hood is the Sellita SW200-1, a well-rounded Swiss movement that competes well with anything under $1000. It’s got a smooth sweep, is relatively quiet, and is one of the most reliable automatics I’ve dealt with over the years. Accuracy is also solid, with this unit clocking in at between +6 and +7 seconds a day on average.

I have to say, the crown on this unit does feel particularly gritty during operation, whether that be winding or screwing the crown back into position, because, yes, the crown is threaded for a better seal.

The SW200 is known to be a fairly gritty movement, but this one could give Clint Eastwood a run for his money!

Dial

Atop the watch is a fantastic piece of sapphire crystal. I say ‘fantastic,’ as it barely has any haze and deals superbly with reflections, giving you a truly crystal-clear look at the dial below.

It’s a good job, too, as the grey version I chose does lack contrast. The product shots must have the saturation cranked up slightly, too, as the real watch is slightly pastier, with a reduced blue hue that I’m not too keen on.

That said, from the videos I’ve seen online, some of the brighter and riskier colors, like the blue, green, and especially the pink, arguably look better than in the stock images. Ironically, I think my caution came back to bite me with this one; I shouldn’t have played it so safe!

Now, I’ll get to the rest of the dial in a moment, but we have to look closer at that logo, don’t we? It’s the whole point of this article, after all, so, here’s what they came up with.

Branding

I’d love to hear what you guys think of the changes in the comments section. As you can see, both parts of the branding have been overhauled. Gone is the overcrowded, cartoonish text, and in steps, a shorter two-line alternative, presented in a much more professional typeface. This alone looks far neater and better spread, helping the brand look much more upmarket, but there’s also another equally impactful change sitting right above it.

Now, my wife said not to say this, but I’m going to say it regardless. I never quite knew what the previous symbol was meant to be, and to be honest, I thought it looked more like an illustration of a tensing anus than anything else. Either that or perhaps a beetle or a rugby ball. That’s not the kind of confusion you want to have.

Thankfully, they’ve reigned this back to simply the central star icon, representing a beacon of light, tying into their brand slogan of ‘Beyond Tradition.’ Apparently, the previous logo was also supposed to represent this, but I can’t say it was very effective! This difference here is night and day.

While these moves are, of course, entirely in the positive direction, I still wouldn’t say the revamped branding is my favorite, or top-tier, or anything like that; other logos and brand names do look and sound better still.

That said, the main job of branding on watches is to display the brand name without it being offensive or detracting from the watch’s design.

I’ve seen the sterile dial watches you can buy on AliExpress, and they always look vacant to me. I think watches need that text and branding to provide some identity and to visually plug the gaps. To those ends, I think this rebrand certainly succeeds.

I asked if they planned to bring this new branding over to previous watches in their range, and they beat me to the punch. It’s already on one of their older watches, the Bunker, and wow, what a transformation. It’s gone from eyesore to eye-candy with the flick of a switch!

On my watch, the logo is a bit tricky to see, as it’s small and a similar color to the dial. For models like this, it could be boldened or brightened a little to aid legibility, though the version on their website is better, possibly due to the higher contrast or a slight increase in thickness.

Design

The remainder of the design sits halfway between a field watch (a la Tudor Ranger) and some of the more playful, minimalist designs offered by brands like Nomos, with the stereotypical big numbers at 3, 6, 9, and 12.

It’s one of their more experimental designs to date and one of their best-looking, with some interesting elements like a textured central arena surrounded by a light-catching sapphire ring. The markers also have this two-tier construction, where the lumed portion placed atop is smaller than the shape beneath, creating a three-dimensional border effect.

While I do like this effect, as I alluded to earlier, I prefer the look of the watch in the photos, where the saturation and contrast seem to have been boosted. They need to apply those filters to this gray version in real life. While the stone-colored lume is nice enough, they need to crank up the saturation with everything else.

At present, the orange-tipped second hand, which I’m assuming is meant to match the undertone of those bordered markers, is far more saturated. In the pictures, these are a much closer match.

The handset itself is attractive and cleaner than that on the Trench watch, and I just generally appreciate the slicker look without an obnoxious model name blasted onto the bottom half. The finished look is fairly versatile, as they mentioned, though I feel a switch to the previous steel-looking titanium would have been a better fit for this use case.

As Jody pointed out on Just One More Watch, the tiny chapter ring is also a little obsolete here, as you can’t even see it, and could have been replaced with something like concentric rings to provide a more tangible framing effect.

Something that this Tumbler won’t be beaten on is luminescence. Swiss Watch Company has truly nailed this aspect with a very impressive and bright arrangement that even incorporates that central ring. At night, you could probably read this watch a mile away. It’s awesome.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’d give the Tumbler a 6.5/10 as far as appearance goes, with some other colors rising to just over a 7. Above average, but not quite up my street.

And that’s something I realized while making this post. Rugged watches just aren’t my kind of thing. I doubt I’m quite Swiss Watch Company’s target market, even though we are both interested in low-cost, high-value timepieces.

They lean more towards providing that value via durability and high-end materials. While I appreciate those things and won’t forgo them altogether, I find that my idea of value is more correlated with the precision and delicacy of the design itself.

That said, I think Swiss Watch Company has managed to remove its major branding roadblock, so future releases from this brand can finally be put back on the radar! I’ll be keen to see the Trench with that new branding at some point!