Last week I got the crazy horse straps to try with the Nereids and may I say, I like it. Here's a quick look at the straps I got.

I got three colours: brown, tan, and green. Previous leather straps I used have stitches all around the perimeter but these ones only have a few knots on both ends. Though not uncommon, I am a bit curious about its construction. I presume it uses an adhesive to stick the layers together just like in some types of shoes.

Plus, I got samples with plenty of adjustment holes and a different buckle type. Always good things.

Before anything else, what the heck is crazy horse leather?  There are immediate visual differences if you compare it to a common leather strap. It doesn't have the usual leather texture which are sometimes just imprinted on the surface. But what do leather experts say?

Crazy horse leather does not mean that the leather came from horses. These leather has been treated to look and feel aged while retaining its ruggedness and toughness. They are usually used to make horse saddles and hence the name "Crazy Horse." - Modest Mark

And here's a bit more about its production:

Crazy horse leathers are produced by applying a specific kind of wax to a full grain cowhide leather surface which has been buffed and smoothed out. This process results in the abrasion of the treated area changing its color. - Crazy Horse Craft

I did a quick review of the suppleness of the strap and found it to be quite malleable. Is this true for all crazy horse leather? Not sure but I'm enjoying it. Here's a picture with the blue Nereids

I love the green one as there's a military vibe to it. It's more like moss green or deep sea green and given a period amount of use, should acquire abrasions and bend marks that will give it plenty of character.

Let's now check out the rather warm tan colour with the Nereid Atlantic.

Not bad at all, it certainly has its place for someone looking for a bit more zest. Its colour reminds me of an uncle's dancing shoes or an aunt's go-to handbag. It may invoke a different memory for you but to me, those are the two things that come to mind when I look at it.

And now, check out a few more extra shots.

That's it! We're done with our round up of the straps.

If you liked what you see, do sign up for pre-orders of the Nereid, planned for an August launch. I just might include these straps as part of the pledge or as an extra. We'll see how it goes.

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For the most part, I am more of a casual photographer. I enjoy seeing something without the painstaking setups and the light-hearted theme, if any, is what's prevalent in the pictures I take. I don't even try to get the best lighting when I take a snap.

Well, most of the time.

Today I decided to bring the blue Nereid Atlantic with me and get some shots going. I kept in mind that the best feature of this Nereid is the sunburst dial. So I opted to get the angles where I could see it play.

With the first Nereid (circa 2016), the texture of the dial is simply a vertical brush. I do love the effect and would do so again. For now, I would like try the more conventional radial effect.

The blue-ness is also a bit different from the first as it's more 'royal', if I ever had to describe it. When I was designing this I had a myriad of decisions to make like color and form. "Would it look better if it's this way?" or "Will it have this effect that mesmerizes the eyes?", questions I ask when bringing up a design concept.

Simple things become colossal flow charts. But let's get on to some wrist shots.

Mind you, my wrist is about 6.25" which is definitely on the slim side. Add the fact that cameras have a way of distorting an image and you can see that the dial looks like it is overwhelming my wrist (it doesn't).

It fits nicely under my winter jacket. You may have to stretch your cuffs it you try it with your long sleeve clothing.

Let's take it off the wrist shall we?

As you can see, it's by no means the slimmest watch (13mm thick, 50mm lug to lug). But I did put some nice touches on the case by mixing brush and polished surfaces. 

There's our display caseback that shows the movement which is a Miyota cal.9015. Got a nice print on the rotor too to add some modest decoration. You may notice that the movement is a bit more recessed than normal. That's because the case was designed to house the Miyota cal.8247 which is about 1.50mm thicker than a 9015.

For the next blog post, I'll try taking pictures of the Nereids with some crazy horse straps I ordered. 

If you liked what you see, check out the all articles for the Nereid. Do sign up when we launch pre-orders later this year.

One of the hallmarks of our brand is the use of words for hour markers. I've started using this concept back with the 39a then on to the Nereid Argo, both of which were Bauhaus-inspired typographic marvels.

People loved them!

So I decided to create something a bit more true to the marine theme and came up with the Nereid Atlantic. It is based on a nautical instrument called an engine order telegraph or chadburn. This instrument was used to relay instructions to the engine room as to the direction and speed of the ship.

During the design, I thought about creating a successor to the Nereid Argo but that concept belonged more to a bauhaus line than to a marine one.

I had to thought of several concepts including a 'porthole' dial that never got into prototyping phase. Truth be told, there are so many concepts that can be done for the Nereid series but as things go, I had to decide on the Atlantic sub model.

It uses the Miyota cal.9015 so there's a bit of refined specification there. All else, it shares with the Nereid Pacific.

How does it wear? As well as the original Nereid of course.

But what about the fantastic deep blue version below?

That my friends, is for another blog entry. In the meantime, do sign up for the preorders!