Sometimes you come across a watch or in this case a complete range of watches that for some reason strikes a chord. And as I am quite a collector of Titanium watches it was of considerable interest that I chanced upon the Boccia range (pronounced Boschia).
I don’t know about you but I have found that many of these “designer” watches often use too much chrome in their dials, with numerals and hands not being the easiest to read – too much ” bling” I suppose, a fashion I personally dislike. In the Boccia range there are indeed some like that but fortunately not all.
For in amongst this range I spotted the B3777-02 Chronograph model which definitely bucks the trend of their other watches.
First off I like this one as it has that nicely sculpted dark Titanium colored case with matching chronograph buttons and a rather neat and clear dial arrangement. The numeral/markers are both large and very white applied and the hands are similarly done, which contrasts well against the dark dial face. The hour and minute hands are also well proportioned and broad which aids clarity. The chronograph sub-dials are positioned vertically between 12 and 6 and are colored in a medium gray, which is OK and doesn’t detract – a little different from the normal white or silver. A center seconds stopwatch hand in white, plus a contrasting date window @3 and an inner seconds chapter index completes the dial set up.
Luminous infill hands and painted numerals, large as they are I would only class adequate in the dark.
Overall however and looks wise this watch from my perspective has a lot going for it.
The crystal is a flat mineral glass and coupled with a narrow top case profile on the wide case, the watch appears larger than it actually is – though not a small watch at 47mm diameter including the protected crown (without crown is around 43mm)and is quite clear to read even without an anti-reflect coating which I usually prefer on this watch type. The overall dial design and colorway has a great deal to do with this clarity which in this case is good design and to be recommended. Depth of the watch is very neat at 10mm.
The movement appears to be a Japanese Citizen Miyota Cal. OS 11 Quartz Chronograph (60 minutes) and it functions well and is accurate to around +/-20secs month so is quite acceptable. There is also a chronograph reset function used if the 1/1 second hand doesn’t return to the O position after the chronograph has been reset or after a battery change.
The watch power is a Silver Oxide SR9 27W battery or equivalent.
The watch is marked on the screw down Titanium back as 10bar (100ft) water resistance. I understand all Boccia Chronographs are 10bar.
Build quality appears excellent, the all Titanium case is well finished and the rubber strap is of good quality – Note this watch can also take a standard leather strap as an alternative as the case features standard lugs and pins. A point I’ve made before and I’m really pleased to see it here. In fact thinking further on this, a good Nato strap would suit this model very well if rubber is not your thing. I’ll post an update when I fit one later this month for comparison. (see addendum below)
So what do we know about Boccia watches?
It is marketed from the United States importers Universal Watch Company (NOT to be confused with the UWC of Geneve fame) who have their headquarters in Las Vegas. Watches are said to have either good quality Japanese or sometimes Swiss movements in their range of products and I’m assuming this one is Japanese with the Cal. OS11 description. I’ve not unscrewed the back as I’ve no wish to compromise the water resistance – I’ll check it out when it eventually needs a battery. With no data that I can find as to manufacture location I would surmise the watches are built and produced in the Orient somewhere and nothing wrong with that, though I note that their design team is actually European.
- Marina Sechi from Italy
- Minuca Casadavell from Spain
- Michael Qvortrup from Denmark
I quote the above data from one of their outlets and I can see certainly see the European influence in the finished designs.
So a marriage of European and Orient – and hopefully taking the best from both. If this is an example of East West collaboration then I’ll certainly look out for more of them and especially if this model is a precursor of things to come. They are also reasonably priced for what appears to me to be a decent mid range quality product.
So overall a nice Chronograph in Titanium for a fair bit under £200 and complete with a 2 year International Guarantee and instruction booklet which includes a list of Wordwide Service Centers.
Not much to complain about though perhaps the luminous quality could be improved if I was being picky.
But nevertheless the Boccia Titanium’s are now on my watch list . . . . .
Addendum – I mentioned that I thought this watch might suit a Nato strap – Well I was wrong – it doesn’t.
The reason is that as this watch is quite large lug to lug the Nato strap quite doesn’t sit the watch snug against my smallish wrist (170mm). Regarding the supplied strap which for a buckle version is really very good, I confess with rubber straps a preference to a deployment or fold-over clasp to buckle, so as an alternative I’m in the process of buying a third party 22mm silicon rubber strap with a fold-over clasp and I’ll let you know on an update feature once it arrives and I try it out.
Actually as I write I’m wearing it with the supplied buckle strap and whilst ii is comfortable it has a pronounced curve just at the lugs and if being picky it can’t quite sit against my smallish wrist perhaps as I would like, so the alternative one should be an interesting trial.
See Bocca Addendum – post dated 18th February 2011
Watch space 
One thought on “Boccia Chrono”