First Custom Watch...Finally Here....

[WatchEater666]

Just received this and thought I’d put a quick review together.

I modified one of Benzinger’s models to reveal the balance - which is just the right amount of skeletonization in my opinion.

Wait time, I think I ordered this in May, and received it today, on Christmas Eve. Pricing was very reasonable too for what I paid.

His guilloche work is awesome, you can tell it’s done by hand and deep. The engraving is great too. If you love engraving and guilloche, then Benzinger is probably the watchmaker for you.

Process wise, he basically drew out different ideas and iterations until we settled on something. He was super patient with me and the process was quite smooth despite the slight language barrier.

The quality of work is quite good. Is it as pristine as something like the Gronefeld Principia or Lange Zeitwerk I’ve had? No. But at the price point and for the level of handwork + features Benzinger is doing, it’s 100% acceptable. It’s basically stuff you would find from other independents around this range. You won’t find thick anglage or extensive black polish here, but that’s not the kind of finishing you’re paying for - it’s all in the engraving.

I am already thinking of a second watch. :)

Btw he also included a rubber strap which is curved to fit the watch perfectly as well as a Milanese bracelet. I’ll probably keep it on the rubber.

One other thing I’ll mention, his work seems to have improved noticeably from the other pics floating around.

This watch has led me to put my Breguet Marine on the chopping block too. The last thing I wanted to mention is that I’m a lot happier with this watch than others because of how fun the process was with Benzinger. Being a part of that makes it feel much more impactful than watches I’ve had that are 10x the price.

Lastly, these are really difficult to capture well via camera. Do not photograph well at all. In particular the blued wheels + screws look "faded" VS how vibrant they are in reality. The guilloche is very 3D as well, again, difficult to capture.