NT931's detailed review of his Laine V38 offers a compelling look at independent watchmaking, highlighting the personalized experience and exceptional craftsmanship that define brands like Laine. His insights into the dial customization, hand selection, and movement finishing provide valuable context for collectors considering bespoke options. This article explores why the Laine V38, as presented by NT931, represents significant value and horological artistry in the contemporary independent watch scene.
Back in Sep 2021, Sham
posted a review of his blue guilloche dial Laine V38. At that time, my salmon dial V38 was in production, and I was quite excited to see Sham's, while eagerly anticipating mine.
Fast forward to 31 Dec 2021, and the Laine V38 arrived! Since it arrived in the evening of 31 Dec, I decided to count it as my first watch of 2022
I was quite pleased with how the dial turned out, with a frosted outer ring, and a guilloche inner ring. The outer ring is somewhat more beige than salmon, but the centre and the subsecond are nicely salmon in shade, and the final effect is that of a two-tone dial which is perfect. There is an option to choose a triple guilloche option like Sham’s, but I decided to go with just the centre, as an all-salmon-guilloche dial would resemble my Gronefeld Remontoire too much. As you can see, the Laine guilloche, done by Decors Guilloches, is quite nicely done, and you can also choose the pattern.
The other thing I requested was blued hands, and the V38 hands are definitely an upgrade from the prior hands of the Laine watches. They’re slightly curvier and definitely sexier! And easy to read for old eyes like mine… I’m glad that I kept the Breguet numerals in white metal though, there’s an option to blue them too, but I suspect that would be too much blue. As it is, the size of the numerals is perfect. Breguet numerals have been coming back into vogue of late, and some watches get the proportions off, but these ones work beautifully. There are other little touches I enjoy, such as a 3 different sized "dots" for the minute markers, the 5 minute markers, and the 15 min markers - I love the attention to detail in the design.
The case, coming in at 38mm/9mm works really well, and is comfortably slim on the wrist, and the AR on the front and back crystals allows the dial, and the movement to be admired. The movement, a Vaucher VMF 5401, has a lovely decorated micro-rotor, and I’ve also tried to show details of the angles of the movement using my (admittedly amateurish) macro skills. Any dust you see in the macro shots is on the crystal, not the movement. Apparently, Laine was only allowed to modify the rotor, not the rest of the movement, and that he has done nicely.
The watch is a joy to wear, especially on the soft Babele leather strap. If there was any criticism, it is a minor one – that I wish the strap could be a dressier 20/16mm taper rather than the 20/18 taper that it is now, but this can easily be fixed with a 3rd party strap (and I rather suspect based on others’ IG accounts that this is a versatile watch that works with formal or casual straps).
Overall, the 7 month wait was totally worth it, and Torsti Laine was indeed a pleasure to work with, being very responsive, giving updates, and generally willing to discuss options with clients in a friendly and collegial manner. Excellent value for money, with a fantastic dial and hands, a slim 38mm case, and a lot of versatility. This one’s a keeper!
