Haim Watches: Complications, Finishing And Value For Money
There is a particular kind of watch brand that gets us very interested at The Wind Up. Not because it is trying to compete with Rolex, Omega or Patek Philippe on prestige, but because it asks a much more interesting question: how much watch can you actually get for your money?
Haim Watch Company is one of those brands.
Founded in Chicago in 2020, Haim is the creation of founder M. Zakir Miah, a self confessed watch enthusiast who wanted to create mechanical watches that offered refined design and genuine horological interest without putting them completely out of reach. The brand describes its philosophy as making the art of watchmaking accessible, while balancing traditional aesthetics with more contemporary design.
And that philosophy becomes particularly interesting when you look at what Haim is doing with complications.
Haim Is Not Trying To Win The Luxury Arms Race
The easiest way to judge a watch is often by the name on the dial. The more difficult and arguably more interesting way is to look at what is actually being offered. Haim sits firmly in the latter camp.
This is a brand that appears much more interested in putting interesting movements, unusual dial work, thoughtful case design and useful complications into watches at attainable prices than in chasing the increasingly ridiculous finishing standards of high horology. That distinction is important.
You are not buying a Haim expecting the hand finishing of a £50,000 Swiss independent watch. You are buying one because the brand is attempting to deliver the idea of an expensive watch at a fraction of the price.
That can be seen throughout the collection. The L2 Chronograph offers a chronograph for under £500, the Descent combines a sports watch with a dual purpose bezel for around £500, while the Legacy Automatic moves into more serious territory with a custom designed calibre and a hand finished titanium case. It is a refreshingly pragmatic approach to watchmaking.
The Haim Design Language
Haim has developed a fairly recognisable aesthetic without simply producing another collection of generic microbrand watches.
There is a strong influence from vintage watchmaking, but the execution is distinctly contemporary. Cases tend to be compact, dials have plenty of texture and depth, and the brand clearly puts considerable emphasis on the visual side of the watch.
The Annum is perhaps the clearest example of this.
At 38mm across and 45mm lug to lug, it is an unusually wearable size for a watch carrying a fairly serious complication. The case combines brushed and polished surfaces, while the distinctive lugs are described by Haim as a modern interpretation of the classic Cornes de Vache style.
There is also an interesting emphasis on dial finishing. Two of the Annum variants use CNC guilloché, while the Fumée version uses a smoked glass style dial. Applied markers and leaf shaped hands complete the vintage inspired aesthetic.
This is where Haim starts to make its value proposition rather compelling.
Then There Is The Annum
The Annum is the watch that really caught our attention. Why? Because it is a complete calendar with a moonphase. And it costs around £1,600.
That immediately puts it into the category of watches where you stop and ask how on earth they have managed to get all of that into the price.
The current Haim price is listed at $2,149.99, which works out at roughly the £1,600 mark depending on the exchange rate.
For that money, you are getting a self winding mechanical watch with Haim's HWC 2 calibre, a complete calendar mechanism and moonphase display.
And this isn't simply a watch with a date window and a decorative moonphase added for visual effect.
The calendar provides the month, day and date, while the moonphase adds another layer of mechanical complication. Haim describes the movement as its second custom mechanical calibre and the Annum as its second complication based timepiece.
That is an impressive amount of mechanical watch for the money.
What Exactly Is A Complete Calendar?
For anyone relatively new to mechanical watches, the term complete calendar can sound more complicated than it actually is.
A complete calendar displays the day, date and month. It also generally incorporates a moonphase, as is the case with the Annum.
The important distinction is that a complete calendar is not a perpetual calendar.
A perpetual calendar automatically accounts for the different lengths of months and leap years. A complete calendar does not. It needs to be manually adjusted when necessary.
But that is not really the point.
The point is that you are getting one of the classic complications of traditional mechanical watchmaking without having to spend five figures to get it.
Where The Money Has Gone
This is where Haim becomes particularly interesting from a value perspective.
The Annum has plenty of the features you would expect from a significantly more expensive watch.
There is sapphire crystal with five layers of anti reflective coating. There is a hand finished stainless steel case combining polished and brushed surfaces. There is an exhibition caseback. There is a bespoke French Epsom leather strap with quick release spring bars. The movement beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and offers up to 42 hours of power reserve.
The dials are arguably the star of the show.
The Dark Cobalt and Stone White versions receive CNC guilloché finishing, giving the dial a level of texture and visual interest that you simply do not normally associate with a £1,600 complete calendar.
And this is where we think Haim's strategy makes sense. Rather than attempting to make every single component as extravagantly finished as possible, the brand seems to concentrate its resources on the things you actually notice.
The dial, the case, movement architecture, the complication and the overall design.
That is a very different proposition from spending thousands more for microscopic improvements in hand finishing that most owners will never notice without a loupe.
The Annum Specifications
Case size: 38mm x 45mm
Case thickness: 12mm
Case material: Stainless steel
Crystal: Sapphire with five layers of anti reflective coating
Lug width: 20mm
Water resistance: 30 metres
Dial: CNC guilloché on Dark Cobalt and Stone White, smoked PVC glass on Fumée
Strap: Handmade French Epsom leather with quick release technology
Movement: Haim HWC 2 self winding mechanical calibre
Jewels: 24
Frequency: 28,800 vibrations per hour
Power reserve: Up to 42 hours
Functions: Month, day, date and moonphase complete calendar
Accuracy: Regulated to approximately plus or minus 10 seconds per day
Warranty: 24 months
Value Rather Than Vanity
This is probably the most interesting thing about Haim.
There is a growing section of the watch industry where specifications have become almost irrelevant because buyers are really purchasing status. The brand name, heritage and perceived exclusivity become more important than what is actually happening mechanically inside the case. Haim takes almost the opposite approach. Its own stated ambition is to create watches across different price levels while making beautifully crafted mechanical watches accessible to a wider audience.
That doesn't mean Haim watches are competing directly with watches costing ten or twenty times as much. They aren't. A watch costing £1,600 is not suddenly going to have the same level of movement finishing, case refinement or microscopic attention to detail as something from a prestigious Swiss manufacture costing £15,000.
But that misses the point. If you are looking at what you actually receive for your money, Haim becomes considerably more difficult to dismiss.
Is Haim A Serious Watch Brand?
That is perhaps the wrong question. The better question is whether Haim is doing something interesting.
The answer is yes.
The company has progressed from relatively affordable watches using established movements to developing its own custom calibres and increasingly ambitious complications. The Annum represents a particularly significant step because it introduces Haim's custom mechanical calendar module and its second customised movement.
Haim also says that every watch receives final assembly and quality control checks in Chicago, with individual watches tested for 72 hours in four positions. That gives the brand a little more substance than simply finding an off the shelf movement, putting it inside a case and sticking a logo on the dial.
The Bigger Question
Perhaps what makes Haim most interesting is that it highlights a growing change in the watch industry. For decades, the traditional route to complications was simple. If you wanted something genuinely interesting mechanically, you paid a lot of money.
Microbrands and smaller independent companies have started to challenge that assumption. They may not be able to reproduce the finishing of the biggest names in Switzerland, but they can concentrate their budgets on mechanical interest, unusual designs and attractive finishing where it matters most.
The Annum is a particularly good example. A 38mm mechanical watch with a complete calendar, moonphase, guilloché dial, sapphire crystal and custom mechanical movement for roughly £1,600 is not something that would have been an obvious proposition a couple of decades ago.
Today, it is sitting there waiting to make the traditional Swiss watch industry slightly uncomfortable.
Winding Things Up
Haim Watch Company is not going to replace Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin or A. Lange & Söhne any time soon, and that isn't what makes the brand interesting.
What makes Haim interesting is the willingness to ask how much horological content you can realistically put into a watch without asking the customer to remortgage the house. The Annum is the perfect example. It has a proper mechanical complication, an attractive and relatively restrained 38mm case, some genuinely interesting dial work and a movement that Haim has clearly invested considerable effort into developing.
Is the finishing going to rival a £20,000 Swiss watch? Of course not. But if the choice is between microscopic levels of finishing that require a loupe to appreciate and a complete calendar with moonphase that you can actually enjoy every time you look at your wrist, Haim's argument becomes rather compelling.
And perhaps that is the real appeal of the brand.
Less money spent chasing perfection. More money spent making the watch interesting.
That sounds like a pretty good recipe to us.
