BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
The revival game is going strong these days in the world of Horology. In the past couple of years, we have seen quite a few watch brands that succumbed to the quartz crisis spring back to life. Today we are looking at Sherpa Watches, a brand that intends to re-create the magic of iconic vintage Enicar Sherpa watches. The military-inspired OPS pictured here is one of the two new offerings from Sherpa and pays a tribute to a historic Sherpa reference used by several Navy forces in the 1960s.
Martin Klocke, CEO & founder of Sherpa Watches
Right off the bat, what grabs attention on the Sherpa OPS is its stealthy black DLC coated super compressor style case, which, while modern in its implementation, stays technically true to the original EPSA manufactured cases used on vintage Sherpa references. So basically, you get two crowns at 2 and 4, but none of them is threaded. But how does this watch manage to resist water? The simple answer lies in a unique mechanism wherein the closed case back, and the two crowns compress inwards to gradually increase the sealing pressure the deeper one descends into the water. Cool, isn’t it. In terms of dimensions, the case measures a modest 40mm in diameter and has a thickness of around 13.5mm, which combined with downward angled faceted lugs, should result in a comfortable fit on most wrists.
To complement the black case, the Sherpa OPS gets a deep black dial to emit a military vibe. Printed white rectangles along with old radium lume plots represent the hours, whereas the minute track comprises white hash markings. An extended minute track/ diving scale is printed on a slanting rotatable chapter ring placed on the outer periphery. The first fifteen minutes of the diving scale are presented using thick white rectangles, and the brand has also done a good job of making the bezel lively by using bright orange accents throughout the bezel. There is a date window at 3, and time-telling is made possible using the lume filled baton-style hour and minute hands and the funky orange tapering second’s hand.
Hidden underneath the closed case back of this watch is what Sherpa calls the Mantrantic MM01 movement. An automatic movement, the MM01 is a modified Sellita SW200-1. Interestingly the brand has laser engraved a traditional Tibetan Buddhist mantra in a custom Tibetan font on two wheels of the movement, which when in motion, would help spread good vibes right from the wrist of the wearer. The movement operates at 4 Hz and offers a power reserve of around 38 hours.
The new Sherpa OPS comes mated to a black tropic style vulcanized rubber strap, is hand-assembled in Germany out of high-quality components from Switzerland and Germany only and retails for EUR 5,800 (incl 19% VAT in Germany).
