Every few weeks I dig through the deepest recesses of Kickstarter and Indiegogo to find a few good watches. This time I’ve hit pay dirt. The $227 Hastings & Co Heritage Edition is a mechanical watch with enough class and high design to make it an heir to watches like the Tissot Le Locle and some classic Longines pieces at a price that resembles the good old Seiko Orange Monster. But what does all that mean?
My main cut-off for a watch is a mechanical movement and an intelligent design. The Heritage has both. Inspired by the “Bauhaus” movement, the watch looks very understated and readable. It runs a standard 8215 Miyota mechanical movement — think of Miyota as the AMD of movements while ETA is the Intel — and features a date window at six o’clock. This means you’re getting a readable, usable and handsome watch for not much money, because these guys have paid attention to detail — the face is nice, the hands very visible and the band works well with the “gold” or steel case.
The watch is about as Swiss as I am (and I’m from Ohio and the company is in Canada) but given the low price, reliability and design I’ll let that pass. The company has successfully kickstarted a previous watch called the Classic Edition that is a bit more minimalist with a quartz movement. However, given that this piece has a mechanical movement, is under $300 and looks good, it seems that Hastings & Co is onto something.