Virata Watches is the brain-child of Patrick Wacks from Canton, Ohio. Wacks was inspired by his favorite Formula 1 cars to create a watch as streamlined and sexy as a race car. He’s finally shipping his watches and he’s running a Kickstarter to get them out the door.
The feature I find interesting is the clever, highly engineered case. The watches look like chunks of crystalized meteorite. It’s beveled on all four corners and then has a beveled bezel into which is set a sapphire crystal. It runs an automatic Miyota 9015 movement.
“In Italian, VIRATA means to veer or to change direction,” said Wacks. “I’ve decided to change direction in my life and to pursue this dream of my own watch company. I also believe that the case itself and the overall design changes direction compared to the rest of the industry, which is why I patented it.”
Wacks is a single dude in the middle of Ohio trying to build a watch company which, I hope you’ll agree, is pretty cool. You can grab an early-bird piece for $465 in black and carbon fiber or a rose gold model for the same price. All of them come on leather racing bands. Watching Wacks go from prototype to finish product is quite exciting and I’m impressed by what he’s done so far with his nascent brand.