If you’re a collector of handcrafted knives, and you’re visiting the iW site, chances are good that you’ve heard of Swedish watch company Gustafsson & Sjögren, known as GoS Watches. The company has been making mechanical watches that feature intricate patterned steel dials that mimic the Damascus steel swirls often seen on high-end knives.
And if you know that GoS was founded ten years ago by master blade smith Johan Gustafsson and master watchmaker Patrik Sjögren, the company’s focus on Damascus steel dials and cases makes perfect sense.
GoS earned some extra notoriety in the U.S. this past March when an article in the New York Times put a spotlight on the brand’s mix of Viking-inspired metal work and mechanical watchmaking.
Among the newest watches debuted this year by the small-scale manufacturer (the brand makes about thirty watches each year) is the Sarek Akka, which features uncolored Damascus steel. Inspired by the Swedish mountain Akka in Swedish Lapland, the bezel’s scroll engravings are meant to recall low-growing mountain birch. For this watch, master engraver Stanley Stoltz, who is legendary among knife and rifle collectors, makes the detailed engraving.
The Sarek Akka features a high contrast damascus steel dial with scroll engraved bezel.
Colorful straps complement the monochrome 43mm watch nicely. GoS will deliver the watch with a chocolate brown GoS strap in premium Moose leather, though GoS will offer four different color alternatives. The Sarek chapter ring and the case ring both draw inspiration from authentic Viking bracelets and brooches.
Sarek is also the first GoS model to feature the new GoS crown, which is shaped much like the form of a Viking sword hilt.
For added security, perhaps during a sword battle, the neck of the GoS crown is deeply recessed into the case. Even the hands have Viking roots: they are high-gloss polished in a Dauphine finish with a center ridge that resembles the Viking arrow and spear heads that inspired the first GoS hands.
Note the Damascus steel counter weight
Inside the watch is a Soprod A10 movement customized by GoS with its own ‘triskele’ rotor design and is equipped with an additional counter weight made from
Damascus steel. Every watch engraved with “Sarek 1/1” to indicate that every watch is a unique piece in addition to a serial number. Price: $10,800.
Specifications:GoS Sarek Akka
Case: 43.0mm by 10.5mm steel with 22mm lug width, crown in high-gloss polished with satinized grooves, 7mm in diameter and with double gaskets.
Movement: Soprod A10 with GoS triskele rotor, dark satinized and additional counter weight in Damascus steel
Dial: 164 layered Damascus steel with a Wildflower pattern and a greyscale high contrast finishing. Bezel is a scroll engraving by Stanley Stoltz; hands are GoS spear shape in high gloss polished Rhodinated finish
Strap: Handcrafted Chocolate brown or Black Moose leather, fitted with stainless steel GoS buckle. The watch is delivered in handcrafted presentation in a walnut box made by Kanevad wood artists.
Price: $10,800 See www.goswatches.com