# echo/neutra Swiss Made automatic watch designed in Italy



## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Hi to all, my name is Nicola Callegaro and I'm the founder of echo/neutra a new Italian brand which will be launched in March on Kickstarter. I decided to write a post here in order to share with you our project and receive some feedbacks about our watches.

Our collection consists of 4 Swiss Made automatic watches designed in Italy and inspired by the Italian Dolomites, a special place for us where we spend a lot of time every year with our families. 
Here there are the specs of the AVERAU watch:
- 42mm wide
- 52.5mm lug-to-lug
- 11.5mm height
- 20mm lug width;
- 316L Stainless steel case (IP on the black versions);
- Superluminova on main indexes and hands;
- AR coated sapphire front glass + sapphire back glass;
- Screw down crown;
- 100mt water resistance;
- 4 types of italian leather straps.

The movement we choose is the STP 1-11 (Fossil Group), 44 hours power reserve, 28'800 vph, 26 jewels, stop seconds feature, 5 positions testing (CH, CB, 6H, 9H, 3H - Cosc criteria).

Here I post some pictures of our prototypes:





































The price for the first offers will be around 400€.

On our website, you could find other information about our watches and our project: https://echoneutra.com

So I wait for your opinions,
many thanks for your attention,

Nicola Callegaro
founder of echo/neutra


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## ry ry (Nov 25, 2018)

Like the look of them, but was it really necessary to have 'date >' next to the date window?  At first glance the dial markings feel slightly busy to me. IMHO text at 7:30 is odd, logo sitting sliiightly too close to the extended indices, 3 lines at 6 I don't mind so much though.

Can't speak for the movement, but well played going Swiss 

Not bad at all though, hopefully they'll do well.


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

ry ry said:


> Like the look of them, but was it really necessary to have 'date >' next to the date window?  At first glance the dial markings feel slightly busy to me. IMHO text at 7:30 is odd, logo sitting sliiightly too close to the extended indices, 3 lines at 6 I don't mind so much though.
> 
> Can't speak for the movement, but well played going Swiss
> 
> Not bad at all though, hopefully they'll do well.


 Thanks for feedback!

For the DATE question we're actually developing a new dial without it and without the "26 JEWELS" text. Also the extended indices will be farer from the logo.


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## ry ry (Nov 25, 2018)

Awesome! It's great to hear companies taking advice onboard and making changes on the fly, keep us posted - interested to see how this project develops!


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## gimli (Mar 24, 2016)

Looks alright to me.


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

ry ry said:


> Awesome! It's great to hear companies taking advice onboard and making changes on the fly, keep us posted - interested to see how this project develops!


 Yes as we are first of all Watch Lovers we're open to suggestions... until we can 

Here i show you the actual dial against the new one we're developing:










Which one do you prefer? (Left actual - Right new one more "clean")


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## Filterlab (Nov 13, 2008)

I love it. Refreshing to see a proper watch on Kickstarter, and I love the 'Date>' text, I also love the triple line text on the lower part of the dial and the superb overall contrast. Also a lovely touch is the arrow on the hour hand. Great for differentiating at a very quick glance.

Feels very aviation.

Any lume shots?


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

It's the name that spoils it for me....Echo....yes ok Neutra yes ok but put together with the slash makes it look like YOU don't know what to call it! One or the other!

otherwise l like it


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

bridgeman said:


> It's the name that spoils it for me....Echo....yes ok Neutra yes ok but put together with the slash makes it look like YOU don't know what to call it! One or the other!
> 
> otherwise l like it


 I understand your remark... I think that we must also consider that a lot of (now) famous brand names could sound awful (or at least strange) without the resonance of their fame... An example for all Apple (A new brand that produce high quality computers and technology...)


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## vokeyuk (Apr 19, 2010)

echoneutra said:


> Yes as we are first of all Watch Lovers we're open to suggestions... until we can
> 
> Here i show you the actual dial against the new one we're developing:
> 
> ...


 Def the right for me, cleaner as you say, though to be fair I like them both. I second hand red tip is a real eye catcher for me - its sadly the sort of thing that hooks me on a watch - always the little things. Good looking spec, priced competitively, I like it. Good luck with it


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

vokeyuk said:


> Def the right for me, cleaner as you say, though to be fair I like them both. I second hand red tip is a real eye catcher for me - its sadly the sort of thing that hooks me on a watch - always the little things. Good looking spec, priced competitively, I like it. Good luck with it


 Thank you!


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

echoneutra said:


> I understand your remark... I think that we must also consider that a lot of (now) famous brand names could sound awful (or at least strange) without the resonance of their fame... An example for all Apple (A new brand that produce high quality computers and technology...)


 Can you put any explanation on the name? I see the slas/ is not present in your forum name.


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

bridgeman said:


> Can you put any explanation on the name? I see the slas/ is not present in your forum name.


 ECHO and NEUTRA are two words that have been in my mind for a long time now... ECHO is related to the mountain echo phenomenon which I also relate to the echo of time, the resonance of the events that happens. NEUTRA is related to Richard Neutra a famous architect of the mid-XX century: this is the person that when I was a teenager has introduced me into the world of architecture and design and the reason why now I have my work and my life; maybe also why now I'm here speaking with you about this project. I've put together these 2 names and i liked the way they sounded together: it gives me a sense of "mistery", the sense of a brand that at first sight it doesn't remind me of anything in particular but that have his own personality. It could also sound a little Teutonic (if you pronounce as we do NEUTRA in the German way) it sounds strong, oscure, harsh, with contrast. And i think that the design of our watches represent this type of feelings.

Sorry the slash is not present in the nickname of the forum for a problem of HTML special chars


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## ry ry (Nov 25, 2018)

echoneutra said:


> Yes as we are first of all Watch Lovers we're open to suggestions... until we can
> 
> Here i show you the actual dial against the new one we're developing:
> 
> ...


 Right hand, definitely. Layout feels more relaxed, I'm actually super interested in these too - this is definitely the most interesting Kickstarter watch in a long time.

The watch looks great, it ticks a lot of boxes - How do you personally feel the project is going? You must be pretty excited at this point?


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

One of the best looking Kickstarts I have seen for a long time, agree with removing "date" from dial


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

ry ry said:


> Right hand, definitely. Layout feels more relaxed, I'm actually super interested in these too - this is definitely the most interesting Kickstarter watch in a long time.
> 
> The watch looks great, it ticks a lot of boxes - How do you personally feel the project is going? You must be pretty excited at this point?


 I'm really really really excited.... We started promoting our project on the social networks in mid-December and we'collected many positive feedbacks, all over the world. As i told before i'm a watch lover just like many of you and seeing my idea, my dream coming to life is a fantastic sensation. It's also very rewarding to receive positive feedback from people like you that have seen a loooot of watches, many of them really ICONIC... I admire a lot of famous brands and models and i hope that someday someone around the world, wearing one of "my"watches could feel a similar positive sensation to the one that WE feel wearing a Speedmaster, an Explorer I, a Monaco, an IWC Mark XI etc. etc. Maybe i'm going too far now...


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Thank you for explanation ......personally still don't like the slash. Hyphen or colon might look better.

good luck though it's obvious much effort gone in to it


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## Filterlab (Nov 13, 2008)

I like the one on the right too. Very crisp.

On the name element, I think it's ok personally. It's different and has the standard 'manufacturer' and 'model' moniker. It's fine.

Theres lot of oddly named things out there...

Hublot Big Bang Evolution Black Magic

Dragon Gate Legend

Geeky Equation Watch

etc etc.


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## Caller. (Dec 8, 2013)

bridgeman said:


> Hyphen or colon might look better.


 I completely agree. The slash just doesn't work for me at all.

I far prefer the cleaner version on the right, but would still get rid of the text at 7.30. Just looks weird and once seen can't be ignored. The blue dialled version looks great! But have you considered a matching (blue) date window and white numbers?

But I'm not a great fan of the squared off minute hand, nor the 'arrow' of the hour hand, as generally I prefer more fluid and less geometric shapes. The detail in making them fit with the width of the main markers is good, but could the ends be a bit softer?

Otherwise, very good.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Looks like a nice enough watch, style-wise, but personally I'm not convinced it looks like €400 worth. You are in a tough market at that price point mate, and the buying public will want more than a bunch of marketing speak and talk of "soul" or "EMOTIONAL DURABILITY" (in capital letters, for no apparent reason?) in order to part with their hard-earned cash. It looks like the sort of watch that Fossil would sell for a quarter of the price you are asking. You are clearly passionate about your product, which is great, but whether that will translate to a successful Kickstarter launch is anyone's guess - I hope it does, because as others have said on here, it's one of the better Kickstarters we've seen around here for a while :thumbsup:

As far as the design goes, I prefer hands to be fully coloured (instead of the current fashion for half black/half white), so I'd change them to full white, perhaps with a full red seconds hand (I don't think the red & white bands work on the end of a black hand). I don't think the date window works either, it's too similar to the existing hour numbering, and the fact that you've left off the 9 on the opposite side makes it look even more odd. To me, it would be much better with no date window, and with hour numbers all the way round. The right hand design is definitely best, with only 2 lines of text, but I would have put the "26 Jewels" on there instead of the "100m-330ft". Unless it's a divers watch I'd say the water resistance is pretty much irrelevant, whereas the 26 jewels is a sign of quality, and should be shown.

As far as the name goes, I don't like it - Sorry!  I like AVERAU, and that should have been the company name IMHO. The ECHO/NEUTRA is just confusing and meaningless to me. However, I guess your project is too far along to change that, so in some ways it's irrelevant what anyone thinks of that.

Good luck with your endeavour mate, and keep us informed of how this goes :thumbs_up:


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Davey P said:


> Looks like a nice enough watch, style-wise, but personally I'm not convinced it looks like €400 worth. You are in a tough market at that price point mate, and the buying public will want more than a bunch of marketing speak and talk of "soul" or "EMOTIONAL DURABILITY" (in capital letters, for no apparent reason?) in order to part with their hard-earned cash. It looks like the sort of watch that Fossil would sell for a quarter of the price you are asking. You are clearly passionate about your product, which is great, but whether that will translate to a successful Kickstarter launch is anyone's guess - I hope it does, because as others have said on here, it's one of the better Kickstarters we've seen around here for a while :thumbsup:
> 
> As far as the design goes, I prefer hands to be fully coloured (instead of the current fashion for half black/half white), so I'd change them to full white, perhaps with a full red seconds hand (I don't think the red & white bands work on the end of a black hand). I don't think the date window works either, it's too similar to the existing hour numbering, and the fact that you've left off the 9 on the opposite side makes it look even more odd. To me, it would be much better with no date window, and with hour numbers all the way round. The right hand design is definitely best, with only 2 lines of text, but I would have put the "26 Jewels" on there instead of the "100m-330ft". Unless it's a divers watch I'd say the water resistance is pretty much irrelevant, whereas the 26 jewels is a sign of quality, and should be shown.
> 
> ...


 Personally, i don't agree with you regarding the pricing... 400€ for a watch with the specs of our models is quite difficult to find (with a nice design...). Or if you know some please tell me  A quarter of the price = 100€ for a Swiss Made automatic watch??!


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## ry ry (Nov 25, 2018)

Was googling the movement - it's a slightly upgraded ETA 2824-2 clone, right?

The ETA is a great movement from what I've read (it's about £200pu?) - what in particular made you go for the STP over the better known ETA? I assume it was easier to reliably source within budget?

By the way, cheers for getting involved in the conversation! On a purely cynical level I realised it's just good marketing, but it's nice that you've come with something interesting and are chatting about it.

I definitely agree with the others about the 7:30 text, it unbalances the dial and isn't telling me anything I want to know, but that's aesthetics and of course subjective. I'm not entirely convinced by the engraving on the caseback either tbh - I think sometimes understatement tops gushing prose, but it's your company, you do you!

The logo on the other hand doesn't bother me so much - Grammatically the forward slash makes no sense, but if I was reaching I'd say it's using the slash in the same way a URL does, and I like that modern brands such as yourself and Chris Ward don't fake heritage, but embrace the stuff that matters.

Oh, and the blue dial is beautiful. Definitely do it on stainless aswell as black!


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

ry ry said:


> Was googling the movement - it's a slightly upgraded ETA 2824-2 clone, right?
> 
> The ETA is a great movement from what I've read (it's about £200pu?) - what in particular made you go for the STP over the better known ETA? I assume it was easier to reliably source within budget?
> 
> ...


 Yes the STP 1-11 is a slightly upgraded ETA 2824-2 clone: the reason why we've chosen the STP vs. the ETA is that we heard from many sources that ETA in the next months will no longer supply movements to microbrands; we don't want to mount on our watches a movements for some months and then change it so we search for a reliable supplier of good movements and we found that STP was the right choice.

Believe me, it's not for marketing purpose that we are here discussing with you: I was afraid to share our project with a community of "connoisseurs" because I know your soooo critics (so am I  with other projects)... But I decided to do it because one of the reasons why I started this project is to create a Watch as I like, as I want it to be and sharing with other users is essential.

And thanks for your feedback!


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

They look nice. A bit bland and run-of-the-mill, but nice.

Excellent idea removing the "date" from the dial. I really dig the seconds hand. That tip stands out but isn't overdone or obnoxious. This is fine use of subtlety!


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Hi to all!

I'm writing here because on April 4th (5 days!) it will start our Kickstarter campaign and we're really, really excited!

In the meanwhile we've made some upgrades to our projects and i will like to share them with you in order to receive a feedback:

1. We've redesigned the case, now the lug-to-lug has been reduced to 49mm;
2. We've chosen to make a 3 pieces case in order to get the best control on the finishings (shiny/brushed sides);
3. We've upgraded the dial using a light sandblasted finishing, adding 4 applied indexes with Superluminova and with an embossed down frame on the outside of the dial; the wr has been replaced by the Versante model;
4. we've redesigned the length of the hands;
5. we've introduced the Versante Ovest (sunray blue dial) in brushed steel version which, in my opinion, is really good with the leather strap;
6. we've redesigned the screw-down crown.

Here i post some picture in order to receive some feedbacks from you!

Thanks,
Nicola


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## Craftycockney (Nov 5, 2015)

Very nice watches, I would have liked to see a brilliant white face version as so watches makers favour blue. Spec seems decent but that will depend on the price point tough market alot competition.


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Craftycockney said:


> Very nice watches, I would have liked to see a brilliant white face version as so watches makers favour blue. Spec seems decent but that will depend on the price point tough market alot competition.


 I can't write the price but i think that's very competitive for a Swiss Made Automatic watch...


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## KAS118 (Mar 2, 2014)

I think you've produced a very nice watch and I hope you do very well with your campaign :thumbsup:


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

KAS118 said:


> I think you've produced a very nice watch and I hope you do very well with your campaign :thumbsup:


 Thank you so much!


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## bowie (Mar 12, 2005)

I do like the blue dial in the black case very nice good luck with your venture also we do like Italy to visit for holidays.


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

bowie said:


> I do like the blue dial in the black case very nice good luck with your venture also we do like Italy to visit for holidays.


 Thanks! And maybe one day you could visit us in our Headquarters


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## Caller. (Dec 8, 2013)

Sensible changes I think. The blue dial ss combo you mentioned does look stunning.

Good luck!


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Hi to all! Yesterday our campaign has been launched and we hit our goal in 45 minutes!!! We're very satisfied for this success! For us it has a lot of meaning... It tell us that we're on the right path and encourages us to do even better!


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## ry ry (Nov 25, 2018)

They look good, and the changes are subtle but meaningful. the steel ones are the winners for me, but over never been massive of pvd coatings.

Be interesting to see how this run goes, good luck!


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## KAS118 (Mar 2, 2014)

Well done on being fully funded so quickly - they're great watches


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## echoneutra (Jan 27, 2019)

Tomorrow we will gonna post an important add on: it will be possible to upgrade the movement to the STP 3-13 with an additional amount.

i would like to hear from you what could be an interesting upgrade/add on for our watch. I'm not speaking of different width... maybe a white dial? A different strap? Double AR Coating? Your feedback is very important for us,

thank you

Nicola


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## Watch_Me (Nov 9, 2009)

I like the blue ones! How will you distribute your watch? And how do you think will you build up a well known brand? I guess these two aspects are crucial for succeeding in the market finally.


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## fallingtitan (Jul 26, 2020)

nice seconds hand for sure. and interesting design. name is a bit long.


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