Rec watches have been making timepieces for petrol heads and car enthusiasts thanks to the hard work from the founders Jonathan Kamstrup & Christian Mygh. They have built a brand that carefully selects old cars from brands such as Mustang, Porsche and Mini then salvages as much material as they can from the car. They then use the salvaged parts to manufacture the face of the watch and use the cars design as inspiration to design and manufacture the other parts of the watch. Take a look at their incredible video below which showcases this:
The brand put up a list to their audience which has a few choices for their next project and you can vote for which you would like them to do. In a previous vote the Porsche 911 won and so REC have produced a collection of Rec Porsche watches for their eagerly awaiting fans. The 901 collection included the Porsche 01, Porsche 02 and Porsche 03 which are pictured below:
The 901 collection is a homage to the Porsche brand and more than 50 years of its captivating history all condensed into these watches.
So why Porsche 901, why not Porsche 911?
Some of you may be wandering why it is called the 901 and not the 911, whereas some of you will have already noticed the subtle unique nod to the history of Porsche. For those who didn’t know (I didn’t either) Porsche originally wanted to call the car the 901 however in 1964 another company already had ownership of any name with a “0” in the middle so they settled for the closest thing and whats closer to “0” than “1”.
Under the Bonnet
Just like when you buy a car you want to know whats under the hood or behind the scenes if you will. It’s the same with watches people may never see the movement of a watch but as long as the watch keeps time and is a high grade movement it’s a simple issue of reassurance. You can rest easy with a Porsche 901 watch as these are all powered by one of the best tier automatic movements called the Mitoya 9100, the 9 in the name represents their top series of movements produced by the company.
So many subtle hints to the Porsche have gone in to this watch it really is like having the car on your wrist. The watches crown on all three of the Porsche 901 models is designed to be a reflection of the horn cap from the steering wheels. Cleverly the power reserve that you can see on the watches have been designed to resemble the fuel and oil gauge from the cars dashboard, especially on the 901-01 and 901-03 where the back disc is all black when fully charged, whereas on the 901-02 the disc is all white when fully wound.
The indices for the seconds that are around the outer dial has been written and printed in the iconic Porsche font, the brand stated “The beauty is in the details and we wanted the 901 Collection to pay tribute to the car from which it was partly made as well as having its own identity and standing on its own feet. In all honesty, we would argue that the mission is accomplished.”
As you probably know from watching the video the watches dial has been sawn and salvaged from the retired body of a Porsche 911 and it then coated with a semi-transparent lacquer. It is one way that the brand ensures that you cannot find two of these watches the same, due to the patina dial which is also a unique selling point of the brand in that I don’t know any other brand who use this contrast in the rough dial and the brushed and polished 316L stainless steel case.
One thing most owners or enthusiasts of Porsche remember is the Otto Fuchs rims of the classic 911’s which are so distinctive and really bring back nostalgic moments for many, this is why it is the main feature of the watches case back. But they don’t stop there, even the rotor is decorated to resemble the drilled brake discs!
Noticeably the case and bezel have a number of smooth soft corners which emulate the shape and curves of the 911, its probably one of the most iconic sports cars of all time, any changes that have been made to the successors have been minimum, more like tweaks than updates. This is a clear indication that the car has stood the test of time and as these watches have been made from the car so will they.
Just one last thing before you go, we thought we should mention something else, You have probably seen the REC logo by now, its a shield with three cogs in. I’ve seen it may times however I just assumed the cogs were a design choice to tie the horological theme in with the logo however it actually has a lot more to it. There are three cogs:One for Recover, one for Recycle, one for Reclaim– the very DNA of the REC concept.
