Designer Alessandro Salvatore of Melbourne, Australia has created two new Porsche-inspired watch designs, dubbed the Ferdi (in salute of Ferdinand Porsche himself), and the 3Five6 (obviously after Porsche’s original rear-engine sports car, the 356 of the 1950s and 60s). These two designs appear to be reasonably affordable, at under $300 per unit, and each are designed in four different case and accent color combinations. The Porsche-themed accents are subtle, but enough to stand out to those in the know. From the Porsche font numerals on the face and dial of each, and a visually interesting piston-esque case design, you can tell that this is an automotive enthusiast’s watch, but it’s still smart enough to go with nearly any outfit.
Both styles of watch are hand-assembled with sapphire crystal and glare reduction. Watch cases are available in both silver and black, all sized at 43mm diameter, and are water-resistant to 100 meters. The inner case is crafted of soft iron alloy in order to protect the movement against magnetic fields. That movement is a Ronda 5021.D for the Ferdi, and a Ronda 5030.D for the 3Five6, the same movement you’d find in current trendy watches from Shinola or Luminox.
This watch has a unique design feature: Rather than the hands incrementally and slowly going around the dial, they take steps. So, when the seconds reach 60 seconds on the big hand, the minute hand on the left sub dial will ‘step’ to the next minute. Also, when the minute counter reaches 30 minutes, the hand on the hour sub dial will flick to the next half an hour mark. This makes it easier to read, especially when you are quickly checking your wrist while driving.
It is particularly easy to see the 356 influence in the 3Five6 design, as the face holds a trio of gauge faces, just as the simple 356 dashboard does. The Ferdi, to our eyes, appears much more modern, incorporating brighter accent colors, and larger flashy dial outfitted with large numbers, and offset Chronograph second hand dial trimmed in carbon fiber. It’s an interesting design, but certainly not timeless as the 3Five6 design is.
Given our own contribution to the Kickstarter funding, we’d choose the 3Five6 watch in stainless steel with a graphite grey accent color and a black 3-hole racing perforated leather band. That’s a nice combination, and one we could easily see adding to our timepiece rotation. Which of these many choices do you prefer?