On the Market: Estonia1918 – luxury watches with a patriotic twist

Vincent Teetsov

“What time is it?” someone asks, triggering a swarm of smartphones to come out. In that instant, the charm of this simple act, checking the time, is eroded. A phone can take on timekeeping, plus a million other tasks. It can do it without any errors either. But it locks time up behind silicon chips, plastic, aluminosilicate glass, and lithium ion batteries. And it’s paired with many other distractions.

Comparatively, a wristwatch brings us closer to time, so that we can feel and hear it. Its physical components represent the control each one of us is able to exert on our future, if on nothing else. Without getting any more abstruse, this is what the company Estonia1918 is vying for with their numerous models of watches.

Each watch model is dedicated to an occupation or role, for individuals who have made and continue to make mighty achievements with the time given to them.

It started with the Wõitleja (“fighter”), a watch made in advance of the 100th anniversary of Estonia gaining its independence. Referring to the Estonians who fought for independence in the Soomusrongide divisjon, Estonia1918 explains,

“The name Wõitleja initially belonged to the artillery car of Armored Train Nr. 2, and the watch’s design is directly inspired by the intricate workmanship of bronze gauges found on the heavy military equipment of the First World War era.” These gauges would have shown a train’s steam pressure, for instance.

True to an armoured train, the watch’s case is dense, “... machined whole from a single block of true old-school CuSn8 brass, a marine-grade alloy of brass and tin that was developed to be submerged in saltwater for a lifetime without corrosion.” It’s big, it’s tough, and it knows it.

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