Rotary Cambridge (Square Watch) Review

its funny after been into this "watch collecting" hobby for about 3 years made me realize 2 things.

1. people taste may change over time

2. there always an affordable alternative for most of the "more expensive watch"

as a check all the boxes collector i always have a vision wearing bauhaus style watch for my dresswatch. its clean, sleek, etc. and after two years wearing a bambino v3 for my dresswatch i think my style have changed, now i prefer something more old and mature looking dresswatch, a tank watch.

now two of the most popular tank watch are the cartier tank and the jlc reverso, and i really like the reverso but didnt have a budget for it. until one day i stumbled upon one recommendation from mr. @RobertWood about this rotary cambridge. rotary? its not the brand im familiar with. so i dig deeper.

the original rotary brand was found 1895 by watchmaker moise dreyfuss at swiss town of la chaux de fond but later move the hq to the britain in the early 20th century until now. since 2014 it has been owned by chinese investment holding by the name of citychamp watch and jewellery group.

well, looking at the rotary's online catalog gave me mixed feeling. it is like you can find many mix and match homage from other more expensive brands. you want something like nautilus with skeleton dial? got one. rolex daytona? yes we have. its like most of their design are felt "uninspired". but on the other hand they are very affordable, i think most of their model are below 1000$ with movement from miyota quartz, automatic, or even entry level sellita. the other things are in the sea of mix and match mode there must be some combination that fits into our taste, like this cambridge.

describing cambridge case is like cartier tank case with reverso proportion. and for the dial there are a few option you can choose.

this one is more cartier tank

this one is more like reverso

this one supposed to be like other reverso version, and also like a casio 😂

so i go with the one which like the arabic numeral reverso. lets deep dive into this watch shall we

case

case design shape looks like a cartier tank with 28,5mm x 40mm. it is made from 316 stainless steel. it is also very slim with only 7mm height which perfect for the dresswatch, there are only one finishing which is polish. i think the built quality and design is good.

dial and hands

this is probably my favourite part of the watch. its symetry and proportion are beautiful. dial colour is white with brushed effect, there are some printed inner ring just like cartier tank and blue applied arabic numeral just like the reverso. so you got some element of both watch. there are small date window on the 6 hour which is beautiful.

being a quartz watch, this rotary just have a 2 pencil hands, which for somebody who doesnt like looking at the tic tac quartz second hand its brilliant move! if i can changed some element on this watch i would change the hands colour, i think it would be nice if it is different from the blue arabic numeral. i also thinks that the rotary logo are pretty badass.

crystal

for 200$ watch its nice for rotary to gave us a flat sapphire crystal.

crown

while cartier got a big crown with a beautiful blue crystal and the reverso got an standard crown, this cambridge got a unique hidden crown. the crown itself looks like a small flieger union crown which can be pushed inside the case. overall it looks sleek and clean, i appreciate it.

backcase

backcase is made from polished stainless steel and secured by 4 lugs on each corner. it has 5 atm which is fair for the dresswatch. the solid backcase are decorated with rotary logo and their slogan "celebrating 125 years of watchmaking". pretty standard stuff. (fyi: sorry about the textured sticker on the back, i was afraid to scratch the backcase so i applied some textured clear sticker).

strap and buckle

cant say too much about the standard strap and buckle because i changed it immediately after the watch came. the standard strap is genuine leather with a crocodile pattern. now i gotta be honest im going full blown homage with the aftermarket strap i bought. i ordered a custom leather strap which looks like "casa fagliano" strap on the real reverso. strap quality is good, feel soft and sturdy. but it doesnt look good because the folded part are a little bit too long.

conclusion

based on my research here i think there isnt much option for the square watch under 1000$ but i can say this one is one of the good bargain you can get. built quality is good, specs is good, and there are a few option (dial, bracelet or strap option) that you can choose. you get both reverso and cartier tank in some way with the budget of none lol. well i hope this review will help, cheers wc🍻

bonus pict (little monster on the table trying to sabotage my work🫠).