Briston Clubmaster Review: Premier Amour

Microbrands are all the rage nowadays in the world of watches. Collectors go ape over them because you can essentially trade a brand name watch-who may or may not skimp on features and QC just because they can-for quality, transparency, a unique and perhaps even an esoteric style, and most noticeably, cost. They're so widely loved, in fact, that many microbrands very quickly sell out of new releases, only being available to buy from money grubbing scalpers for jacked up prices on eBay, arguably nullifying their appeal. And because microbrands are almost always smaller-in terms of production and employment-and therefore far more numerous than big name brands, enthusiasts are often spoiled for choice; Brew, Halios, Oak and Oscar, Avi-8, Spinnaker, Baltic and Zelos are just a few of the heavy hitter microbrands that are widely and deeply revered by the watch community.

But there's one brand in the sea of micros that I actually bought from before Seiko, Tissot, Vostok, Orient and Timex: Briston. A French microbrand, Briston was founded in 2012 by Brice Jaunet, a watch industry vet who worked for Cartier, Baume et Mercier, Raymond Weil and Zenith. Jaunet has claimed that Briston’s watches were heavily inspired by his days attending Oxford University (although I can’t say how accurate this is given that I go to a rinky-dink public liberal arts college on the other side of the Atlantic). As an enthusiast, though, I feel Briston’s designs are a fusion of art deco styling and 70s kitsch. If I explained that to you over the phone you’d probably blow chunks, but it DOES work somehow. It really demonstrates that the owner knows what he’s doing and that he’s had plenty of experience designing watches.

I found out about Briston and their watches from browsing the Internet for a new timepiece after the very first watch I bought with my own money, a 50mm Skmei monstrosity that I got from Amazon, broke during my first day outside of the US, during a trip to Europe. I found one of their more popular models, the fantastically named Clubmaster, in a listicle hosted at some relatively prominent website that I can’t recall the name of. I remember ordering it while at a cafe in St. Andrews in Scotland, and being immensely excited to get it. While it did take a bit for it to leave France and get to my home in New York (as in 2ish weeks), it was totally worth the wait.

Measuring in at 39.6mm without the crown (44mm with) with a thickness of 13.4mm and a lug-to-lug length of 48.1mm, the Clubmaster has crowd-pleasing dimensions that really anyone could wear. Wearing it with everything, though, may prove to be a challenge. Although I love how Briston decided to use a VERY 70s combination of a (obviously fake) Italian-made tortoiseshell case and a yellow gold dial, caseback, crown, chrono pushers and strap hardware, it’s a look that I admittedly think isn’t for everyone. While it does make the Clubmaster look classy and old money, it’s not really a watch that would look at home with your Bruce Lee Onitsuka Tigers and your tracksuit. Thankfully, though, Briston does make dozens of variations of the Clubmaster, so you can find one that’s less eccentric in its design. They even make mechanical variants, though I personally wouldn’t recommend buying them, since you’d be paying $750 for an NH35-powered diver.

Even though the Clubmaster is a bit stylistically alienating, it is pretty decently equipped. It’s got a Miyota OS21 quartz chronograph movement, and comes with a mineral crystal along with 100m of water resistance. The water resistance is actually one of my favorite things about the watch; typically cheaper chronos (and chronographs in general) have lower water resistance due to the presence of their pushers, but the Clubmaster has (or Briston claims it to have) enough to comfortably swim with, as long as you don’t wanna time how long it takes your neighbor’s pool to murder your watch.

The OS21 that lives inside the Clubmaster does its job adequately. The pushers work well, it doesn't tick loudly like a Timex, it gives you the date, and even the second hand sweeps when you reset the chronograph. However, when you use the chronograph, the seconds hand misses the indices practically every time. Although this doesn't bother me too much, this may not be the watch for you if that thoroughly rustles your jimmies. I would also normally complain about the presence of this movement in any other $180 watch, but unlike a Valuchi or a Asorock, Briston actually created a unique design that can’t be found anywhere else in the watch world, especially not on Alibaba.

The black NATO strap that comes with the Clubmaster is good, but isn’t fantastic. While it isn’t as shitty as a Timex Weekender’s strap or even the one you get with a Seagull 1963, it doesn’t quite hold a candle to various aftermarket straps, let alone stuff from Omega or Tudor. Due to the fact that this particular Clubmaster is yellow gold, I haven’t been bothered to buy a new one with the correct hardware, so this strap has been forever cursed and stained with hours of sweat.

Although it looks rather nice, I’m gonna pull the good ol’ “WHY NO SAPPHIRE IN <insert amount of home currency here> WATCH?” I think the Clubmaster just about passes the point where a mineral crystal is widely acceptable; if the MSRP was $150 or below I’d probably not be complaining. Although I’m not sure if you can see it in these pics, I’ve scratched the crystal on my Clubmaster, which irks me a bit.

The Clubmaster, and Briston as a brand in general, is definitely an interesting microbrand in the absolute vast sea of them. Rather than going straight to the vintage-inspired dive watch with Tudor snowflake hands, a bronze case and a meteorite dial, the Clubmaster is a very compelling yet very affordable addition to every collection, even if you only have an SNK809 or already own 6 Vacheron Constantins. It’s a watch people won’t forget, for better or worse.