Worthy choice for a nostalgic gamer? - Review of the 8-Bit Brew
Brew is a microbrand with a vision of designing watches based on their ambition for coffee. We can see this inspiration reflected in pretty much all of their watch designs in one way or another.
But coffee isn't always their only inspiration. This watch is the 8-Bit Brew, which is in practice a variation of their Retrograph lineup with a different dial. As the name suggests, this model is themed to 8-bit gaming.
I have had mine for a few months now and while it costs $395 on their site, there are some additional shipping costs and due to being in the EU, I had to pay quite a bit of import taxes. Overall it cost me about 500€. With that, here's the review:
Design
I would describe the design language as casually elegant. It's not formal, but it's also not tool-like or rough.
The watch uses a rectangular design with rounded corners. The width is 38mm without the crown and the height is 41.5mm with the strap connectors integrated into the case, so there are no distinct lugs.
The thickness is advertised as 10.4mm, but I measure 10.2mm, so I would consider its thickness to be quite average. It works well with the case dimensions.
The rectangular design means that the watch wears bigger than those measurements suggest, but it also makes it very versatile as it won't look too small on bigger wrists while not being too wide for smaller wrists. As a result it has a lot of presence on my 16cm wrist, but it does not look too big or feel out of place.
The rounded corners really help the watch blend in with the wrist well and contributes to its sense of casual elegance.
The dial also strengthens this design language. Where the normal Retrographs feel too formal to me, this one keeps the elegant look, but changes it from formal into casual.
The elements on the dial have casual colours that are distinct from the matte black dial. However, they retain a relatively dull tone, so they don't stand out too much and look very correct.
The yellow chronograph hand clearly separates it from the hour and minute hands, which is great. The yellow in the middle of the hour and minute hands clearly separates those from the indices as well, keeping the watch very legible. The use of yellow hands with lighting shapes on the sub-dials also clearly strengthen the separation between the primary timekeeping and extra functions.
These lightning hands bring out the 8-bit gaming theme and help with the casualness of the dial without being obnoxious. The sun and moon symbol on the 24h dial also fits this theme and so does the 8-bit style coffee cup.
This coffee cup also clearly displays the coffee inspiration and the chaptering displays this further. There are sub-second markers between the indices up until the 35 marker, signifying the coffee making time period, and the area between 30 and 35 uses yellow instead of blue. This is consistent with the use of yellow for special functions and from what I know, it represents an optimal completion time of an espresso.
The date window at 6 is also my favourite position for it and the black date wheel is ideal as a white date wheel would look very ugly in this watch imo.
The positioning of the elements is good and the only text on the dial is the brand name, so it doesn't feel overly cluttered, although it is certainly not a minimalist dial since it's a chronograph.
The pushers and crown are also well sized and look good on the watch. The crown is signed with a bean, which looks good on it.
When it comes to criticisms about the design, the only thing that I can really see as a possible point of improvement is the lack of a seconds subdial. Although I genuinely find the 24 hour subdial useful, I think that seconds would ultimately be more useful.
The back of the watch is also designed with the 8-bit theme in mind.
As a whole, the watch executes the 8-bit theme very consistently while being subtle and keeping the coffee-inspired brand identity.
Build quality and finishing
Everything about this watch is just very solid. The case uses the standard materials of 316L stainless steel and sapphire crystal.
The brushing on the top is consistent and smooth. Its direction also follows the case shape, including the rounded corners.
The polished sides are very reflective and quality of the polishing is good and consistent. The transition between the polished and brushed parts is natural and is a straight line without parts of either section slipping into the other.
Pretty much everything feels properly aligned.
The only exception is the yellow part on the hour hand as it is very slightly off-center on the hand. I really have to look close to see this as well, so it's not something I would notice in normal use.
The crystal has great anti-reflective coating as well. The watch remains very legible under light and the light that it does reflect is nice and soft.
The movement
The watch uses a VK64 meca-quartz chronograph movement.
This means that it provides the reliability and accuracy of a quartz movement while having the mechanical sweep on the chronograph hand, a tactile pusher feeling and an instant chronograph reset.
It's a very solid chronograph movement overall.
However, when you reset the chronograph, the minute hand on the watch does jump forward a little bit, but this does not affect timekeeping. Also if I don't use the pushers for a while, the activation feeling is different on the first press.
The strap
It's a high quality leather strap. It's soft and comfortable, no complaints about the quality. However, I did have to add in an extra hole because, as is the case with many straps, there aren't enough holes to make the strap fit me tightly enough by default.
Conclusion
I really like this watch. The quality is very solid and I really can't complain about much. Everything is nearly perfect in terms of alignment and finishing with the exception of the yellow part in the middle of the hour hand being very slightly off. The ar coating on the crystal is also great.
The design is executed very well given the theme. It has a clear identity with the 8-bit theming and brand, but it's also subtle enough to look great. It would be better with a seconds subdial, though.
The movement is also very solid, although it has some minor imperfections in operation, but these do not affect its functionality.
One more criticism is the complete lack of lume, but I care about lume very little.
Is it my most worn watch? No. Is it the best watch I own currently? Absolutely.
My ratings (out of 10)
Quality: 9
Dial: 9.5
Movement: 7.5
Wearability: 9.5
Design: 9
Worthy choice for a nostalgic gamer? - Review of the 8-Bit Brew
Yes
No
- Feels casual, but still elegant
- Conveys the 8-bit and coffee themes well
- Subtle enough to look great and be versatile
- Rectangular case is versatile in terms of wrist size
- Very solid build quality
- Finishing quality is good and there aren't any noticeable imperfections
- Alignment of elements is almost perfect
- Great anti-reflective coating
- Solid meca-quartz chronograph movement
- Lacks a seconds subdial
- No lume
- When the chronograph is reset, the minute hand jumps forward a little bit. Does not affect timekeeping.
- When using the pushers after a while of not using them for a while, the feeling is different on first press.
- Yellow part on hour hand is very slightly off-center on mine. Not noticeable in normal use.
Dunno. Guess I like watches. Check out my Instagram for some extra watch pics (@op_watch_pics).
Nice review and thanks for sharing. I feel folks are sleeping on this one given how many other models are sold out.
Nice review and thanks for sharing. I feel folks are sleeping on this one given how many other models are sold out.
I kind of get why this one isn't as popular. The 8-bit theming makes it quite niche.
I love meca quartz (as I keep repeating haha) and got the retrograph. But I did consider this one since I love those old 8 bit games! Galaga!!
I kind of get why this one isn't as popular. The 8-bit theming makes it quite niche.
There is a lot of late 80s kids out there!
great review thx. i actually wait for my retrograph technicolour to come, i feel confident this is a solid watch
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if you give the watch 3/5 to 4/5 it shouldn’t detract your love for it, its ok to have flaws…
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if you give the watch 3/5 to 4/5 it shouldn’t detract your love for it, its ok to have flaws…
Oh, absolutely.
However, when taking away stars, I need to consider the weight of the flaws and what these are worth. The fact that there are only 5 stars gives me quite a limited amount of room for where to put thing. Just because I rate something 5 stars doesn't mean that there can't be anything better. It just means that it sits somewhere within that top 20% of the rating scale for me. In the aspects outside of the movement, this watch is very much within that 20% for me.
The reality is that nothing is perfect. I could buy an ultra expensive Patek, Rolex or Omega and I would almost certainly still find some flaws with it. The existence of flaws does not necessarily justify reducing the amount of points that I give to something when that point is as large as it is with a 5 star rating system.
The lack of a seconds hand is a negative, but it's not worth removing a whole star for. If there were 10 stars, I would remove one for it, but 1/5 is too much.
When it comes to the lack of lume, as I mentioned, I care about that very little. Maybe one out of 20 stars worth of reduction.
As for the chronograph issue, that is worth removing a star, which I did. I don't consider it in quality as I have already rated it separately.
And as for the slight misalignment thing, it's extremely minor and is not apparent in use at all. Probably 1 out of 50 stars.
Perhaps I should add numbered ratings out of 10 in the text of my reviews going forward. For this one, they would be:
Quality: 9
Dial: 9.5
Movement: 7.5
Wearability: 9.5
Design: 9
Oh, absolutely.
However, when taking away stars, I need to consider the weight of the flaws and what these are worth. The fact that there are only 5 stars gives me quite a limited amount of room for where to put thing. Just because I rate something 5 stars doesn't mean that there can't be anything better. It just means that it sits somewhere within that top 20% of the rating scale for me. In the aspects outside of the movement, this watch is very much within that 20% for me.
The reality is that nothing is perfect. I could buy an ultra expensive Patek, Rolex or Omega and I would almost certainly still find some flaws with it. The existence of flaws does not necessarily justify reducing the amount of points that I give to something when that point is as large as it is with a 5 star rating system.
The lack of a seconds hand is a negative, but it's not worth removing a whole star for. If there were 10 stars, I would remove one for it, but 1/5 is too much.
When it comes to the lack of lume, as I mentioned, I care about that very little. Maybe one out of 20 stars worth of reduction.
As for the chronograph issue, that is worth removing a star, which I did. I don't consider it in quality as I have already rated it separately.
And as for the slight misalignment thing, it's extremely minor and is not apparent in use at all. Probably 1 out of 50 stars.
Perhaps I should add numbered ratings out of 10 in the text of my reviews going forward. For this one, they would be:
Quality: 9
Dial: 9.5
Movement: 7.5
Wearability: 9.5
Design: 9
It’s fine - you are an unreliable narrator, as am I, it’s hard to remain completely objective if you have strong feelings for the watch. I struggle to see how perfect scores can be applied to watch with notable flaws, it’s very amusing. I would give my Bubble 1/5 for wearability, 2/5 for dial (at a push), and 3/5 for movement, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, and yet it’s probably my favourite watch. I don’t think anyone would disagree with such harsh scores, it’s realistic, and I’m not upset.
It’s fine - you are an unreliable narrator, as am I, it’s hard to remain completely objective if you have strong feelings for the watch. I struggle to see how perfect scores can be applied to watch with notable flaws, it’s very amusing. I would give my Bubble 1/5 for wearability, 2/5 for dial (at a push), and 3/5 for movement, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, and yet it’s probably my favourite watch. I don’t think anyone would disagree with such harsh scores, it’s realistic, and I’m not upset.
There's nothing objective here. It's my review of a watch in accordance with my own priorities and I feel like I'm fairly transparent about that. As a person reading it, it's best to look at it critically and analyze what you read in accordance with your own priorities.
It's really difficult to figure out how to scale rating something in this case. On one hand, if I give it high ratings, there will be little room above it for better stuff, but if I give it low scores, it will be close to watches that are way worse.
It's not like this watch is my favourite watch or that I have super strong feelings towards it. I have multiple watches that I prefer over it and I would rate them all below this one in these ratings. I'm rating it how I am because I legitimately consider it to be that good. I would not consider it perfect score either, which is why you inspired me to introduce written points out of 10 to express that more properly, but it definitely sits in the top 20% of the ranking for me.
I have some watches at various different levels of good and bad. If I ranked this one lower, it would be ranked similarly to something much worse. If I ranked that lower, then it would be ranked similarly to something much worse and so on. For me, the flaws are all really minor except for the movement and a watch could only beat this in small refinements since this is really solid in pretty much every way, so something better would be likely to sit somewhere between this and a perfect score.
There's nothing objective here. It's my review of a watch in accordance with my own priorities and I feel like I'm fairly transparent about that. As a person reading it, it's best to look at it critically and analyze what you read in accordance with your own priorities.
It's really difficult to figure out how to scale rating something in this case. On one hand, if I give it high ratings, there will be little room above it for better stuff, but if I give it low scores, it will be close to watches that are way worse.
It's not like this watch is my favourite watch or that I have super strong feelings towards it. I have multiple watches that I prefer over it and I would rate them all below this one in these ratings. I'm rating it how I am because I legitimately consider it to be that good. I would not consider it perfect score either, which is why you inspired me to introduce written points out of 10 to express that more properly, but it definitely sits in the top 20% of the ranking for me.
I have some watches at various different levels of good and bad. If I ranked this one lower, it would be ranked similarly to something much worse. If I ranked that lower, then it would be ranked similarly to something much worse and so on. For me, the flaws are all really minor except for the movement and a watch could only beat this in small refinements since this is really solid in pretty much every way, so something better would be likely to sit somewhere between this and a perfect score.
A review should really provide unbiased feedback on the merits and value of the subject. If there‘s nothing objective here, as per your own words, then we should really stop there at the first hurdle. The watch isn’t perfect, you gave it perfect scores, and you are struggling to be impartial and to score this without bias - I‘m just pointing that out, it was very clear when reading between the lines. Thank you for the celebration of the Brew watch.
A review should really provide unbiased feedback on the merits and value of the subject. If there‘s nothing objective here, as per your own words, then we should really stop there at the first hurdle. The watch isn’t perfect, you gave it perfect scores, and you are struggling to be impartial and to score this without bias - I‘m just pointing that out, it was very clear when reading between the lines. Thank you for the celebration of the Brew watch.
There are 2 ways you can go about things.
One is to ignore your bias and pretend to be objective.
The other is to acknowledge them and act in accordance with it.
I discuss the aspects of the watch in what I feel to be a relatively objective manner. I bring up the good sides and bad sides as I see them. This is where you can apply your own judgment to see where you would score it.
Then there's the subjective aspect, which is what I make of these. It is not possible to give ratings in an impartial or unbiased manner. This is because ratings are based on positives and negatives, but the interpretation and value of each positive and negative is subjective. Some of the positives and negatives could even be reversed depending on the person.
Whatever rating I give it is my subjective conclusion from the objective things. This applies for any rating out there. It's always good to find a reviewer with similar views to you because their judgment will likely match yours. Ours clearly seem to differ, so there are grounds for disagreement, which is fair.
There are 2 ways you can go about things.
One is to ignore your bias and pretend to be objective.
The other is to acknowledge them and act in accordance with it.
I discuss the aspects of the watch in what I feel to be a relatively objective manner. I bring up the good sides and bad sides as I see them. This is where you can apply your own judgment to see where you would score it.
Then there's the subjective aspect, which is what I make of these. It is not possible to give ratings in an impartial or unbiased manner. This is because ratings are based on positives and negatives, but the interpretation and value of each positive and negative is subjective. Some of the positives and negatives could even be reversed depending on the person.
Whatever rating I give it is my subjective conclusion from the objective things. This applies for any rating out there. It's always good to find a reviewer with similar views to you because their judgment will likely match yours. Ours clearly seem to differ, so there are grounds for disagreement, which is fair.
You gave a watch with numerous flaws you identified 5/5 in most categories - I would definitely disagree with you. You are not the only reviewer in this platform to do so, it’s a common thing, but it undoes a lot of the work you put into the piece because it raises more questions about your objectivity rather than answer anything about the watch. I’m left questioning whether I trust you to be impartial, and I’m veering towards no.
You gave a watch with numerous flaws you identified 5/5 in most categories - I would definitely disagree with you. You are not the only reviewer in this platform to do so, it’s a common thing, but it undoes a lot of the work you put into the piece because it raises more questions about your objectivity rather than answer anything about the watch. I’m left questioning whether I trust you to be impartial, and I’m veering towards no.
And that is fair.
For me it just comes down to the fact that while there are a number of issues, they have very low significance, at least by the way that I judge.
Perhaps there could be a better way to do it, but I don't know better at this point. I haven't rated all that many watches yet, so I don't have a deep understanding of how I could range things yet.
In accordance with the watches that I have, this feels like the best spot for it, but as I get more watches, my perspective will broaden and I'm sure my rating methodology will change.
Kiitos for your great review. I'm considering buying the 8-bit for quite some time now. My only concern is how it will look on my 16,5cm wrist. But if you say that it looks fine on 16cm I should probably finally buy it.