Review: DuFrane Travis (in Sky)

I had the privilege of trying on a couple of DuFrane watches a couple of weeks back and ended up purchasing this DuFrane Travis in Sky. I apologize in advance for the reading you’re about to embark on — I don’t contribute much to WatchCrunch, so when I do, I feel the need to make up for lost time.

Also, because this is a post for a social platform, and not, ya know, a letter to my grandmother to solicit more inheritance from her, I did a properly lousy job proofreading. If something you read here doesn’t make sense, rest assured: it made sense to me while writing.

Also also, sorry for the tasteless joke about my grandma. Both of mine are long dead. Neither of them left me anything. Huzzah.

TL;DR: I wanted it, so I got it, and maybe you should get one too.

THE BACK STORY

I’ve had my eye on this watch for a while now. My wife and I relocated our family to Austin 5 years back, and when I started collecting watches early this year, I quickly decided I wanted a watch to commemorate our new hometown. After looking at several fantastic Austin micro brands, I found Dufrane.

I was drawn to the Travis immediately for two reasons.

First, the looks of the watch — the vibe, if you will — is totally one of a kind. As a newly impassioned watch collector, I’ve looked at a truly ridiculous number of watches in the last 6 months. Thousands upon thousands. I’m not the kind of person to go less than 100%. So when I decided watches were gonna be a thing for me, I doubled down on that decision. But I realized quickly, for all the interest, it would take a lot of time for me to figure out what style of watch clicks with me best.

Then the 1wc happens. This was around the time I joined WatchCrunch, and the novelty of the challenge was exciting for me. I’d purchased 7 watches in a couple of months — nothing extravagant — and felt like the challenge would help slow me down. I decided I’d wear my Seiko SRP779 Pepsi Turtle for the challenge. It was one of my nicer watches and is easily my most comfortable.

To my surprise, by the time I was formally disqualified from the challenge (can’t wait to participate next year), I discovered that I really fell in love with the Turtle and that I find myself drawn to dive watches in general.

I had just finished some side work and plotted my next watch. Do I get another Turtle, a Willard, or maybe something different in the dive genre? I’m 100% those are in my future at some point, but I remembered seeing the Travis a couple of months early and decided to give it closer consideration.

This doesn’t qualify as a “grail” in my book, but that’s a little how it felt to finally get it.

THE FIT AND FINISH

Considering I’m new to this hobby, you’d think this section would be shorter … but you’d be wrong. I’m not gonna go listing specs here, you can find all that fun stuff on DuFrane’s site.

The case and crown: I saw a review on this watch that compared the case of the Travis to a Tudor Ranger. I’ve held a Tudor Ranger for approximately 11 seconds in my life, so I’m clearly an expert. But that’s the reference point I have, and it feels accurate to me. It’s fairly light on the wrist, but it’s still got a little weight. The case is brushed steel, except for the polished chamfers. And the crown is signed with the DuFrane logo. Classy. So classy.

The dial and hands: in a word, wow. There are no photos that capture well the look of this watch. Everything besides the orange second's hand refracts light in a mesmerizing way. The dial and chapter ring are both brushed steel. There’s a beautiful sunburst on the teal/blue dial. The dial sits about half a millimeter lower than the chapter ring — which seems small until it hits the sun. The hands are simple, highly polished, Ranger-like(?), and filled with lume. The black indices are outlined in the same lume — which creates a totally unique look for this watch in the dark. Or … at least … it could. Coming from a Seiko Turtle, the lume on the Travis isn’t quite the brightness I was hoping for. But it’s no worse than any field or flieger I’ve seen.

The crystal and bezel: the sapphire crystal is slightly beveled. It’s a really small detail, but when paired with the crazy reflective chapter ring and the dark indices, it throws and bends the light around the bevel in a wonderful way. The bezel has a sapphire insert — in a shade of teal that’s just slightly different from the dial. Don’t worry, they complement each other well. The bezel markers match the orange of the hands. The bezel was a little stiff when I first got the watch, but twisting it around a couple of dozen times smoothed it out a bit. It’s still a lot more of a tactile feeling than my Seiko, which is a little softer, not quite as fidgety, but perfectly useable and delightfully clackety.

The bands: the Travis came with two bands. One is a bracelet which looks really nice … but I don’t wear bracelets, so it’s lost on me. Apparently, it’s super easy to use and change out and treated in such a way that it’s super scratch resistant. The other band is a silicon diver with blue stitching. Ironically, I’m also not a fan of silicon (it causes my skin to rash). I tried them both, and they’re both comfortable. I ordered a new leather band from Barton, and it looks great and is very comfortable — the DuFrane bands will be resting peacefully in my watch box.

THE BUYING EXPERIENCE

I don’t have an AD. I’ve been to a couple of jewelry stores around Austin, and jewelry store employees kinda creep me out, to be honest. Maybe it’s just where I live — or maybe it’s me — but every interaction just seems forced and predicated on me spending money I don’t have. That’s why I was relieved when the owner of DuFrane, Steven, agreed to meet in person for me to look at a couple of watches and possibly purchase one. Spoiler alert, Steven is awesome.

We met up at a local coffee shop in Austin, swapped watch stories, and talked about everything from Lunar Pilots to Rolexs while I was deciding which watch to purchase. And it was not an easy decision, as the watches he brought looked incredible in person and totally fit me and my style. Steven was knowledgeable, friendly, and an all-around good hang. He even showed me a couple behind the scenes photos of some new watches he’s dropping soon.

For me, this customer service experience is hard to beat. I’m very sure I’ll be purchasing another DuFrane somewhere down the road.

THE CONCLUSION

Can I just say, if you made it to the end of this review, I’m impressed. This, my inaugural WatchCrunch review, kinda got away from me. I’ll try to be more brief in future reviews. Looooooooong story short: if you’ve had your eye on the Travis, just do it. You won’t regret it. And if you do, you could probably sell it to me. If you’ve never heard of DuFrane before, go check them out.