Vero Workhorse Review - The Canyon meets the Sea

Storm season is the ideal time to be in Tofino, BC. Especially if you enjoy the surf. However, a rare dose of lightning this morning is keeping us out of the water, so with a cup of coffee in hand I'll start some ruminations on the Vero Workhorse that's currently sitting on my wrist while I wait for the worst of the weather to blow over.

A friend sent me a photo of the Vero Workhorse Canyon not long after it was announced and my first reaction was "woah...". I was mesmerized. It looked instantly familiar and yet like nothing else, with an uncommon use of color on the case and minute track and a stealthily sculpted dial. Marketed as an adventure piece -and thus targeting yours truly- it seemed to tick a box I didn't know I needed (ok wanted). At that moment however; I'd just bought a couple of other watches and needed to take a quick breath before doing so again. I was also a little worried the Workhorse might be too big for my 6.5" wrist, especially as I've trended towards smaller and smaller watches of late. So, I decided to wait a little while and see if the spell wore off or not.

It didn't wear off. But the watch did sell out. Rats! Patience... I did the usual research of articles and reviews and grew to like the watch even more. That Vero is a watch brand based in the Pacific North West (like me!) and designed by a Canadian (me too, eh!) seemed to seal the deal. I put my order in the first hour it was re-released in the spring of '23. 

The watch serendipitously arrived the day before a camping trip. I opened its surprisingly impressive packaging, slapped it on my wrist and stared at it. Yep, it looks just like the photos. (Some watches just don't, for some reason) And despite its initially daunting (to me) 44.5mm case, it fit like a glove. The strap is comfortable, practical and fun looking -I want more of them for other watches in my collection. The short lugs allow it to sit neatly on my 6.5" wrist with no overhang. The lugs are black and seem to blend in to the strap design so well you'd be forgiven for forgetting they're there at all. The case somehow does not feel imbalanced nor top heavy despite appearing to be a fairly tall cylinder. There's enough weight to let you know it's there but it's by no means heavy nor obnoxious.

You're not wearing this with a suit and tie (or maybe you are, and who am I to judge) but for it's intended purpose as a stylish and fun companion on hikes, camping trips and general outdoorsy enjoyment, it fits right in.

I was curious how the chronograph action would feel given it has a mechaqartz movement which is something new to me. I've experienced mushy pushers on old seikos of mine which took the joy right out of them. Happy to report that's not the case here. The blocky, textured chrono pushers actuate with a visceral click, and gain bonus points for being orientated in the destro position. It actually feels weird to go back to right hand pushers after having worn this for a few weeks. The orange chronograph hand tracks nicely around the dial with a higher beat rate than the running seconds subdial which again gives it more of a mechanical watch feel.

The storm's let-up so it's time to put on our wetsuits and hit the chilly waves of the Pacific. How will the Workhorse fair? Read on!

----------------------Heads to the Waves--------------------------

The water is a balmy 10deg Celsius this afternoon, and I have my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro on one wrist under the wetsuit cuff and my Workhorse on the other wrist over top the wetsuit. I don't want to overdo my exposure in these cold waters, so I decide to use the chrono function to keep an eye on how long I've been out. For this purpose it absolutely shines. Easy to read at a glance, secure with it's mighty velcro strap, and the weight simply melts away as you get into the action. Paddling out or toppling over, it never got in the way. I'd go so far as to say it felt at home. The strap holds up well to the pounding waves and vigorous paddling that ensues. It doesn't slip nor loosen. I don't know where they sourced their Velcro, but that's where everyone should get their Velcro from now on. It's as tightly woven as it was on day one.

As I go through a bit of a dishwasher of repeated waves I have some piece of mind knowing the Vero has a 10-year no-questions-asked warranty against any damage. Yep, any damage. After 6 months of ownership mine still doesn't have a single mark on its cerakoted steel case or crystal, so I suspect their confidence in the product is well founded -I've certainly not been babying it!

It does it bug me a little that the chronograph only runs for 1 hour before resetting, but tackling that would have meant messing with the very enjoyable design language here (and likely choice of movement, and price). The inner rotating bezel is also a bit finnicky to use compared to say a traditional diver's timing bezel, but I think that comes with the territory for most inner rotating bezels. (Probably don't do that while out in the water though).

You'll note there's only marks at the 5 minute intervals on the 60 minute subdial. I though this would bug me at first (and it did), but I understand high precision isn't the aim here and I'm ok with that trade-off in design vs function in this case. Vero did put out a limited edition in another colorway that had the full minute markings and it actually felt a bit too busy to my eye. For my purposes, easily registering that I'd been out in the waves for about 47min and should start making my way back to shore meant it served its purpose just fine.

On this second release edition, the hands, hours, 5min marks on the colored minute track and bezel numbers and marks are all lumed. The lume is not the strongest, but when fully charged gives an almost holographic bit of visual trickery to delight the wearer, with a cascading effect of glowing artifacts seeming to dive down towards the center of the watch. Fun!

At the risk of my post-surf beer getting warm, I'll cap this off with a quick final thought. At $425 you are getting a ton for your money here, especially if you enjoy a solidly built piece that stands out from the crowd. Sure there are more serious tool watches in the market, but I'm not sure there's many more playful than this, and smiles per dollar is how I measure the value of most hobbies. You get the sense that the Workhorse will put a smile on your face whether it's dusty, soggy, sandy, snowy, muddy or whatever else you happen to want to put it through as your adventure companion. Which is why my other pieces are sitting at home, and this one's out here surfing with me.