29er Big Small Second — Deep Blue Dial / Steel Bracelet

A steel bracelet changes how a watch behaves as much as how it looks. On its own brushed bracelet with a folding clasp, this 29er Big Small Second from Mühle-Glashütte sits cooler, squarer and twice as heavy as the canvas versions, at 121 grams.

The 29er is not a size. The name comes from the 29er sailing dinghy, the class young crews pass through on the way to the Olympic 49er, and Mühle developed the watch in 2006 as an equivalent introduction to Glashütte watchmaking. The whole family shares one construction: stainless steel, anti-reflective sapphire, a sapphire exhibition back, a screw-down crown and 10 bar.

The dial is deep blue, with applied indices, Super-LumiNova, a small seconds register at six o'clock and the date at three. The case runs 42 mm wide, 11.3 mm high and 49 mm lug to lug on 22 mm attachments. The automatic caliber is the SW 261-1 in Version Mühle trim, which means Mühle's patented woodpecker neck fine regulation, its own riveted rotor, Glashütte finishing and a stated rate of zero to eight seconds fast per day. Reserve is 41 hours.

Deep blue and polished steel is a hard combination to get wrong. This one wears compactly for a 42 mm watch.

Perfect for: steel bracelet sports watch buyers, deep blue dial collectors, everyday German automatics.