HAMBURG Automatic Edition Marine dark blue gold / Heritage 20 dark brown gold

Swap the black leather for dark brown with a gold buckle and the HAMBURG Automatik Edition Marine stops reading as formal and starts reading as warm. Sternglas offers the same watch both ways for exactly that reason.

Sternglas was founded in Hamburg in 2016, and the HAMBURG collection is its homage to the port city. The dials take their cue from seafaring instruments rather than from dress watchmaking: large Arabic numerals, a fine outer minute track, Luminova where it earns its place. On the Edition Marine, the screwed caseback carries an engraved windjammer instead of the collection's usual city map.

Here the 42 mm gold-toned case and dark blue satin dial sit on a Heritage strap in dark brown, finished with a matching gold buckle. The leather is 4 mm cowhide with an alligator emboss and a full-fold edge, 20 mm at the lugs, and it comes off tool-free. A Miyota 8215 automatic supplies 42 hours of reserve, hacking seconds, hand-winding and a date, all under double-domed sapphire with double anti-reflective coating. Water resistance is 5 bar.

Brown, blue and gold is an autumn palette. This one flatters warmer skin tones and brown shoes.

Perfect for: brown leather automatic watches, warm-toned everyday watches, 42 mm watches with a date.