URUGA 42 "ICE BLUE" Rubber Model [UG03-RBKNIB-SSD]

A pale ice blue dial on a black rubber strap is an unusual combination for a hand-finished watch, and it gives the URUGA 42 a lightness that its faceted steel case does not lead you to expect.

MINASE introduced URUGA in 2023 from its workshop in Ugo-machi, Akita, a town roughly 600 km north of Tokyo where the company has made watch cases since the 1970s. The line is defined by a clamping structure: four thickly cut clasps, elaborately faceted, hold the case and the crystal together instead of a conventional bezel, borrowing the logic of a prong setting in jewelry. The mirror surfaces between those facets are raised by Sallaz hand-polishing, a Swiss-origin discipline MINASE has made its own, in which each face is worked flat against a rotating plate until it reflects without distortion.

Here the officially named ICE BLUE dial sits behind sapphire with a slight vertical curvature, its horizontal gradation drawn from the surface of the Minase River. Black rubber makes it the most relaxed way to wear the 42.0 mm steel case, which runs 48.0 mm from lug to lug and 10.2 mm thick including the glass. The self-winding KT7002, a MINASE-finished Swiss ETA 2892 and Sellita SW300 base, drives hands and date.

Rated 5 atm, it handles weather and spray rather than the pool. This is the URUGA 42 for weekends and warm months.

Perfect for: rubber strap automatic watch buyers, fans of light blue dials, anyone wanting a hand-polished case in a casual configuration.