What Would You Pay? The Hugo Boss 1512570 Chrono

Hugo Boss Grey Dial Quartz Chronograph – $198.25 ($295)

Grey dial watches are a bit like grey shoes and green cars. There’s just not enough of them out there. This particular grey dial watch has been on a few radars for years. But like a lot of Hugo Boss items, it’s stayed stubbornly high in price. Three hundred bucks for a quartz, mineral crystal watch? They’re made by Movado, but so are Hilfiger watches (which usually feel awfully flimsy). Boss watches seem a (big) step up from the Hilfiger line, but three hundred… no.

How’s about two?

Some of us are admitted suckers for chronographs. Maybe it’s the convenience of knowing at a glance just how much time we have left on the parking meter. Or maybe it’s the rule-of-thirds visual goodness the pushers & crown provide. Whatever it is, this watch gets that part right, with the pushers and subdials noticeable, but without taking over the entire look. It’s a chrono, but you could easily wear this with a suit. At 44mm in diameter, it’s not a traditional, smaller sized dress watch, but it’s sleek enough that it could easily work with a dressed up outfit.

The dial is going to look a little confused to some. The hour hand comes to a sharp point, while the minute hand doesn’t. The sub-dial hands mimic the minute hand, while two of the three subdials are recessed, with the third… not. The font for the numerals is modern with some width to it, and while there’s a lot going on on its face, there’s still plenty of empty, visual space thanks to the grey background and silver hands/numerals (there’s no black outline to them in person, that’s just the way the light is hitting it in some of these pics).

It’s got a good weight to the case, the leather strap doesn’t feel plasticky or stiff out of the surprisingly solid presentation case, and setting the crown is decisive and crisp when you set the time + date. Water resistance is a not impressive 30M.

Fulfilled by Amazon at post time. Also available at the reduced price in a fast looking black/red/white color scheme, or at full price in black and silver over at Nordstrom.