Meccaniche Veloci Quatro Valvole Icon

Meccaniche Veloci

What’s that!?! Loosely translated from Italian to English, it means “fast engineering”. Founded in 2006, this young Italian brand decided to blend motor racing with watches by designing pieces to look like parts from racing cars. In some cases, Meccaniche Veloci have used the same materials as Brembo brakes for high performance sports and racing cars.

I spent this morning sampling Meccaniche Veloci from nearly every model line. Man, that was fun. I even brought one home to keep! More on that later.

The most distinctive and notable models from MV are the Quattro Valvole models with FOUR dials and FOUR movements! Ya gotta see these. Four individual watches on one dial powered by FOUR separate ETA movements. Wicked. My favorite one, all gunmetal grey, was stunning in its beauty. These higher end models are really impressive for the sheer quality of their dials, straps etc. Really, really nice. These are weekend toys — way too outlandish to wear to the office. But if you are looking for a cool mechanical piece that’s racy, unique and distinctive, then look no further. I have thick wrists — almost 7 1/2 inches. But these MV Quattro Valvove sit HUGE on even my wrists — they come in 48mm and 44mm and are thick, very high. They look like a motorcycle piston sitting on your wrist — which is the whole point, of course.

Meccaniche Veloci Corsacorta

When I started my MV sampling, I began with the base models- the 47.5mm ETA Unitas-powered Corsacorta models. I took one home! As I said, my wrists are thick and these pieces looked great on my wrists. The cases are thick, like pistons from an engine. Mine is all titanium. They have partially skeletonized dials which allow you to see view gears turning when winding the satisfying Unitas movement. The cut-out is shaped like a racetrack. This was a major cool factor for me. The straps are what got me at first- mine is like a suede and even the buckle is titanium. Some have a kind of rubbery leather with cool racy stitching in colour. Many colours, many variations. And they have exhibition casebacks which allow you to see the Unitas movement, which is a cool view. Most models have black cases and buckles, contrasted by bright, racy colours. Mine stands out a bit more in titanium- it has a real techno feel.

I tried some 44mm models which were all automatic. These did not suit me as well as the 47.5mm and I prefer manual movements anyway. But some of these 44mm models had awesome skeletonized dials where you see the entire date wheel exposed and you see all the gears move as you change the date. These were COOL and some had gorgeous colour schemes. I mean, this is striking and cool stuff.

Meccaniche Veloci Quatro Valvole 44 Chronograph

The other model that I nearly bought was a 44mm automatic chronograph. Big, cool, very techno-looking. But I stuck with the 47.5mm Corsacorta.

I have been wearing my MV all day. It feels great — the strap is soft and comfortable and the piece looks cool. It’s too early to comment on the accuracy etc, but it’s still telling the right time! I am not hoping for too much, but the Unitas is a rock-solid and dependable movement. We’ll see. One very bad design feature is the length of the minute hand- far too short relative to the hour hand. This ruins the legibility. But nothing is perfect.

So you know me. I wear Panerai. And my next target is a Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea retro chrono or a Rolex Datejust II. So why on earth did I acquire a Meccaniche Veloci? Well, first of all, you can get a KILLER deal on these pieces. Second, they just intrigued me. The techno look, the skeletonized dials, the materials, the ETA Unitas movements, the straps… the size. MV are simply fun. They’re just like a fun weekend toy. The wrist presence is great — I keep staring at my huge titanium case. Sometimes, you just feel like wearing something distinctive, something different and something interesting. I’ll strap on this MV for occasional situations. I plan to wear it to the office when I need something ‘new’ and something unique. I can’t wait to see my friends’ reactions — this piece does certainly make a statement.

TimeCaptain’s Corsacorta

When I was a kid, all I could dream about was owning a Ferrari. That seems unlikely today, but at least I now have a real Italian racing machine! It just happens to fit on my wrist!

I hope you enjoyed this review. If you are itching to make an acquisition, check out Meccaniche Veloci. Like myself, you will probably be very impressed and surprised… and you may take one home…

Yours truly,

TimeCaptain