Erroyl is a young Australian microbrand. The first time I heard about them, it was barely a year ago, when I discovered them on the Kickstarter website. They were collecting funds for their debut collection the E30 Heritage that I later took for a review. I was overall impressed with the result, especially, I really liked the dial and the packaging was remarkable for a small brand. The E30 Heritage was a great success and Erroyl never went back to Kickstarter with other watches, instead, they used their website to promote their new collections.

Back in November, we shared the news of an upcoming collection, the Regent, featuring a triple calendar complication. There are three versions of the Regent: the Aurum, with gold coated case, hands and indexes on a white dial; the Regent Nero with stainless steel case and indexes on a black panda dial; finally, the Regent Luna with stainless steel case, white dial and blue hands. Now that the pre-order period is over and Erroyl has started shipping out the first watches to early buyers, I had the opportunity to take a Regent Luna for a test drive and see how it compares to the E30 Heritage and other automatic triple calendar watches.

First impressions — the packaging

From time to time, I see the subject of packaging microbrand watches popping up on forums and Facebook groups. Some people argue that they would rather pay less for a watch and get the watch in a bubble-wrap envelope than have it in a presentation box. I don’t agree with this approach and the Erroyl Regent is the best example why. Even if the cost of a watch is not in the thousands, tens of thousands of dollars, or more, it is important that the first impression to be memorable, especially if that watch is offered as a gift.

In business, they say, a person has seven seconds to make an impression and I would argue, this is true for watches too. I mentioned earlier that I was impressed by the packaging of the first Erroyl model, the E30 Heritage, and with the Regent they raised the bar even higher. Before I would even see the watch, just as I was opening the box, it gave the impression that I’m handling a really high-end timepiece, something that came from an established European luxury brand and not a startup from Australia.

The first layer is a dark grey cardboard box, that holds a very elegant wood box with a black lacquer coating. Inside, the box is cushioned with white leather and it contains another module that holds the watch. Under the module lays the warranty card and a carefully designed user manual.

The dial

With the E30 Heritage, Erroyl took the path of dress watches with clean, easy-to-read dial. OK, the Heritage was easy, it was just a three-hands complication with a date, really not hard to keep it uncrowded. The Regent is a triple date calendar, requiring a lot more action on the dial, and yet, Erroyl managed to pack all the necessary information and even more, while staying true to their style.

First, there is a rail track that surrounds the circle of applied indexes and printed minutes and quarter of minutes track. At 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock the prism-shaped stainless steel indexes are replaced with small tetrahedrons pointing to the center of the watch. It’s a small detail, but it does makes the overall experience more engaging. As we get closer to the center, the flat dial gets Erroyl’s signature fine texture guilloché of concentric circles, creating the sunray effect that gives life to the dial.

The calendar has a bi-compax layout, with the days at 9 o’clock, the months at 3, while the date sits centered, just above 6 o’clock. The subdials and the date window don’t have any unnecessary black contours that I saw on other watches using this movement, the contrast is created with the textures and the different depths of the dial. The result is just as visible and helps with keeping the dial uncluttered.

The blue faceted lancette hands are among my favourite features of this dial. They offer great contrast for reading the time, and they introduce a bit of colour that you can take advantage of when matching your apparel to the watch.

The case and the strap

The curved lines of the case, remind me the Heritage line, here too, Erroyl sticks to its style guide. I don’t have to place the two watches next to each other to see that the Regent is a significantly larger. If the Heritage is a watch that both sexes can find appealing, the Regent is clearly a gentlemen’s watch, because its dimensions.

If there was enough place on the dial to make it uncluttered, it is also thanks to the diameter of 42 mm, which gives the Regent a considerable size on the wrist. In length, lug-to-lug, it’s 49 mm and for my wrist, as you can see from the pictures, it is borderline, but I never felt that it was too big. It would fit easily under my cuff, due to the rounded bezel that makes the 12 mm height feel even slimmer.

For the untrained eye, because of the two-register dial and the push button at 2 o’clock, the Regent looks like a chronograph. This push button actually serves to quickly change the month when adjusting the date. The hours, the day and the date are set with the crown that I found really easy to operate. The protrusion on the crown, decorated with the Erroyl logo looks like another push button, but it is purely ornamental, it serves no functional purpose.

The stamped screw-down back of the watch is decorated with the logo of the Regent collection. A rather nice touch that adds a sculptural element to the case, only for the eyes of the owner. It would have been even better if it was aligned with the lugs, but at this price point, I should not complain.

The soft Italian Crazy Horse strap is a real pleasure to touch. Even when I tried on the watch for the first time, I remember the pleasure of touching the velvety surface of the strap. The strap is equipped with a branded stainless steel butterfly clasp, that complements nicely to the dressy allure of the watch.

A bit about the movement and conclusions

The Regent is powered by the automatic Miyota 9122, that offers 40 hours of power reserve. I found the review model to be a bit noisy, but this is normal with Miyota movements, the way they are engineered, makes the rotor louder than on movements made by others. Nothing to worry about, take it as a subtle reminder that you have an automatic piece on your wrist.

A triple calendar is an interesting complication to have, especially if you are getting more serious about watches. When checking the time, it gives you the feeling that you have something special on your wrist, and at $573 CAD it is more affordable than an annual calendar. The way Erroyl designed the Regent, setting the date and adjusting the time is quite easy and in case you don’t wear it for a few days, adjusting it and getting it up and running won’t be too hard.

I really like the direction chosen by Erroyl from the very beginning and I’m even more happy to see that they keep going and building a clear design style and brand identity. With the Regent they got their feet wet with more interesting complications that require a more complex design. They managed to handle it properly, resulting in a superb timepiece, a real eye-catcher.

The Regent is a beautiful dress piece, a great candidate for someone who is passionate about watches, who wants something special without breaking the bank.

Technical specifications

MODEL: Regent Luna – E50RL.01

MOVEMENT: Triple Date (Day, Date & Month) – Japan Miyota Cal. 9122 Automatic and Hand Wound Movement, 26 Jewels and 28,800 Vibrations Per Hour

POWER RESERVE: More than 40 hours (manufacturer’s specifications)

CASE: 316L Stainless Steel (surgical grade)

CASE DIAMETER: 42mm

CASE THICKNESS: 12mm

CASE COLOUR: Stainless Steel

CASE BACK: Stamped

LUG WIDTH: 20mm

CRYSTAL: Flat Sapphire Crystal with Anti-reflective Coating (underside)

DIAL COLOUR: White (sunray effect)

HANDS: IP Blue Dauphine (faceted)

STRAP: Genuine Italian Crazy Horse Leather Strap

STRAP COLOUR: Black

STRAP WIDTH: 20mm/18mm (tapering)

BUCKLE: Butterfly Clasp (deployment buckle)

WATER RESISTANCE: 10ATM (100m)

WEIGHT: 98 grams

PACKAGING: Luxury Black Wooden Presentation Box

PRICE: $573 CAD / $410 USD (at the time of writing the review, prices might change depending on the AUD exchange rate)

WARRANTY: 2 years

REGENT COLLECTION

For more pictures, go to the our dedicated Facebook photo album: