Let me say this right up front: The RocK, by Dutch upstart Stuckx,
is an insane watch. Not mildly eccentric, slightly out of step, or a
little off-kilter, but straight up, balls out, batshit crazy. I will now
spend the rest of the review explaining why that is so damned cool.
The fellows at Stuckx do not believe
in playing it safe. Their first two ventures explore daredevil design
in two very different ways. The Bull (review coming soon) draws from the
wild colors and bold graphics of 1970's car culture. The RocK is all
about the fetishisation of diving instruments, taking it beyond all
practical limits. To this end, it is big (44.8mm
wide at the bezel, 52mm long, and a towering 21mm thick to be precise),
and it is tough, boasting a 6mm sapphire crystal with an internal
anti-reflective coating, a 4mm screw-in case back, and 1000 meters water
resistance.
Stephan
of Stuckx sent me The RocK Executor model, distinguished by its black
and grey color scheme and presumably its legal authority to administer
the financial affairs of your estate after you die. I was
prepared to hate it. I could see where they were going, and understood
that it was a statement more than a practical diver's watch, but I could
not get past its bizarre proportions. Photos of a pre-prototype mock up
looking for all the world like a block of soap on a NATO strap did not
help. I really wondered what the hell they were thinking. And yet there
was nothing garish or amateurish about the design. I was fascinated.
Naturally, when they offered me a turn with the prototype, I jumped at
the chance, and I'm glad that I did.
The case is constructed of grade 2 titanium, sandblasted, and finished with a sinister black DLC coating. It is wider
at the base than at the bezel, creating a slightly conical profile that
I find more visually satisfying than a slab-sided cylinder. Deep arches
extend across the bottom, allowing it to wrap your wrist. It has no lugs per se, but broad slots in the outer edges to accommodate a 24mm wide, 3mm thick leather Zulu strap. There is no disguising its bulk, but the lightweight metal and sculpted underside make this brute far more wearable. It is not at all uncomfortable, even on my spindly 6.5" wrist.
