The Awakening Chronograph from Draco London – Review

The Awakening – Draco London

Draco means dragon, and it has Latin and Greek origins as well.

The Legend of Draco tells you a story about a godlike figure who was once a dragon and became and transformed into a human. Draco lived before time was time, and after his death, as a winged serpent, he was hibernated for centuries. One day he woke up in a human form. That’s the first chapter, the „Awakening”.

Draco created watches with an alchemist from his old dragon body. An object that inspires the owner to chase what he loves the most in his life. The watch is also a reminder of our inner strength and the opportunities out there.
A bit weird story, but something you don’t hear every day!

I could talk more about the „The Legend of Draco” and the origin of this word, but the story would be way longer! You can read the whole story here.

I have always loved dragons since I was 4, so when I accidentally found this new microbrand I knew this is a must for me!

The Draco London is a new microbrand based in London, UK. Their first ever watch is the Awakening, which name is a witty choice.

The package in which the watch came was way better than I expected. The box and the garnish look like a high-end watch’s packaging. The piano lacquered presentation box with velvet sleeves is just mesmerizing!

There are three variants of the Awakening Chrono, gunmetal, steel and a sandblast version. I got the steel one.
There are three strap options available. An onyx black nylon, a sky grey leather, and an obsidian black leather strap.

I have to admit that I am wearing the Awakening Chronograph a lot! It is one of my daily beaters! With the butterfly clasp, it is super easy to take it on and off, and it also prevents the leather strap from wearing it out too soon.

On the clasp, there is a „Draco” sign. I got a black pebble-grain leather strap with a black butterfly clasp, which looks good and mysterious. But I saw on other straps there is a silver-colored option as well. Maybe a silver one would be in a bigger harmony with the steel case, but this one also looks good!

The 20mm strap is really comfortable. It is quite easy to change because of the quick-release strap which is becoming extremely popular nowadays. In this case, the little screws on the sides of the case are non-functional. They are aesthetically nice, but I don’t really like fake things. I prefer a real one or nothing.

The case is made from surgical grade 316l steel. It is well finished and nicely polished and brushed. The edges are not as smooth as I expected, and the lug ends are a bit sharp.
The diameter of the case is 41mm, the lug-to-lug size is 49mm and it is 11.3mm thick.

The case back is something special. You can see an excerpt from the Legend of Draco embossed on the back. It is quite unique. It makes the back a bit rough for your fingers when you touch it, but you can’t feel anything while you are wearing it on your wrist.

Personally, I like the engraved brushed steel tachymeter bezel, it looks great. Although, the edge of it should be a little smoother. It also has a gunmetal-colored telemeter on the chapter ring.

The dial looks incredible to me. It has 3 subdials, a 24-hour indicator on the right, and a 60-minute chronograph subdial at 9. The special thing is that it has a small seconds subdial at 6, which is not so common among watches with the Seiko VK64 Meca-Quartz movement.

It has applied polished hour markers, and between 4 and 5 you can find a date window. Not a usual place, but there was no other place to put it.

At 12 you can see the Draco logo, which looks incredible. This logo is only featured in the Awakening series, you won’t see it on other models.

The hands are polished steel with BGW9 Swiss Superlominova applied. The blue lume is pretty strong, as you can expect. It would be better if the hour marks also had some lume, but we can also be satisfied with this.

The chronograph hand is a bit more unique. It has a red-orange color, like a fire. The counterweight is a triangle which means fire in alchemy. So, I could call the chronograph hand „the dragon’s fire”!

The dial itself is magical. It has a manually painted semi-transparent dark grey dial. They call it „transformé” and when some light shines on it, you can clearly see the date ring and the movement. It reminds me of the Seiko Time Sonar from the ’70s.

As I mentioned before, the watch has a Seiko VK64 Meca-Quartz movement. It is a good choice, combining the accuracy of a quartz movement and the chronograph feature of a mechanical movement. Cheaper than an automatic movement but gives almost the same feeling.I hope they will produce a stupendous watch like this with an automatic movement as well.

The buttons are working well, but I don’t really like the crown. It feels like it needs some more material. But the design looks good. You can see an engraved triangle on it, which is in harmony with the counterweight.

The Awakening has 100m WR and a sapphire crystal. Great features, they are essential nowadays!

All of the variants are limited, only 100 pieces were made of each of them.
With the 250£ original prices, and with a reduced 180£ price it is almost unbeatable.

For this price, you get a limited watch with a great design, and an accurate chronograph movement as well. The whole thing looks like a much more expensive watch.

I am really looking forward to their next model, with this one they have won my heart!

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