Review: Horage Autark Hv

The good people at Horage have been doing their own thing since day one. The brand developed its own movement—that’s since been used as a base for brand’s like Bremont—and then developed its own tourbillon movement. And, it delivered them in unique cases with incredibly engaging dials. While Horage is ramping up for its release of the Supersede, with the brand-new K2 caliber, we thought it might be a good time to go hands-on with one of the models sporting the brand’s groundbreaking K1, the Horage Autark Hv. (You can learn more Horage and the K1 movement in our interview with the brand’s head of engineering, Jonas Nydegger.)

The first thing that jumps out at you about the Horage Autark Hv is the textured Gorge Blue dial, which can play a deep, flat blue, and then with an imperceptible tilt, reveal its gorgeous brushed finishing. The other standout for me is the blocky fixed bezel, a style I can’t recall seeing before. (I feel it’s a bit lazy to call the single-lug design a stand out as it’s so glaringly obvious.)

The Case

The Horage Autark Hv is rendered in grade 5 titanium, which is then blast hardened to 1100 Hv (Vickers hardness), 7.5 times that of steel, and from whence the model gets its name. True to the marketing, this case does not scratch, even if you want it to. The warm grey coloration unique to titanium provides a modicum of balance to the sharp intensity of the case. The channel that runs along both sides of the case and the crenellations of the fixed bezel (Which are unique to this model) seem to suggest a fortress, a visual reminder of the durability granted by the hardened titanium. The flat crystal furthers the clean design, while I found the screwdown crown a bit tough to unscrew, but easy to grip, and once out, easy to operate.

Despite its blocky—not chunky—design, the watch manages to wear well on the wrist. Given the dimensions and the angle of the lugs, this may sit awkwardly on large wrists, but it draped around my 7-in wrist without issue. The lugs are the same as both other Autark models, with a 22mm overall width, but just a 12mm for attachment between the lugs proper. This didn’t affect wearability, but with the leather strap, it did have the effect of making the 39mm case seem even smaller.

The Dial

The dial of the Horage Autark Hv seems to have been the last element considered. Legibility is fine for the most part, but there are several disparate aspects that don’t really add up. While the brushed Gorge Blue dial is absolutely stunning, as far as the other elements, I would’ve rather seen some iteration of the Autark T5 dial design (with larger hands and square indices). In my mind, this would’ve been more harmonious with the case design.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about exactly why the dial doesn’t work for me, and I think the biggest issue is the font. Now, this is a custom font that is just for Horage, and it does appear on some other models. And it’s not the entire font! It’s the serifs on the ones. They belie the boldness of the case and undermine the entire watch. Maybe you don’t care, but this is what I’ve identified as the root of the problem.

Before I point out something else I don’t like, I want to point out the perfect big date. It’s nicely framed, but most importantly, the discs are on the same plane. Even A. Lange & Söhne doesn’t do that (which is sloppy of them). But then there’s the hands, which are just undersized enough to have it be noticeable. On other Autark models, they are a bit thicker, and I think it makes a world of difference.

See how the rest of the dial is so nice without those dang serifs?

While the Arabic numerals on the Horage Autark Hv appear to be molded lume and as such shine quite nicely, the pips outside of them are quite small (and because of the numerals, unnecessary). The lume on the hands, though, verges on laughable. Only the very tips of the hands feature any lume application, and as such, they’re much more difficult to track than would be fully lumed hands. Low-light readability suffers as a result.

The Rest

There it is. The Horage K1 movement. Fully in-house—not some ETA clone. This is the lifeforce of Horage, make no mistake. Listen to our interview with Jonas Nydegger and you can tell the movements are the driving force of the company. The movement has a silicon escapement (if the dial didn’t give that away) that increases the power reserve to 65 hours and decreases service intervals (estimated at up to 10 years). It has a curious frequency of 3.5hz, which optimizes stability. It’s also modular, offering 5 specs with 18 different dial configurations.

The Horage Autark Hv comes with a run-of-the-mill leather strap that’s attached to the case with a single link (effectively, an adapter). I like the rectangular clasp and the (apparently patented) deployant mechanism wasn’t too long (as I’ve found other on other watches). I think this watch would look better on the bracelet that was optional on the limited Autark 10 Years; the abrupt transition to leather both eliminates the notion of flow and makes the case feel small. Also, because the tail of the watch buckles towards the wearer, it will stick out even on average wrists like mine; admittedly this is purely cosmetic, though I could see the strap getting caught on something.

Here’s the skinny: the dial base, as I said repeatedly, is unbelievable; the way it can shift from almost black with no texture to bright blue and brushed is some sort of sorcery. Some of the elements could use tweaking, and for that reason, I’d be more inclined toward the Autark T5 than this model, even though I prefer the crenellated bezel. All of these nits picked are rather subjective though—as far as quality is concerned, it’s almost impeccable, save for the lume issues.

On all Horage Autark casebacks, there’s an inscription that reads, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” I’m not one for slogans or caseback engravings, but this one clicked with me—do your best. I think Horage’s best is yet to come with the Supersede and whatever lay beyond, but the Horage Autark Hv is a compelling watch with plenty to offer.

You can learn more and order the Autark Hv (or any Autark) directly from Horage.