If I could kind of “reset” my watch buying habits and start from scratch, I might look into a collection of (only) watches with a slide rule (there is more about my love of slide rules in the review of my Navitimer). There are so many very cool slide rule watches out there, such as the Sinn 903 or my favorite, the Megapod (which does not only feature a slide rule, but also a brilliant design and a superb bracelet). But I’ve gone another direction and my funds don’t allow me to just purchase anything I find worth collecting … However, when I came across the Caliper Timepieces Sliderule on Kickstarter (the first time I ever supported a campaign there), this was so accessible yet appealing, that I had to get it.

The Caliper Sliderule is basically a simple three hand watch, based on a Miyota movement, just as with many micro brands / kickstarter projects. What makes it different – and interesting for me – is the slide rule bezel, which can be turned using the crown at 4. This is (like the “normal” crown at 2) a screw down crown, so you have to unscrew it, before you can use the slide rule. This may sound impractical, but it has two advantages: first, of course, this supports the 10 bar waterproof design and also you can fix a certain calculation, so that it can’t be altered accidentally. Very practical for currency calculations, for example: just set it to the exchange rate once, and – magic – you can read every conversion you need.

The Sinn 903 Navitimer has the 60 and 36 markings in red, according to the tradition of flying, as these numbers are needed to convert between hours, minutes and seconds, which was obviously important to the pilots. The Caliper Slide Rule, on the other hand, has marked Pi in accordance with the engineering tradition, as was taken for granted on the classic slide rules. No one will probably ever need this, but it is somehow (in a nerdy way) cool. Also the clarity/readability of the Caliper slide rule is much better due to the fact, that not the 6, but the 1, is on top. Accordingly, the slide-rule scale of the Caliper is kept simple and clear without coloring etc., just as with the original slide rules, which kept them very functional. (Did I already mention that I was the one who suggested the Pi-thing in the creation process via Kickstarter? In this sense, this is even more “my” watch :-))

What I didn’t like about the Caliper Timepieces Sliderule, was the standard mesh bracelet. Not that it was really bad, but it was very simple and it can be found on many other watches in this price range. I quickly replaced it with a rally type strap from german company Di-Modell. It was only available with red stitching, so I asked, if they would be prepared to make a special version just for me. It cost a whopping extra 6€ and I got it in the matching orange. Caliper Timepieces is the brainchild of Mikael Sandblom, a Toronto based architect and artist. As far as I understand this is a real micro brand, i. e. a one man show. The most recent product is a second issue of the slide rule watch, which imho looks even better – and Mikael decided for various reasons to relocate the production from the far east to Germany. The new version only has a quartz movement, which is a shame, but  it prevented me from buying a watch which is nearly identical to the one I have already.