Perfection does not come easy in the watch world but when you make a steel watch in 38.5mm combined with a symmetrical sector dial and fire blued leaf hands you are pretty close. The Habring 2 Jumping Seconds Erwin TZ21 was created in collaboration with Managing Director William Messena of timezone.com to celebrate the 21st birthday (2016) of the website in 21 individually numbered pieces.

If you don’t know who Maria and Richard Habring are, you need to do some research. Hailing from a small town in Austria, they are an independent watch brand that makes around 200 watches per year. I’ll leave Richard’s importance to the watch world for your own research.

The TZ21 dial was inspired by the beautiful sector dials from the 1930’s and like true timeless design they are still beautiful and popular over 90 years later. The dial has a hand brushed silver centred section with a concentric track to house the quarter Arabic numerals. The way the light plays off the different finishes on the dial is something to behold. The printed midnight blue numerals are so thick; from different angles you could be confused thinking they had been applied.

Manual wind in-house Cal. A11MS has a “deadbeat seconds” or “jumping seconds” complication that beats away at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz) and a 48-hour power reserve. Fitted with an Amagnetic escapement, Carl Haas balance spring in chronometer quality, is shockproof and runs at +2 seconds per day.

The case is perfectly sized (38.5mm x 9mm) sharing both brushed and polished surfaces and the stepped bezel definitely adds some vintage flare.

I never thought I’d be lucky enough to come across the rare Habring 2 Jumping Seconds, which makes being one of the 21 owners feel even more fortunate. Wearing this watch is a real treat, a trifecta combination of vintage aesthetics, an old-world complication and modern technology.