Stone dials are everywhere right now, and whenever the watch industry collectively decides that a material is having its moment, things can get repetitive pretty quickly. Still, Brew’s new Retrograph Stone Blend Automatic caught our eye because there’s a nice, coherent idea behind the dial.
Brew is using pietersite, a natural stone known for its swirling mix of browns, golds, blues, and greys. The inspiration here comes from watching milk mix into cold brew coffee, which sounds like the sort of thing that could get painfully cute in a press release.
A lot of this comes down to Brew simply being Brew. Coffee has been baked into the brand’s identity from the beginning, and other models have even included a timing scale tied to pulling an espresso shot. Here, pietersite gives Brew another way to explore that idea visually. Each dial will also be different thanks to the natural variation in the stone.
At first glance, I think this is one of the more convincing uses of a stone dial we’ve seen lately. There’s an actual connection between the material, the design, and the brand making the watch. The other big change is sitting behind the dial. Brew has dropped the familiar meca-quartz setup and fitted the Stone Blend with a Miyota 9015 automatic movement. You can see it through a sapphire exhibition caseback, complete with a half-moon opening and three coffee beans engraved into the rotor.
Personally, I’ll always gravitate toward the standard quartz Retrograph. There’s something charming about the meca-quartz chronograph and its connection to the original espresso-timing concept. Still, I don’t think Brew is trying to replace that watch here. The Stone Blend feels more like a premium branch of the Retrograph family aimed at a pretty specific buyer.
The case should remain approachable at 38mm wide, 41.5mm lug-to-lug, and 10.4mm thick. It’s stainless steel with gold PVD, paired with a brown pebble-grain leather strap, and water resistance comes in at 50 meters. Then there’s the $775 price.
That’s going to be the sticking point for some people, especially when a standard Retrograph comes in at $375. However, I think the price is fair. You’re getting the natural pietersite dial, an automatic movement, sapphire exhibition caseback, gold PVD case treatment, and a production run limited to 250 pieces. This is clearly Brew exploring the upper end of what the Retrograph can be. On top of it all, this feels way more affordable than some of the other “micro” stone dial watches we’ve seen this year so far.
And Brew is one of those brands we’ve always enjoyed following here at TBWS. We’ve reviewed their watches before, and part of the appeal has been seeing how Jonathan Ferrer continues to evolve these familiar designs without completely abandoning what made them interesting in the first place.
I think the Retrograph Stone Blend is another interesting experiment in that progression. Some Brew fans will probably take one look at $775 and stick with the quartz models. Fair enough. I suspect there are also 250 people who will see that pietersite dial and have a very different reaction. I wouldn’t count on these hanging around for very long.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.