Lima Meca 03

Indonesia, a beautiful country known for their amazing food, warm people, great coffee and I could simply go on. One thing I hadn’t anticipated and was really excited when I found an Indonesian watch company, Lima Watch. This excited me, as I am always on the lookout for new watch brands or companies especially those from South East Asia. So when I was first introduced to Lima watches I was ecstatic. Lima has been around since 2014 and I am a little late to the game but better late than never.

So if you are reading this and know of more South East Asian watch brands, be a pal and do let me know.

Back to Lima, the founder of the brand has a background in design and with that you can see a little whimsical aspects of a designer’s mind at work in their range of watches. A tad bit Nordic, minimalistic, vintage and while keeping some traditional aspects of Indonesian design is what I feel encapsulates the brand that is Lima.

Meca-03, when it arrived at my doorstep I was immediately taken back to my youth. The box it came in had me totally reminisce of a time of brightly coloured cardboard boxes with elaborate over the top cartoonish drawings and jarringly bright coloured words to go along. Was this a toy, was it intended to be light hearted or was it just to take us back to a simpler time where we enjoyed what was in the box no matter the price or condition. I really enjoyed this fun and light hearted approach to a watch by Lima.

Carrying on with the toy themed style, the instructions and specifications came in a line card styled instruction manual which is a nice added touch.

As we move along to the watch, it has minimalist written all over it. The dial has a very interesting layout, where there is an inner circle showcasing in red 60 markers with 5 minute or second intervals however you want to look at it. Keeping this compacted into the centre of the dial surprisingly does not make it look cluttered but actually plays nicely to give a subtle effect that makes the dial still looking somewhat minimalistic. I suppose due to the creators design background he has an understanding of balancing the right amount of colours and layout to keep it looking minimal yet with a good amount of details.

To showcase the dial as a focal point, there is no bezel but just a polished case all round. This gives the watch a very old styled vintage feel, reminding me of the old Seiko 5s which have no bezel. Specifically, the Seiko 6619-8230 comes to mind.

As we move along to the strap, again in muted colours that gives of a similar old styled finishing and somewhat unassuming.

A real fun part of this piece is it’s playfulness in trying to pass itself of as a toy from the 60s perhaps. The makers of this watch have opted to despite making it feel like a bit of a novelty still remind you that they do understand watches and have not gone with just a quartz but have fitted the Meca-03 with an automatic movement, a Seiko NH35 no less, an extremely reliable one.

Moving back to the fun side of things, Lima has opted for a hexagonal shaped hole for their crown. In what that seemingly looks like a bolt that needs an Allen key to tighten something in place. It is actually done on purpose, as this piece comes with a manual winding key. I must say, the manual winding key is so fun and at the same time intriguing as this is something I’ve never expected to see come with a watch. It adds a little bit of a fun dimension taking away some seriousness we all sometimes come expect or subconsciously anticipate from a watch.

Lima has as well opted for an exhibition case back showcasing the ‘Lima’ name etched onto the movement. A blue toy car with the words Meca-03 which are similar to the one on the box is printed onto the transparent case back.

I am glad to have this fun and South East Asian made piece in my collection and am glad the makers behind the watch have gone ahead to have some fun yet creating a piece that is practical and is sure to run well with its Japanese movement. Overall, it looks and feels good and even come with a serious NH35 movement. I am impressed with the right about of fun and yet still keeping it serious enough to be a proper everyday watch.