Hands-On If Affordable Avant-Garde Is Your Thing, Baltic's Newest Prismic Watches Are Straight-Up Money

As I mentioned, the watch has a five-part case with brushed and polished lugs, bezel, and (display) case back edge, all made in stainless steel. The rest of the case is done in grade 5 grain-finished titanium, with 30m of water resistance. The watch has a domed sapphire, and the bezel edge has a mix of polished and brushed surfaces. Through that display caseback, you can see the manually-wound Peseux 7001 movement, keeping the watch both affordable and slim – only 2.5mm thick for the movement – and giving it 42 hours of power reserve. 

That thinness makes the watch 9.2mm thick overall (7.4mm discounting the glass which gives a sense of how the watch will sit against the wrist). You have a choice between an Italian calf leather strap for €990 or that mesh bracelet, with quick release, for €1,050. 

The star of the show, as is usually the case, is the dial. The center area is done in guilloché (as is the outside track), with a middle area near the indices in a circular brushed finish. The subsidiary seconds dial is grained, framed by a brushed steel ring. The watch has dauphine hands with brushing and polished chamfers. The indices are also polished and applied, and together, the watch has a very mid-century "cocktail watch" feel to it. The watch comes in purple, green, salmon, or an icy blue-grey dial option.

The Baltic Prismic is immediately open for preorder for the next 10 days (until February 25 at 10 am Eastern), and deliveries for the first orders will take place in July 2024. Subsequent orders will start being delivered in October 2024.

This new release really surprised me when I saw a brief preview of it late last year. The wild combination of textures and bold indices on the dial seem pretty far outside the box compared to past releases from Baltic, which I often associate more with affordable utilitarian releases (despite the fact I own one of their MR-01 dress watches). Their press photos also had a very prismatic Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" vibe. You could say it's not just another brick in the wall – okay, wrong album. But in a world where affordable watches can often start to trend toward a very bland aesthetic, this was a big surprise.

From design to value, there's a lot to unpack here. Frankly, I wasn't quite sure how the package would all come together and was curious to spend a little more time with the design. Baltic was kind enough to get pre-production samples of each dial variant to photograph in person ahead of today's announcement. There are a few things that will change, like the spacing of the caseback screws, but the premise is all there in the metal. Baltic releases always feel solid for the price point, so I can understand why they'd want to experiment. I mean, why not go all-in with some different finishing techniques and create a watch that really surprises people? Certainly, the design is quite an interesting idea, but it doesn't come out of nowhere.

The watch plays off a lot of cues from the 1950s. My mind immediately jumped to watches like the Patek ref. 2549 (and 2550) "Disco Volante" with its shaped lugs and, more appropriately as a comparison here, applied indices on a dial with mixed finishing. The combination of bold pyramid indices, guilloché, and brushed surfaces with the sector seconds design is – well, to put it mildly – a lot. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but it's started to grow on me as I've revisited it. The watch certainly works better in certain colors. The blue-grey feels very muted in person when viewed next to the other watches (though works fine on it’s okay), and the purple is far too bold for me (though maybe that's your cup of tea). The green, however, seems perfectly balanced and works well with the mesh bracelet, and the salmon dial is plenty classic. As a lover of the 2549, I would have loved it if Baltic had gone all-out with a shaped case that created an even bolder package, but as an entry-level watch, it certainly makes sense.

Now, for some inexplicable reason, I am a bracelet nerd, so one of the best little features of this watch is the inclusion of a stainless steel mesh bracelet, which is pretty uncommon on modern releases and again leans into the mid-century vibe of the watch. You might recognize this bracelet from Baltic's Only Watch release in 2023, which also featured a stunning purple dial. It's also reminiscent of the bracelet on Omega's No Time To Die Seamaster. If you want to upgrade your Seamaster from NATO to mesh, it would cost you more than the Baltic Prismic would alone. 

The mesh here slips through a tension clasp that closes to hold it in place (unfortunately, there's no deployant buckle as you find on the NTTD). While I've heard people complain about other mesh bracelets and the extra "tail" pressing against the inside of their wrists, that's not the case here. Between the thin case and super comfortable strap, the watch feels molded to my wrist and is a joy to wear. That's a breath of fresh air for the price on the market. The Italian leather strap isn't a slouch either and is certainly a good option if the mesh is a little loud, but whether you're buying a Baltic or a Black Bay 58, I always encourage folks to start with the bracelet and swap it out later if you want.

There's a lot to love on paper, but I'm not sure yet if I plan to add this to my collection. I have a hard time imagining how it would fit into my collection, and I have a few things I would have changed in the design. And that’s fair. It's not like every brand is going to make every watch expressly to my taste, and that's just fine. Maybe I don’t make sense – after all if someone offered me the only publicly known Patek ref. 2549R-1, I'd be all over it. But regardless of your taste, the real question is how it works in execution. There's certainly plenty to like (and I'm sure they'll have no problems with their die-hard fans), but here are a few things I think could be refined in the future.

As I said, some dial variants of the new Prismic work better than others. But I also think that there are a few other brands that have proven themselves competitive at the price point, especially when it comes to creative design and high-value finishing at an affordable level. Here, the mix of steel and titanium on the Prismic presents theoretical additional value by mixing case materials and finishing. It certainly looks just fine on the wrist and from a distance. But when I got a bit closer, I found that with so much going on for the case, none of it stands out – there's almost too much going on. You could say the same goes for the dial, with the middle track holding back the more interesting finishes on the dial. If you look back to the same example I keep repeating, Patek only mixed two different finishes on their dials. Maybe less is more. And while the Peseux 7001 is a workhorse movement, it certainly looks like it is in construction, so maybe the display case back was a little unnecessary. All that said, it's important to remember that this is such an extremely affordably priced release.

I own a number of Baltic watches right now and find what they're doing with the MR01, Hermétique, Aquascaphe, and Tri-Compax lines a better expression of what they're good at. But variety, as they say, is the spice of life, and I definitely appreciate an outside-the-box alternative take on a vintage watch that few (if any) other brands are doing right now. Over my few days with the watch, it's certainly grown on me. I can see the appeal, and we can't take for granted any creativity shown here. If anything, this should be a kick in the pants for other brands to get more affordable and incentive ideas on the market. We certainly need them.

Brand: Baltic
Model: Prismic

Diameter: 36mm
Thickness: 9.2mm
Case Material: 316L Steel and Grade 5 Titanium
Dial Color: Guilloché dial in green, salmon, purple, or blue-grey. Brushed exterior sector; grainy seconds subdial with brushed steel cerclage; Brushed dauphine hands with polished chamfers
Indexes: Polished and applied indexes
Lume: None
Water Resistance: 30m
Strap/Bracelet: 20m lug width with Italian calf leather strap or steel mesh bracelet

Caliber: ETA Peseux 7001
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Winding: Manual
Additional Details: Bevels diamond polishing, Côtes de Genève on the bridges, Soleillage of ratchet and crown wheel, Blued screws, Beading of the main plate balance wheel

Price: €990 on strap, €1050 on metal bracelet
Availability: Preorders open February 15 at 4 pm UTC+1 and run until February 25 at 4 pm UTC+1; delivery of the first orders starts in July 2024; the following orders will be delivered in October 2024 or later
Limited Edition: No

For more, click here.