Just the other day I was thinking that although I adore military-style watches I’m not in the military myself and that field/exploration watches fit me better. Who I actually am and what I actually do. Clearly, field watches are military watches but when I put the words “field” and “exploration” next to each other, I refer to adventure watches à la Rolex Explorer 1 or Nivada Grenchen Antarctic 35mm. Watches for explorers, adventurers, or anyone who aspires to be either thing. These types of watches generally come with a 3-6-9-12 dial layout which strikes the perfect visual and practical balance between the utilitarian and the everyday type of horology. And there are loads of homages of this type of watches but few actual new ones. 

Baltic, a French independent brand now known the world over, released its own version of a field watch a while back called the Hermétique Tourer. A very Baltic-esque watch with a design of its own, an elegant case profile, and a set of good specs for under $1,000. In some ways, this is the most “Baltic” watch I’ve seen from the brand in a while, paying homage to its own first collection the HMS01 with a straightforward dial layout and tight Arabic numerals. But in other ways, it’s also a very different animal, a sophisticated one, one which borrows design cues from many vintage timepieces and contemporary horology just the same. So a mix of many things that result in a unique model which is more interesting upon close inspection than I originally thought. 

Specifications 

Baltic watches tend to always come with average dimensions which make them appropriate for many people and various wrist sizes. And dimensions, I would add, which always give Baltic models an extra edge. Because the Hermétique Tourer would have looked odd either smaller or larger. So it’s visually, and dimensionally, well-proportioned with a case coming in with a diameter of 37mm, a lug-to-lug of 46mm, a total thickness of 10.8mm and a lug width of 20mm. I think it looks darn good on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist, at home on it like a 34mm Praesidus A-11 also does. Because it’s not always about dimensions but also about how they relate to the design of the case and dial. What some brands don’t get right are the proportions of all of this, proportions which are to me perfect here “for this style of watch.” 

I do know what the latter sentence means but at the same time I don’t. I just like to say it. 

Being a modern field/exploration watch, the Baltic Hermétique Tourer comes with a more than reasonable 150 meters of water resistance (push/pull crown and screw-down case-back) cracking lume, a double dome sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating, a long and elegant dual-finished case (more on that later,) and a Premium Miyota 9039 caliber (4Hz/42 hours of power reserve.) One has several options for fastening mechanisms, from multiple tropic straps to beads-of-rice or flat-link bracelets. The BoR option endows the Hermétique Tourer with the strongest Ian Fleming Explorer 1 vibes which is totally my vibe. The tropic strap option will set you back $580 and the bracelet one $649 (tax excluded.) While either amounts do constitute a lot of money to spend on a watch, either is reasonable for what you get here. 

Design

But more than its specs, it is the Baltic Hermétique Tourer’s design that sets it apart from the pack. (Though combined with the specs you do understand what makes this model so compelling.) A therefore small pack of brands that make modern and bespoke interpretations of field/exploration watches as I mentioned in the introduction. My first impressions of this model made me think of a perhaps bizarre analogy. I imagined what would a Ford Mustang Shelby look like in 2024 if Ford had decided to modernize the original design—meaning the manufacturer would have stopped making Shelby’s for a few decades and instead, today, sift through its old catalogs to bring back its first iteration, in the same way watch brands revive old references. I think we would have gotten the equivalent of what a 1960 Baltic Hermétique Tourer would have looked like then and now. (Or what a 1960s Explorer 1 would have looked like today should it not have become the recipient of fancy materials.) 

So one of the key visual details of the Baltic is the 3-6-9-12 layout and how the brand blended it with yesteryear field watch design traits. On the periphery of the dial we find a traditional looking railroad minute track which hearkens back to World War II-era military watches. Naturally, the applied hour markers sit across the main section of the dial and minute track and pair well with the handset. But here we have a little something special going on that I've never seen before: a polished ring which separates the minute track from the rest of the dial, and one which creates a divot between the two. Actually, it appears as though the dial is made of two parts, each coming with a polished surround which, put together, creates a divot or a ditch. It’s impossible to see this with the naked eye, only with a micro lens or loupe. But it’s the type of design element which contributes to making the Baltic Hermétique Tourer look different and special. 

I tried my best to show in pictures the metal divot and how the applied hour markers cross over it. It’s fascinating. 

Moving on. I do also appreciate the fully polished syringe-style hour and minute hands and how nicely they contrast with the finely textured matte brown dial. (The Hermétique Tourer comes in green, beige, and blue versions too.) The handset does look classic, especially the seconds hand with the lumed lollipop element, and if it weren’t for their lumecast construction, the Arabic numerals would also look classic. Indeed, the numerals at the cardinal points and how they visually contrast with the baton-style markers is nothing new, but yet again Baltic went a step further by adding circular applied markers next to the numerals to create visual symmetry and guarantee superlative legibility. In other words, the dial is outstanding and full of Easter Eggs which I didn’t know I would encounter at first. 

Lastly, the case. The latter comes with the classic Baltic step-case construction which looked good half a century ago just as it still does today. The flanks are perfectly vertical and symmetrical as the narrow crown seamlessly integrates within the case (though it is quite easy to wind and operate, should you ask!) I particularly appreciate the thin and elongated profile of the case, its drilled lugs, and how the latter seem to flare out just a bit at their end. The Baltic Hermétique Tourer looks great on the matching brown tropic rubber strap and I bet it looks outstanding on a bracelet too. And the dual-finished case does make the Hermétique Tourer look both tooly and elegant whenever necessary by creating gentle light plays. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that Baltic created a modern field watch that is too different to ignore. (A string of words I borrowed from Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens.) In some aspects we find ourselves nose-to-nose with a classic field watch, but upon closer inspection we quickly understand that nothing about it this model is actually classic. True, syringe-style hour and minute hands are nothing new; Arabic numerals at the cardinal points are nothing new; the step-case construction is nothing new. But put together with a dash of “classic” Baltic design we do get a unique model. And I would have said so even if Baltic didn’t go as far as adding the polished rings in-between the minute track and main section of the dial, or built the hour markers so that they appear like small bridges crossing a metal river. 

There is therefore a lot of stuff to talk about here which I haven’t seen before. And yes I used the magic word “unique” more than a few times in this review because it was necessary to do so. 

Conclusion 

For as little as $580 you get yourself a well-spec’ed and unique looking field/exploration watch. One which comes with a character of its own, a few interesting design tricks up its sleeves, and one created by a brand that comes with its own decade-long heritage of making vintage-inspired tool and sport watches. Although there aren’t many bespoke field/exploration watches on the market today, the competition nevertheless seems to be fierce as our single-minded brains are convinced that we shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money for this type of timekeeping device. But, again I would argue that $580/$649 is not a lot of money to depart with for such a neat horological creation. 

I suggest taking a look at the full range of the Baltic Hermétique Tourer on the brand’s website here. 

Thanks for reading.