In our often gloomy world, we need to find ways to keep our spirits up. Some do so by increasing their consumption of alcoholic beverages and illegal substances, buying expensive sports cars, building a new house, or seeking thrill-inducing activities. And some of us—“us” being understood as being a part of the world population—delight in researching, buying, wearing, photographing, and discussing watches. And within this niche community exists sub-communities who find the utmost pleasure wearing specific types of watches; or acquiring ones made for a specific purpose. (I’m guilty of the latter.) For example, field watches designed for exploration, adventure, and simplified timekeeping—depending on who you are and how you see the world.

One could argue that field watches are the most difficult types of watches to recreate, bring back to style, and modernize given their inherent visual simplicity and mechanical straightforwardness. I’ve reviewed quite a few field watches in the past three years (since I started Mainspring,) and today’s model defines a new standard for this type of timekeeping device. Yes, I’m coming to you with another bold claim today but one which I will be happy to defend in this review. The protagonist of this article is the RZE Urbanist, a recent release from the Singapore-based brand that seems to have unfairly flown under the radar of many watch enthusiasts. Let us rectify this wrong.

Specifications 

Historically—and rightfully so according to yours truly—field watches were smaller 80 years ago than they currently are. Case diameters oscillated between 30 to 35mm in general, whilst today it is common to see field watches coming in with diameters of 38 to 41mm. For one reason or another, “bigger” equals “modern” in the minds of many. As if everything that we buy and use should get bigger and bigger each year. Just like our homes, cars, and carbon dioxide footprint increases annually. It doesn’t make sense to me as it doesn’t always feel natural to wear a large watch on the wrist, especially when looking at those as purpose-driven and simple looking as field watches. You might know that my favorite timepiece is the 32mm Praesidus A-11 Type 44 which comes with the perfect dimensions for its intended purpose and design. 

By the way, I’m not discriminating against any diameter as I myself often wear a 41mm diver. What I’m trying to convey here is this: given its intended use, a 35mm field watch makes more sense than a 40mm one as there are only three hands and Arabic numeral hour markers to display. (If the dial is well laid-out, you don’t need a larger dial opening to be able to easily read the time.) Conversely, a 41mm diver like the Tornek-Rayville Type 7B “BlakJak” makes sense given the 200m water resistance, the rotating bezel, the need for larger hour markers to accommodate for more lume, and an overall more robust construction to withstand the environments such watch is supposed to operate within. Am I making sense? 

So, let’s take a look at the RZE Urbanist. It comes with a “contemporary” diameter of 36mm (get the pun?), a lug-to-lug of 42mm, a thickness of 11mm, and a lug width of 18mm. Just like it is true for all RZE models, the case is made of UltraHex (= hardened) grade 2 titanium (up to ~1200Hv on the Vickers’ hardness scale,) a boxed sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating, loads of lume, good water resistance (100m), a screw-down crown and case-back. Note the DLC-coated crown which therefore looks black and adds a little je-ne-sais-quoi to the overall look of the Urbanist. This model is equipped with a solar-powered Miyota quartz caliber ref. 2070 which, therefore, comes with virtually unlimited battery life. 

Before we move onto the design of the Urbanist, you should know that RZE offers five (5) versions of this model: Onyx (black,) Metropolis (blue,) and Medallion Yellow on hardened titanium cases, as well as Prairie Tan and Lodgepole Pine on Cerakote titanium cases. The Prairie Tan is a limited edition made as a tribute to STARS, a Western Canadian air-ambulance service that provides urgent care in rural, remote, and indigenous communities. While the Lodgepole Pine was created in collaboration with Project Forest in charge of reforesting interior British Columbia and Alberta. In both cases, 15% of each sale is rerouted to the respective organizations. That’s neat and I applaud RZE for doing this with an attainable field watch. 

Design 

Yes, the Urbanist is a toolwatch through and through. Just like I like them. Its dial has a straight forward layout with three-dimensional Arabic numerals for the hour markers (which indicates, as you imagine, insane quantities of lume,) an inner 24-hour military track, lume plots at the 5-minute increments printed on the slightly recessed minute track, and a handset which I would describe as being “typical RZE”: somewhat large obelisk-shaped hour and minute hands with white surrounds, endowed with generous applications of lume, and a simple seconds hand equipped with a lumed, arrow-shaped apparatus at its tip. All of these elements contrast superbly with the deep, matte black dial which comes with one trick up its sleeve. 

Indeed, the Urbanist is the first solar-powered watch I’ve come across where the central portion of the dial has a sandy texture. That is due to the fact that the solar cells are built-in within the minute track. A clever design and engineering detail which guarantees that the Urbanist is ultra-legible and pleasant to look at. (In my experience, solar-powered watches generally come with blend dial finishings, so to speak.) In good RZE fashion, we find an angular case with discreet crown guards, straight-cut lugs, and a twelve-sided fixed bezel which adds visual interest. I appreciate how the DLC crown matches the dial whilst standing out from the case. Again, I feel you get a lot of watch for what the small price you pay for—which I’ll discuss in a minute. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that RZE created what I feel confident to describe as being a new standard for field watches: small, robust, legible, unique looking, straightforward and easy to use which anyone can acquire without breaking the bank. Indeed, the Urbanist retails for $259 USD for the hardened titanium variants (the black, blue, and yellow dials) and $279 USD for the Cerakote variants (tan and black/green.) All of this humble wad of cash for a no nonsense watch made of hardened titanium, sapphire crystal, great lume, 100 meters of water resistance, and a brain-free solar powered quartz movement. What else do you actually need? And I often ask myself this question given my job and obsession for timekeeping devices. 

While there is no shortage of affordable, grab-and-go watches on the market today, whether you’re looking at the good old Casio F91W, any G-Shock’s you can think of, and the dozens of iterations of the Dirty Dozen and Vietnam War-era field watches, what RZE did particularly well here is to offer a sensible, direct, and complete little package that does look more RZE than it looks Hamilton, Timor, or Vertex. And the brand was able to pull this off by transferring its now tried and tested design language into a popular, ubiquitous type of tool watch. And that is true also of other recent releases from RZE: the Resolute Pro, Fortitude GMT, and Valour 38. 

Again, I believe the Urbanist sets a new standard for field watches because we haven’t seen this combination of dimensions, materials, and price before. But, as it sometimes happens, I may be wrong. (Spoiler: I’m not but please do prove me wrong.) 

Conclusion 

To the best of my knowledge, RZE has never released a watch that retailed for more than $1,000 USD. Their collections tend to range between $400 to $700 USD on average, and whichever model form the brand you look at, you always get what you pay for and some more. RZE saw an opportunity to reach out to the young and budding watch enthusiasts who have limited budgets and a preference for acquiring a simple and reliable first watch. And that is what the Urbanist is, and more. For $259/$279 USD you get a great field watch which dimensions and tech will work for many. And, if that is something that matters to you, you also do some good to the world by purchasing an Urbanist. 

So you know, the five models of the Urbanist are currently available for pre-order on the brand’s website with an estimated delivery of August/September 2024. 

Thanks for reading.