We don’t get many quartz watches through our doors here at The Watch Clicker, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love them. I’ll admit that I am a sucker for a small second quartz watch. While I love the smooth sweep of mechanical watches, the small seconds quartz watch allows that to fade away to the back of my mind and I can simply enjoy the watch for what it is. Today we’re looking at the Waldan Heritage Professional which features such a complication.
Waldan had somehow flown right under my radar for a couple of years until I spotted them on Instagram. After reading more about them and I saw on their website that they say they are “the best kept secret” in the world of fine watchmaking. I was more surprised to learn that they have been around for over 35 years, the secret was certainly kept from me.
I immediately loved the looks of their Heritage line. Clean, simple, and affordable. But, does the build quality match up to their looks? Is the Heritage Professional worth a small investment to have a smart looking grab-and-go watch? Let’s find out.
On the Wrist
The Heritage Professional, which is comprised of a few dial colors with a similar layout, hits the sweet spot for a dressy sport watch with a quartz movement. 40mm wide, only 8.6mm thick (and 7.5mm wrist-to-crystal) with a lug-to-lug of mm is sure to please a variety of wrist sizes. Even though the watch is almost all dial, the fixed bezel does its part to break up the width of the case so the proportions feel right on the wrist.
One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of thin watches, quartz or mechanical, is that the lug design is important. Of course, lug design is important on any watch, but on a thin watch, the lugs need to have some character to them as well as a little bit of a turndown otherwise it looks like a little pancake on the wrist. I’m going to touch the design theme of the lugs in a little but, the Heritage Professional’s lugs elegantly turndown so the watch feels like an extension of the wrist instead of an unwanted addition.
Where does the Heritage Professional fit into a collection? For me, it is a perfect example of a grab-and-go watch that will be perfect in any occasion except jumping in the water (as it has 50m of water resistance). Grab-and-go is more than “I don’t have to set my watch.” There are plenty of people who coordinate their watches to their outfits, or vise versa. The Heritage Professional gives you the ability to not only throw it on without having to wind and set it, but it will match with just about any outfit you have on. That is true grab-and-go.
Waldan Heritage Professional Video Review
Dial Details
The dial of the Heritage Professional is an amalgamation of dress and sport in a way that complements each without leaning too far into one category or another. The leaf-style hands are polished and class up the dial while the white applied numerals with flanking lume plots add a touch of sport to the dial. There is a fine line being walked by Waldan here but they have stayed on track.
The aforementioned lume plots sit within a white outer ring that breaks up the dial and keeps it from looking stark black. This provides nice contrast and even more so on the other dial colors (especially the brighter colored dials).
The small seconds subdial is placed at 6 o’clock with a red accented seconds hand. Printed below the subdial is Ameriquartz, the brand that makes the movement ticking away inside the Heritage Professional. I don’t particularly like the placement of this text, or at least the style of it. If the text was curved to complement the subdial it would have given it a more cohesive look. If this wasn’t possible, placing it with the text below 6 o’clock may have worked also.
Case & Strap
Waldan is based in New York and the connections to the city are apparent in some of the Art Deco design elements on the Heritage Professional. The lugs have a nice turndown to them as I mentioned before, but the elegant shape and design of the lugs is worth taking a closer look at. On the side of each lug is a small bump out that matches the shape of the lug and made me think of the top of the Chrysler Building.
This is carried on to the bezel is well. The bezel features a double step that keeps it from looking too plain. Small design elements like this often look effortless when looking at the watch, but when you take in the design of the entire case the intention of the design shines through a little brighter. Design elements like this don’t often find their way on to more affordable watches and I’m glad to see Waldan doing it.
Included with the Heritage Professional is a no-nonsense black leather strap. It suits the watch well and was supple and conformed to my wrist just fine out of the box. I wouldn’t mind seeing Waldan offer some different options, like a Milanese band. With that said, it is hard to argue with a perfectly serviceable leather strap that keeps the affordability of the watch in check.
Final Thoughts
Having no preconceptions about Waldan before the watch arrived on my doorstep for review, I wasn’t sure what to expect. There are certainly ways to muck up a quartz sports watch, but Waldan hasn’t done that here. They’ve given some style to this category of watch that I feel is lacking from other brands. The Heritage Professional’s name captures that perfectly. It bakes in some of the styling of the brand’s back catalogue that fits perfectly into what someone in a professional setting might be looking for in a watch like this.
Expanding on the brand’s collection of watches, I’d be interested to see what Waldan cooks up to fill in the space between this watch and their Classics collection, which is comprised mostly of haute horological-esque pieces. They’ve won me over with the affordability and style of the Heritage Professional and I’d love to see this same ethos brought into something in the $500-1000 range. If you’re like me and weren’t in on the secret of Waldan, the cat’s out of the bag now.
Check out more dress sport watch reviews at The Watch Clicker
Check out the Waldan website
Waldan Heritage Professional Specs | |
Case Width 40mm | Thickness |
Lug-to-Lug | Wrist-to-Crystal* |
Lug Width | Weight |
Crystal | Strap |
Water Resistance | Lume |
Movement Ameriquartz Cal 70200 | Price |
*Height of the watch from the wrist to the top of the crystal | |
