A quick glance through Bomberg’s offerings will reveal that the brand doesn’t take things too seriously. Instead, it clearly wants to dazzle and disrupt using bold designs that go against what’s currently being offered by other watch brands. To that end, anything is fair game, from skull motifs complete with moving eyes on the dial, to riots of neon across an entire watch.
Despite being iconoclasts, Bomberg’s timepieces do collectively exhibit traits that point to a common DNA. The Bolt-68 Racing chronograph is no different. Like its siblings from the collection, it’s a transformable timepiece that’s typically secured to a harness using a bayonet system a la camera lenses. In this form, it’s worn like a normal wristwatch. It can also be transformed into a pocket watch simply by dismounting it from the frame and fitting it with a chain. Whatever the variant, however, it maintains its “bullhead” configuration, with the crown and pushers sitting at the top of the case, which is another familiar feature of the Bolt-68 collection.
Where the Bolt-68 Racing differs from the rest of the line is its motorsports-inspired design. What’s immediately apparent are the bright accents that are reminiscent of both an automobile’s dashboard instruments and a race car’s livery. The hands and dial indices reinforce this with their design and typefaces respectively, while the carbon fibre-like dial serves as the backdrop for all this action.
Beyond the dial, other details abound. The tachymeter on the bezel is par for the course, naturally, as is the perforated silicone strap that harks back to classic designs of the past. What’s perhaps most interesting is the bright red pusher on the left, which has a trigger design to ensure a positive, confident actuation of the chronograph for timing accuracy.
Three versions of the Bolt-68 Racing chronograph are available, but we are partial to the one pictured, with a black dial set against a regular steel case. Bomberg timepieces are retailing at Watches of Switzerland boutiques at VivoCity, Tampines Mall and Paragon.