Direnzo is our favorite genuine Swiss microbrand, founded and run by just one man, Sergio Di Renzo, who resides in Geneva, designs all of the watches himself, and has been known to drive to the Swiss factory to personally supervise the final QA testing. What sets this watch microbrand apart from others is Direnzo's exceptional attention to detail. Not only do we see some amazing innovation in Di Renzo's designs, such as with the DRZ02, our microbrand watch of the year, but so many little touches are present to add that extra level of finesse that we feel Direnzo timepieces can easily stand up against and often best much more expensive luxury Swiss watches.
The Direnzo DRZ05 Solaris Red is no exception. Here we have a compressor-style dive watch with dual crowns and a rotating inner chapter ring with all of the little touches we've come to love in Direnzo watches. For example, the date window is perfectly balanced at 6 o'clock and of course color matched to the dial, but it is also a play on the circle theme that permeates this timepiece: At exactly where the circular inner disc on the dial meets the fumé sunburst outer track, the lollipop on the second hand passes exactly over the center of the date window and continues in a circle around the line dividing the inner and outer sectors of the dial. Direnzo's play on circles continues with some novel introductions in this year's new edition, the DRZ05, and we see an unusual combination of circular markings on the chapter ring at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock that also subtly indicate an increase in values while helping keep the overall design balanced without any numerals on any of the indices.
There are of course playful references to previous models too. We can see homages to the inner disc and hand set from the DRZ03, Direnzo's earlier dive watch, and when the lume starts glowing, a new surprise awaits, with the entire base circumference of the chapter ring being lumed so as to remind us of the unique DRZ02 indices.
Well thought out good looks are great, but a dive watch needs to be a reliable and practical tool watch, and the Solaris does not disappoint with features such as scratch resistant sapphire crystal, dual screw down crowns, 200 meters of water resistance, (double that of many dive watches,) fully drilled lugs, a reliable Swiss SW200-1 automatic elaboré movement with upgraded Incabloc shock protection, and a very comfortable bracelet with diver's safety clasp and six levels of micro-adjustment.
