NORQAIN Wild One Meteorite

A few weeks ago we reviewed the excellent Independence Skeleton Chrono in orange from NORQAIN and were blown away by its skeletonized dial and movement. While I really enjoyed that watch, I'm a bit more partial to the carbon cased Wild One collection.

The orange Independence Skeleton Chrono was actually a pre-release piece that we received to review before the watch was released. NORQAIN also sent us another watch that had yet to be released that we are going to take a closer look at today. That model also happened to be from my favorite collection from NORQAIN, the Wild One series.



Before we get into this new Wild One, let's first go over a quick history of NORQAIN. NORQAIN was launched in 2018 and established in Nidau (Biel/Bienne) Switzerland. The brand is independent and family run by CEO Ben Kuffer. Kuffer and his family had extensive experience in the watch industry and also brought along Ted Schneider, whose family used to own Breitling, and Mark Streit, an ice hockey legend, to help create NORQAIN. This trio of founders allowed NORQAIN to enter the watch industry with a deep understanding of both high-level watchmaking and professional sports. The brand's independent nature also allowed them to focus on creating products they wished to produce without the stress of meeting shareholders desires.

NORQAIN's identity is strongly rooted in Swiss heritage as well as an adventurous spirit. The brand's logo is a mountain peak formed by two "N"s, which is a direct reference to the Swiss Alps. NORQAIN is also an acronym for the core values of the brand, being: (N)ew, (O)pen-minded, (R)ebellious, (Q)uality Time, (A)dventure, (I)ndependent and (N)iche. Looking at the timepieces that NORQAIN produces, you can really see these values reflected across their product range.



A true turning point for NORQAIN came in 2020, when the brand entered into a strategic partnership with highly regarded movement maker Kenissi. The collaboration ensured that the very young NORQAIN would have full access to a range of ultra high-end Swiss made movements that were COSC certified. Instantly now NORQAIN had manufacture movements that placed them on a level playing field with many long established Swiss watch brands.

Another huge moment for NORQAIN came when watch industry icon Jean-Claude Biver was brought on as an Advisor to the Board. Biver is best known for his unprecedented work at Omega, Blancpain and Hublot, taking brands that were not performing to their full potential and turning them around to be industry leaders and trendsetters. Biver was instrumental in the design and creation of NORQAIN's high performance sports watch, the carbon cased Wild One. The case of the Wild One is actually made out of a proprietary carbon composite material called NORTEQ. The watch also boasts amazing shock resistance and served to be an industry disrupter much like Biver's Big Bang was when launched in 2005 by Hublot.



Today NORQAIN is still continuing to bolster their manufacture movements, also partnering with Manufacture AMT for such movements as the skeletonized flyback chronograph Calibre NK24/1. The brand breaks down its watches into three collections. The Adventure collection of durable tool watches, the Freedom line of timeless vintage-inspired pieces and finally the Independence collection of innovative sports watches.

Initial Thoughts

Having gone over the history of NORQAIN, let's now take a look at the new Wild One release the brand sent us to review. The watch is question is actually the first timepiece from NORQAIN that uses meteorite on the dial. Previously, the dials of the Wild One series were made up of a three level laser cut insert with a madala like effect. Those dials are awesome and I'm a huge fan of them. The usage of meteorite on this Wild One gives the watch a slightly more grown up appearance, while the standard dial is a bit more sporty and aggressive.



When the watch arrived, naturally the first thing I noticed about it was the Swedish Widmanstatten meteorite dial. The meteorite used on the Wild One has a mostly grey appearance with a strong metallic sheen. The pattern of each Wild One Meteorite will be unique, since no two cuts of meteorite will be identical. The pattern found on the dial is a result of interlocking crystals of two different nickel-iron alloys found in iron meteorites, with the primary alloy being kamacite (with lower nickel content) and the other being taenite (with a higher nickel content). These two alloys react to the acid etching process differently and in turn create the three dimensional cross-hatched pattern seen on the dial.

The second thing I noticed about the Wild One Meteorite during my initial time with the watch was just how lightweight it was. The watch with the rubber strap and pin buckle only weighs in at 85 grams. It's been a while since we had a Wild One in for review and I forgot just how light they were. I'm normally very happy when a watch is 100 grams or less, so being a full 15 grams less is a huge positive for me.



The final thing I noticed during my first viewing of the Wild One Meteorite was its burgundy NORTEQ case. The burgundy gives the watch a very unique look, but in all honesty it's not my favorite color. I much preferred the khaki green case we had in last time. This is a very personal opinion that has far too much to do with a much disliked college football rival. Also, I like orange so much on watches, since it's the color of the burgundy school's rival and my alma mater. I do have a friend that has the non-meteorite version of the Wild One in burgundy and absolutely loves it. So once again, personal taste.

Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone both the history of NORQAIN as well as my initial impressions of the Wild One Meteorite, let's now take a look at the technical specifications of the watch. The Wild One Meteorite is made out of a proprietary carbon composite material called NORTEQ. The top and bottom of the case is done in burgundy, while the mid case is in grey. The watch has a 42 mm case diameter and a lug to lug length of 49.1 mm. The watch only weighed in at 85 grams on our scale and at its thickest point is 12.3 mm tall.



The Wild One Meteorite has a flush flat sapphire crystal with a double anti-reflective coating. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire lies the star of the show in the meteorite dial. Once again, the dial has a grey to black appearance with a very strong metallic sheen to it. The cross-hatch and crystallized pattern is created by how the two iron alloys found in the meteorite interact with the acid etching process. I personally love the look of the meteorite found on the Wild One, sometimes a meteorite dial can look dull, but the dial here is very vibrant and dynamic… especially in full sunlight.

NORQAIN uses applied diamond cut bar indices on the Wild One Meteorite. Each marker is topped with a block of Super-LumiNova which glows a brilliant green in low light. Twelve o'clock features a double bar hour marker and each marker is skeletonized to show more of the meteorite dial.



There are three centrally mounted hands on the Wild One Meteorite being the hour, minute and seconds hands. The hour and minute hands are arrow shaped and skeletonized with the tips coated in matching Super-LumiNova. The seconds hand is slender and features an arrow tip that is also lumed. Finishing off the dial is the NORQAIN branding and logo at 12 o'clock, with "Chronometer" and "Swiss Made" found at 6.

Moving on from the dial is the round fixed bezel made out of burgundy NORTEQ material. The bezel is one piece with the top of the lugs which also maintain the burgundy color. On each lug there is also an exposed case screw. Looking at the profile of the case, you can see that the mid case is crafted out of grey NORTEQ. All the NORTEQ material is matte in finish. The case of the Wild One Meteorite is actually made up of 25 separate pieces which goes to show you the complexity of the case. A big part of this construction is the large rubber shock absorber than protects the watch from the most extreme of impacts.



On the left hand side of the watch is a burgundy plaque held in place by two screws which can be customized, but if left alone says "NORQAIN". On the right hand side of the watch is the large screw down crown flanked by crown protectors that go half way up the crown. The rubber topped crown is nicely scalloped and features the double N NORQAIN logo. The screw down crown aids in the 200 meters of water resistance as well. When un-screwed, you can manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. There are no calendar functions on the Wild One Meteorite, so there is only one additional crown position. This position stops the seconds hand and lets you set the time. Pushing the crown back in does not make the minutes hand jump and screwing the crown back in doesn't take much extra care to get it to catch.

Flipping the watch over shows off the case back made out of burgundy NORTEQ. Important information about the watch is engraved into the case back bezel. The Wild One Meteorite uses a sapphire crystal display window to view the movement underneath. Printed on the sapphire is "Special Edition" and "Meteorite". Underneath the display window beats the Swiss made NORQAIN manufacture Calibre NN20/1 automatic movement by Kenissi. The movement is topped with a partially skeletonized branded winding rotor that has a radial brushed finish. The rest of the movement including the mainplate and bridges are media blasted. This gives the movement a very tool watch aesthetic, which is perfect for an extreme sports watch like the Wild One.



The NN20/1 is produced by Kenissi for NORQAIN and boasts a weekend proof 70 hours of power reserve. The movement beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and is COSC certified as a chronometer. On our timegrapher the NN20/10 showed an accuracy of +2 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions, which is well within chronometer specifications.

While the Wild One Meteorite does have an integrated look, it actually uses a standard lug setup. The included dark grey rubber strap does fit the case snug though, adding to the integrated look. The Wild One has a lug width of 22 mm and should be able to accept most aftermarket straps. The rubber strap is extremely supple and comfortable though. The rubber strap has a fabric like texture on its top portion and is smooth on the backside. There is a slight taper to the strap from 22 mm at the lugs to 20 mm at the burgundy NORTEQ pin buckle. The buckle has a rather thick 3 mm pin and has a design where the back of the buckle also acts as one of the two strap keepers. NORQAIN does also offer a folding deployant clasp that has micro adjustments as well.



On The Wrist

The NORQAIN Wild One Meteorite is just under my preferred 50 mm of lug to lug length, but the slight flare out to eh strap makes the watch wear just that much larger. I find that the Wild One fits my 7.25" wrist with a 55 mm flat area just perfectly. There is no overhang to the case and the rubber strap fits around my wrist tightly. With a weight of only 85 grams, the watch is a treat on wrist as well.

I wore the Wild One Meteorite on a lot of little everyday errands and the watch was about as perfect of a wrist companion as you could ask for. The lightweight material used in the construction of the Wild One means that the watch completely disappears on the wrist until you want to look at it. For the most part I actually forgot I had the watch on. This only really happens with my titanium older dive watches from IWC and Porsche Design which are on a Velcro strap and weigh between 65 and 75 grams each. The Wild One is a bit larger than those watches and also has strap hardware, so it's impressive the watch is only 10 or so grams heavier.

We're still having some rather hot days here in Austin, and during those days the Wild One's rubber strap stayed comfortable on wrist. The strap also kept the watch nice and centered on my wrist and the watch never felt top heavy or caused any wrist fatigue. Typically I'm a fan of deployant clasps on straps to reduce the risk of dropping a watch when putting it on or taking it off. On the Wild One, the case is so light that the watch never tries to dive bomb the floor when taking it on or off. The buckle is also interesting and tucks the strap back in after the pin is set, meaning the watch only requires one additional rubber keeper.



The burgundy and grey aesthetic of the Wild One Meteorite went perfectly with my normal dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. I've already addressed that personally I'm not a fan of burgundy, but putting that aside the watch did look fine with my outfits and never clashed. The Wild One is a pretty casual watch and might not be the best choice for more formal occasions, which I typically don't find myself in.

To test the legibility of a watch, I use a simple test where I see how easy it is to check the time with just a quick glance at my wrist. In this test dive watches do the best with their high contrast dials and large markers, while complicated and skeleton pieces do the worst since legibility takes a back seat to design. I wasn't sure what to expect with the Wild One Meteorite to be honest. The hands and hour markers do have a hint of polish to them, so they do a decent job of contrasting off of the grey dial. I wouldn't say the Wild One Meteorite is the easiest watch to read at a glance, but after taking a moment to catch your bearings, quick time telling was rather easy. The key markers on the dial are also coated with Super-LumiNova, so low light time telling is passable as well.



When I wore the NORQAIN Wild One Meteorite out and about on errands as well as to dinner and drinks I didn't notice the watch getting too many looks. The watch has a rather subtle color palette and the meteorite dial is hard to really notice unless you are closer to the watch. So for this reason I didn't get too many looks or comments about the watch when out in public. NORQAIN does make a host of Wild Ones in vibrant colors that would be better attention getters if that is important to you. The friends I showed the watch to just loved the meteorite dial and were mixed about the burgundy case, remember we're in Austin… They were all rather pleasantly surprised by the price of the watch though.

Value and Position in the Market

Talking about price, the Wild One Meteorite retails for $7,450 with the pin buckle, or $7,890 with the deployant clasp with micro adjustments. For that price you're getting an amazing and literally out of this world meteorite dial that is possibly billions of years old. Also no two dials will ever be the same due to the nature of meteorites. The Wild One also has a super durable NORTEQ case with colors not typically seen in watchmaking. The watch is powered by a super accurate chronometer manufacture movement housed inside of a truly handsome case. Now would be the time in the review where we compare the Wild One Meteorite to other watches with similar features and specifications to see how good of a value it is. The Wild One Meteorite is a very unique watch, so finding direct comparisons is going to be tough.



Up first we have the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon from Omega which has a 44.25 mm case crafted out of grey ceramic. The Dark Side of the Moon is powered by an in-house caliber with only 60 hours of power reserve. The watch does feature a chronograph complication as well. The Dark Side of the Moon has a fourth of the water resistance of the Wild One at 50 meters. The Dark Side of the Moon is much more expensive than the Wild One at $19,300.

Next up is the Big Bang MECA-10 Frosted Carbon from Hublot which has a 42 mm case crafted out of forged carbon. The MECA-10 doesn't have a meteorite dial, but instead has a fully skeletonized dial. The MECA-10 is powered by an in-house movement with a full 10 days of power reserve. The MECA-10 is rated for half the water resistance as the Wild One at 100 meters. The MECA-10 is also much more expensive than the Wild One at $28,600.



Moving on is the DEFY Extreme Carbon from Zenith which has a 45 mm case made out of forged carbon. Like the Big Bang MECA-10, the DEFY also has a fully skeletonized dial and adds a chronograph. The DEFY is powered by an in-house movement with 50 hours of power reserve. The DEFY does match the Wild One with 200 meters of water resistance. Like the Hublot and Omega, the Zenith is much more expensive than the NORQAIN at $26,800.

Finally we have the Submersible Carbotech from Panerai which has a 42 mm case crafted out of carbon. The Submersible is a straight up dive watch and has 300 meters of water resistance. The watch is powered by an in-house movement with 72 hours of power reserve. The Submersible doesn't have a skeletonized or meteorite dial, just a standard black dial. The Submersible once again is much more expensive than the Wild One Meteorite at $18,400.



The NORQAIN Wild One Meteorite is a rather unique watch, so the watches we compared it to aren't exactly one to one comparisons. One thing that can be seen be looking at the above watches is that the Wild One Meteorite represents amazing value for what it is. It has near class leading specs while housed in a super tough and lightweight NORTEQ carbon case as well as runs on a deadly accurate manufacture movement. You get all of this for a fraction of the price of other models from top Swiss brands featuring some of these attributes.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the NORQAIN Wild One Meteorite for me? The addition of the meteorite dial is an interesting one and it kind of makes the watch feel a bit more buttoned down and grown up. I do prefer the more out there look of the 3D motif found on standard Wild Ones. Also the burgundy colored NORTEQ doesn't really fit in with my personal color choices as expressed earlier in this review. So for those reasons, this particular Wild One isn't for me personally.



That being said, the Wild One is probably my favorite new sports model. I was just blown away by the khaki green one we had in a while ago and was super sad when it went back. If there was one thing keeping the Wild One from being 100% perfect for me, it would be that it is just under 50 mm in lug to lug length. Even that isn't too big of a deal, since the watch does wear a tiny bit larger than its dimensions suggest and fits my wrist perfectly. I'm a huge fan of lightweight high tech case materials like titanium, carbon and ceramic, so that NORQAIN uses their own carbon material on the Wild One is a huge plus. This also keeps the watch well under my goldilocks weight of 100 grams. While doing research for this review I also noticed that NORQAIN offers a deployant clasp with micro adjustments for the Wild One, which is huge to me and I'd love to see a Wild One with that clasp fitted on to the rubber strap. Finally having a manufacture movement just puts the Wild One over the top for me.

Would I then recommend the Wild One Meteorite to somebody looking for a durable sports watch? I'd say that the Wild One in general should be on your short list if you're looking for this style of watch. The meteorite dial would be an awesome addition for somebody looking for a more unique dial, especially somebody that really loves all things space, which should be a lot of people judging by the popularity of Omega's Speedmaster moon watch. Like I also said earlier, the burgundy coloration does look good when combined with the grey of the dial and rubber strap and I have a friend that absolutely loves his Wild One in burgundy, it's just not for me. The price of the Wild One Meteorite is also extremely fair since other watches from top Swiss manufactures that including one or more of the following cost much more than the Wild One Meteorite: carbon case, meteorite dial. NORQAIN now has a very large retail footprint, so if you're interested in the Wild One Meteorite, I'd really suggest checking the watch out in person. Things like just how lightweight the watch is and also the metallic sheen of the meteorite dial really don't come out through pictures or video.



I'd really like to thank NORQAIN for sending us this Wild One Meteorite to review before its official release date. The watch was a great reminder of how much I love the Wild One collection. We've now had a few different watches from NORQAIN in and are continually impressed with how nice of a watch they produce for being such a young watch brand. Hopefully in the near future we'll get some more new and exciting watches from NORQAIN in to review.

For more information about the Wild One Meteorite please visit : NORQAIN

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: N3000.21Q47.M02

Retail Price: $7,450

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 49.1 mm

Thickness: 12.3 mm

Weight: 85 grams

Case Material: NORTEQ Carbon

Bezel: NORTEQ Carbon

Strap: Grey Rubber Strap with NORTEQ Pin Buckle

Movement: Swiss Made Manufacture Calibre NN20/1 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 70 Hours

Water Resistance: 200 Meters