Beloved Swiss Brand Norqain Offers a Fully Customizable Watch

Nota bene: All products in this article are independently selected and vetted by InsideHook editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Never heard of Norqain? That’s understandable. As far as high-end Swiss watch brands go, it’s flown somewhat under the radar since its inception in 2018. Established by Ben Küffer, Ted Schneider and Mark Streit, it’s a family-owned business with watch industry legend Jean-Claude Biver advising the board of directors. More important, however, is that its watches don’t look quite like anything on the market — and they aren’t built that way, either.

Well, some of them are: You can buy a handsome Freedom 60 Chronograph that looks not dissimilar to a vintage Zenith or Excelsior Park; you could also snag a Neverest, which mashes up dive and field watch specs and offers cool, unusual dial colorways. But it’s in the Wild One collection, launched in 2022, that the brand truly shines. On paper, it already sounds compelling — its shock-absorbing, ultra-lightweight case is made partly out of Norteq, an exclusive material consisting of fiber polymer and 60% castor-oil derivative that’s 3.5 times lighter than titanium — but things only get more interesting from there.

The 10 Best Watches of the Past Month

Microbrands and major manufacturers alike came through big time in October

Take the collection’s skeletonized models, for example. Many such pieces — those with material removed such that the movement is visible through the dial — feel gimmicky or downright ugly. Not so with the Wild One Skeleton, whose entire raison d’être is lightness and robustness. The case, which consists of 25 distinct parts, allows for custom colors for the carbon-fiber composite, which means Norqain can offer wild shades such as coral red, gecko green and turquoise with matching straps and accents. Meanwhile, for those who desire something more premium, the brand sells versions of the watch with carbon-fiber casebacks and precious-metal bezel assemblies: The new Wild One Skeleton 42mm Gold, for example, features an 18K 5N red-gold bezel paired to a black Norteq caseback. The skeletonized movement, made by Kenissi, is COSC-certified, while the openworked dial with diamond-cut indices and hands is highly legible.

If “loud” isn’t your thing, you can still nab a Wild One Skeleton in a less extravagant color: The new Grey model boasts a ruthenium-coated black skeletonized movement and a black rubber shock absorber. With a grey Norteq case and a black rubber strap and accents, it achieves a Brutalist look that pairs well with a skeletonized dial without seeming kitschy — a difficult feat, to be sure. At just shy of $6,000, it’s not an entry-level piece, but for someone who leads an active lifestyle yet still yearns for the reliability and feel of an automatic, mechanical timepiece, it’s difficult to ignore.

And we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet: You can now build a completely customized version of the Wild One. Dubbed “Wild One of 1,” this program offers a configurator with 3.5 million possible combinations. All of them have one thing in common — namely, an 18K red- or white-gold bezel. Beyond the precious-metal case cage, you can choose your movement (Sellita base or Kenissi-made caliber); rubber shock absorber in one of 12 colors; one of six skeletonized or one of 12 solid dial options; seven different sets of hands…the list goes on! You can even add a special engraving, logo or portrait on the caseback.

All of this is done with an online configurator that makes the process exceedingly easy, offering — for the first time — access to a one-off version of a high-end Swiss watch for the average customer. The customization program is the bit that seems to excite Jean-Claude Biver most about Norqain. And if the guy who revived Blancpain and helped establish Hublot is excited about something, it’s probably worth paying attention.