Cadola Slipstream: Official Release

Jilliano Romano
2 days ago
3 min read

Since its resurrection, Cadola has had a clear and precise vision: motorsport-inspired timekeeping. More specifically, 20th century motorsport. You can see it across all of their watches - whether it’s the small-seconds subdials that look like the fuel gauges of vintage sports cars, or their bullhead chronographs that make it seem like the pushers are exhaust valves of a race car. When it came time to create a new watch, it was important for Cadola that the watch would maintain that vision, and that’s exactly what they have done with the newly released Cadola Slipstream.

Cadola Slipstream

Available in five colors, each Cadola Slipstream has a stepped dial, which means that part of the dial is sunken to create a three-dimensional effect, and maximize a limited surface area. Chronographs - especially vintage ones - are known to use stepped dials with the most noticeable example being the Omega Speedmaster. Although the original Speedy used a hesalite crystal, the Cadola Slipstream uses a mineral crystal, which mimics the same look as a hesalite crystal - especially when you look at it from an angle.

The Slipstream features a unique sub-dial layout with a minute counter at the 12 o’clock, and a seconds-counter at the 6 o’clock. This leaves room for the Cadola logo to be placed at the 9 o’clock, and then a blacked out date at the 3 o’clock, as well as some writing explaining that it has 100 meters of water resistance. As many of you may already know, I am not the biggest fan of watches having a date, but I do like that the brand has made the extra effort to use a black date wheel, which blends quite nicely into the dial. The main dial has a matte, grainy texture, which contrasts nicely with the brighter, sunburst finishing of the subdials. Finally, all five colors of the Cadola Slipstream have a tachymeter to drive home its racing influences.

Powered by the reliable VK61 mecaquartz, the Cadola Slipstream won’t be breaking any records for mechanical watchmaking or innovative movements; instead, it is focused on providing a genuinely good design in a pretty package.

My Personal Thoughts

I have always been of the opinion that if you want to make a chronograph, and you don’t have the resources for a good mechanical movement, it’s way better to choose a mecaquartz movement like the VK61, rather than settle for a subpar movement that will simply increase the thickness of the watch.

By opting for the VK61, Cadola also manages to keep the prices low (MSRP: 220 USD) while delivering a watch that has the heritage racing design that the average person wants, but is unwilling to pay for the mechanical premium. I do think that adding the text showing the water resistance, as well as the date window, were unnecessary, and I probably wouldn’t mind if Cadola were to someday release a version without those things. However, at this price segment, there aren’t many other mecaquartz chronographs that offer a better design or build quality. Cadola also offers a 2-year international warranty, which is actually better than most microbrands.

For more information, check out the following Cadola link.