Viqueria Tuono Microbrand Watch Review

Launching on Kickstarter on the 6th February, 2021, the limited edition Viqueria Tuono is a 200 meter dressy looking Italian dive watch that comes in a choice of 3 different fume gradient sunburst dials or in a full reverse lume configuration. Kickstarter pricing on the first 100 watches is €349 (roughly $423 USD) and €389 (roughly $469) for those that missed the early bird pricing. More details are available on the Kickstarter campaign here:
https://kickstarter.com/projects/viqueriaiwc/viqueria-tuono-the-uncompromising-essence

I absolutely loved the look of this watch, and the fact that it will be assembled in Italy and likely will be lightly regulated by the watchmaker (as the Viqueria Levantes were) is a huge plus for me. The stock Italian leather straps these watches come on go extremely well with the watch, but the optional jubilee bracelet or vanilla-scented rubber straps will set you back and additional €39 (~$47) or €49 (~$59) respectively. Price-wise I think the Kickstarter pricing is decent for what is on offer, but the full retail pricing of €590 (around $714) - and that's without the dive straps or bracelet - does push the bounds a bit.

As much as I would love to have a brown champagne dial that looks like this in my personal collection, one issue I do have some trouble getting past here is how close a homage this is to the Tag Heuer Autavia, as we're not just talking one or two similarities here as a nod to an old favorite. Some would say this is too close a homage, although there are some key differences. However, the biggest Achilles heel with this timepiece is sadly the appalling lume, which is the worst I've ever been hands-on with in a dive watch. For those of you who are not lume junkies and don't have an issue with it being a fairly close homage, this is a gorgeous watch to enjoy and looks amazing. I am tempted to make an offer to Viqueria to try and purchase the one I reviewed as I do like the look that much, despite these issues. However, the combination of being a close homage and exceptionally bad lume means that as things stand, we won't be making an offer to carry this timepiece in The Microbrand Store.

I really hope Viqueria revisit this with a much improved lume on particularly the dial indices (virtually non-existent) as well as the bezel markings. If so, we'd be glad to reconsider for the store and I'd be more than happy to re-review this watch.

If you want to jump right to the two main issues:
https://youtu.be/5_diuR9V5r8?t=1688 - Close Homage to the Tag Autavia
https://youtu.be/5_diuR9V5r8?t=1938 - Lume

At the end I change over to the leather straps that I think go so well with this watch:
https://youtu.be/5_diuR9V5r8?t=2936

Видео Viqueria Tuono Microbrand Watch Review канала The Microbrand Review