Linde Werdelin Biformer Elemental Red Dial 

One of their very rarest pieces, the Biformer Elemental Red Dial by Linde Werdelin is an early day classic from a confident young company who were destined to imprint their unique style of watchmaking upon the ranks of contemporary luxury sports watches.

Founded in 2002 by friends and designer/watchmaker duo Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin, the watches manufactured by their eponymous independent watch company, Linde Werdelin are inspired by their shared passions for pushing their own personal limits, whether rock climbing or skiing in the Swiss Alps, or exploring the carcass of a long sunk shipwreck on the sea floor.

Designed to couple with Linde Werdelin’s dedicated wrist-borne computers, the Reef or the Rock provide instant electronic location-based information at the touch of a button when undertaking those serious outdoor activities, and so the brand philosophy has always meant watches which have been manufactured to the same exacting standards they themselves demanded from their own professional precision sports instruments.

Hewn from an ingot of 316L stainless steel the Biformer Elemental is an imposing multi-faceted structure of sharp pronounced angles, sheer flat surfaces and hex bolt heads, and at 46mm it packs huge presence on the wrist. In what has become known as a First Generation Linde Werdelin, its dramatic chiselled looks provided an introduction to their futuristic, rugged and superbly engineered vision of watchmaking.

A thick sapphire crystal covers a plunging dial flange and the red dial below. With legibility a key factor, the applied steel hour indices and quarter-hour markers are filled with Super LumiNova, punctuating the printed minutes track with a vivid white glow in low light. The hands taper to sharp pointed tips and they too have a strong luminous coating applied.

The crown screws down safely out of harm’s way between the shoulders of the coupling ports, and with its crisp clear lumed markings, tactile uni-directional rotating bezel and a diving range of up to 300m, the Biformer Elemental is a serious sports diver’s timepiece.

Within, the tried and trusted ETA automatic self winding movement beats reliably and out of sight, as the caseback is a solid steel screw-down piece capped by a red anodised aluminium cover with the LW logo etched. The Biformer Elemental is presented on an interchangeable soft black calfskin leather strap with a textured upper surface and secured by a pin buckle.