Toledano & Chan b/1.3r is 18kt Perfection
There is a strange intimacy to watches. Wear one long enough and it stops being an object and starts behaving more like a companion. It remembers things you forget. It marks moments you did not realise mattered at the time. And every so often, a watch comes along that doesn’t just tell the time, it asks something of you in return.
Toledano & Chan have been doing exactly that since the B/1 first appeared. The Lapis Lazuli B/1 model arrived like a statement piece dropped into polite conversation. The Tahitian Mother of Pearl B/1.2 doubled down on the idea. The Meteorite B/1m removed any remaining safety net. None of them were trying to be liked. They were trying to be understood. With the B/1.3r, something interesting happens. The shock has worn off, and what remains is clarity.
This is the fourth chapter, and it feels like the moment where the language finally clicks. Spend enough time with these watches and you begin to see how Phil Toledano and Alfred Chan think. The decisions stop feeling arbitrary. The shapes start to make sense. As someone who owns and regularly wears a B/1.2, that sense of continuity is unmistakable. Each new release does not replace the last. It adds to the conversation.
Brutalist and seventies influenced design has become far more visible in recent years, but few have pushed it this far, or with this much conviction. The faceted geometry that defines the B/1 remains intact, but the proportions have been quietly adjusted. The case now measures 32mm wide, 31.5mm in length, with thickness ranging from 9.1 to 10.4mm. On paper, that sounds academic. On the wrist, it feels considered. Enough of a refinement to change who it might appeal to, without diluting what it is.
Material choice plays its part too. Stainless steel has been replaced by a darker Grade 5 titanium. It is lighter, tougher, and noticeably more comfortable over long wear. Despite that, nothing about the watch feels softened. The destro case and bracelet retain their sculptural edge, only now with a sense of restraint that feels earned rather than imposed.
Then there is the dial. This is where the B/1.3r truly separates itself. A three dimensional solid 18kt gold ripple dial sounds extravagant, and it is, but not in a loud way. The surface appears to move, the ripple starting in the lower left corner and spreading outward as if frozen mid motion. The texture sits somewhere between grained leather and liquid metal. It feels organic, almost accidental, yet clearly anything but. The two asymmetrical hands cut across it with intent, sharp and unapologetic, perfectly in tune with the rest of the design.
Above it all sits the familiar multi faceted prismic crystal, now laser engraved with SWISS. It is less a window than a lens. Combined with the dial, it turns casual glances into prolonged inspections. You find yourself rotating your wrist, chasing reflections, noticing details you missed five minutes earlier. It is not a watch that reveals itself quickly, and that is very much the point.
Inside is the Sellita SW100, providing a 42 hour power reserve and doing exactly what it needs to do. It is competent, dependable, and largely irrelevant to the emotional experience. This watch is not about specifications. It is about response. How it makes you feel when you put it on. How often you catch yourself looking at it for reasons that have nothing to do with the time.
Limited to 300 pieces and priced at $10,200, the B/1.3r will be available through Toledano & Chan and Time & Tide on the 12th of February. It will not wait patiently. None of the previous B/1 models did.
The first time I tried on the original Lapis B/1, something clicked immediately. That feeling has never gone away. If anything, wearing my B/1.2 has deepened it. The scratches, the moments attached to it, the familiarity of its weight on the wrist. These watches reward commitment. They ask to be lived with, not simply owned.
Toledano & Chan does not make watches for everyone. That is their strength. For those they do speak to, the connection runs deep. I am proud to count myself among them, and I suspect this will not be the last chapter in that relationship.