Full Review: Homemade Watch Company "Bellissimo"

Homemade Watch Company is a brand near and dear to my heart, as it was developed from a mere idea on a piece of crumbled paper to a full-blown watch company in less than six months. I’ve spoken to the founder, Eddie, at length about the creative process and what drew him into the watchmaking world. Eddie has had many different chapters in his life, including as a firefighter and an abstract artist, and now his latest foray is in designing and building watches from scratch.

The Watch/Specs – This latest watch from the Homemade Watch Company is the “Bellissimo”, which translates to “Beautiful” in Italian. You’ll also notice text on the bottom of the dial that reads “Senza Fine”, which roughly translates to “Endless”, a nod towards an automatic movement’s ability to, with enough maintenance and calibration, keep accurate time indefinitely.

But don’t let the name fool you, this watch is squarely in the sports watch category and feels incredibly sporty on the wrist. Paired with a super-supple 20mm brown leather NATO strap that is also “homemade”, when holding this watch you immediately get the sense that this is no ordinary watch from a mass-produced brand. You’re clearly holding a watch that was born on a watchmaker’s desk, not a production line, but don’t worry – the quality is just as good.

The watch’s case measures 38mm in diameter and is a slim 11.5mm thick. Paired with a fairly short 46.5mm lug-to-lug distance, and you’ve got a compact watch that has plenty of wrist presence without it feeling over-bearing. I also love the fact that a screw-down crown is employed, giving the watch up to 50 meters of water resistance.

Of course, the focus of this watch is the gorgeous “Cardinal Red” dial, which varies from a deep paprika red to an almost fire engine red. That color choice is not random; the founder of Homemade Watch Company, Eddie, was a firefighter for a decade and that fiery red dial certainly speaks to some of his experiences in that regard. Looking at the dial closer reveals a grained-texture and carved indices that almost appear as if they are rising out of the dial rather than being the typical “applied” indices that most watchmakers opt for.

Powering the Bellissimo is an NH35 automatic movement from Seiko, which allows for 41 hours of uninterrupted timekeeping. I’ve always been a big fan of the NH35 as a workhorse movement that is extremely easy to service, durable and simple. With that said, Homemade Watch Company has begun integrating some Swiss movements into more recent watch releases, including some pieces powered by the venerated Sellita SW-200 movement, so if you’re a Swiss movement enthusiast there are some options in the catalogue.

Rename/Rebrand – A more recent development is the slight rebrand of the name, removing the “Rhode Island” from the name. This brand was previously known as “Homemade Watch Rhode Island” and is now rebranded as the “Homemade Watch Company.”  In speaking with the founder, the focus is still on the “homemade” nature of the brand, but in dropping “Rhode Island” from the name the brand is looking to expand from a hyper-local brand to a more mainstream appeal. Of course, the brand has already had great success, both in and out of the state, but it is exciting to see this rebrand as a focused shift towards a more mainstream appeal. I am so excited to see what Homemade Watch Company has in store and I will definitely be rooting for Eddie.