The Solent 40 Titanium Expedition
- Case
- 40mm Grade 5 titanium, bead-blasted, 12.4mm thick
- Dial
- Deep charcoal, matte, with a very subtle vertical grain visible at close range. Applied titanium-coloured indices filled with Super-LumiNova X1 (stronger emission than BGW9, chosen for true low-light legibility). White printed minute track. No date — the Expedition dial is deliberately cleaner than its steel siblings.
- Movement
- A&F calibre HF-301C (chronometer specification) (Sellita SW200-1 (Chronometer grade))
- Power reserve
- 38 hours
- Water resistance
- 500m
- Crystal
- Flat sapphire, double internal anti-reflective coating
- Strap
- Bead-blasted titanium bracelet with diver's extension, or hand-stitched grey canvas (sailcloth weave, waxed). Both supplied.
Heritage
The Expedition came out of a commission from a client who sailed the Northwest Passage in 2023 and asked Harold for a piece that would survive the conditions without feeling like a tool watch. Harold took the request seriously enough that he spent three weeks at sea off the Hebrides with a prototype in 2024 — his longest continuous wear of any piece he has made. The bead-blasted finish and the matte white bezel are direct results of that trip (high-polish surfaces catch glare; black bezels disappear in low light).
Design
The Expedition is the most technically uncompromising piece in the Solent collection, but it is deliberately not framed as a "tool watch." Harold's view: a proper expedition piece should be something you trust in the field, not something that signals preparedness for a field you will never enter. Everything about the Expedition — the titanium, the stronger lume, the individual chronometer regulation — is there because it would matter if it ever had to.