A new brand has come alive on Kickstarter promising elegant and affordable wristwatches. We take a closer look.

There are many classy and wallet friendly watches on the market today that are suitable for daily wear. But few have the personality or unique design to stand out in a crowd, especially when that crowd is wearing luxury wristwatches that cost $1000 and up.

Looking to add a bit more life and beauty to the entry level market, we have the Florentine inspired start-up brand Alvieri.

The Alvieri name is inspired by the world “alive”, and it was chosen because it sounds Italian and it’s supposed to represent the brand’s focus on making watches that are alive. Other than that, the word doesn’t really exsit.

Thankfully, before kicking off the team did their market research. They discovered that most people love simple and clean designs, so the objective was to design a watch that wasn’t too complicated and cluttered.

When the goal is to produce a clean watch, the inspiration naturally goes to vintage models. The outer ring of the dial is a convex ring for the hour markers, reminiscent of the classic retro models. The flat inner dial adds more dimensionality to the watch, making it lively when light hits it at different angles.

Alvieri also prides itself in using 100% sapphire crystals in its watches. Usually reserved for the more expensive price segments, it’s tough to find a watch under $300 with a sapphire crystal. Usually we get the less scratch resistant mineral crystals, that might be sapphire coated if you’re lucky.

So kudos for the sapphire. But that makes me think that the glass is one of the more expensive individual components of the watch.

Certainly the movement isn’t. Inside we have a Swiss-made quartz courtesy of Ronda. Hence we get the “Swiss Parts” - rather than “Swiss Made” - engraving on the back of the case. Reliable and affordable, yes. Unique, not entirely. But they do offer some additional complications as well, like an elegant moon-phase model.

The brand’s logo speaks to their core values. The interlocking infinity symbols form a quadruple ‘a’, which stand for Alvieri, Artistico (artistic), Altaqualità (amazing quality), and Abbordabile (affordable). At face value, it seems the start-up is well position to achieve those objectives.

Coming in at a price between $175 and $199 on their Kickstarter campaign, it’s hard to argue against Alvieri watches. Personally I would go for a Swiss-made vintage model at that price range, but I also wouldn’t hesitate to pick up an Alvieri for someone else as a gift. They seem like the perfect timepieces for introducing someone new to the watch world.