- Huckberry just dropped a new watch collaboration with one of our favorite watch brands.
- The retailer just debuted the exclusive Huckberry x Vaer G2 Pacific Steel GMT Watch ahead of Father’s Day.
- The $500 Rolex-inspired timepiece makes for a great Father’s Day gift and beyond.
YOU’RE RUNNING OUT of time to get dad a gift that doesn’t suck. Maybe you’re taking your sweet time looking for the perfect one, or you’ve been procrastinating. I can sympathize with both.
But what if somebody told you the perfect Father’s Day gift was hiding in plain sight? Huckberry’s latest watch collaboration with one of our favorite watch brands, Vaer, just may be the perfect gift for dear ‘ol dad. It might not be a Rolex, but it certainly holds its own.
Vaer makes some of the top affordable sport watches out there, and while it’s somewhat of a baby in the space (it was only founded in 2016), it has done a good job making a quick name for itself with utilitarian designs and holding up in and out of the water. The Huckberry x Vaer Pacific G2 GMT does just that. In fact, it’s loosely inspired by one of the most well-known dive watches on the planet—the iconic 1971 Rolex Explorer II. If you don’t have a cool $20-$30,000 lying around a few days ahead of Father’s Day, this is a good fallback option.
The Huckberry exclusive is the perfect blend of form and function. For starters, you’re getting two watch bands—a stainless steel bracelet and a hard-wearing NATO nylon strap for your more adventurous side. It’s almost as if you’re getting two watches in one here; one for work and one for play.
The watch uses a Swiss Ronda quartz GMT movement with a 40-month battery life. It features a bi-directional rotating 24-hour bezel and an independently adjustable GMT hand to track two time zones at once. Its case and bracelet are made out of marine-grade 316L stainless steel, and it’s water-resistant up to 495 feet. The crown is tightly locked down with screws for a waterproof seal.
The case itself is constructed of a scratchproof, AR-coated sapphire crystal, which makes this watch fairly “indestructible,” at least by normal human standards. A date magnifier and a whopping 15 layers of Swiss Super-LumiNova (a photo luminescent pigment frequently used to illuminate watch dials) make it easy to read in the toughest conditions.
Style is obviously a huge component of a great watch, and the Pacific G2 certainly doesn’t make any concessions there. It feels very Huckberry-ey. It looks like a real throwback, thanks to retro-inspired yellowed hands and numerals and a vivid, contrasting orange on the GMT hand. When paired with the stainless steel bracelet, you’re effectively getting a rugged, Rolex-inspired timepiece for about one-tenth of the price.
This isn’t Huckberry’s first collaboration with a well-known watchmaker. Last year, it partnered with Timex for a similarly rugged Field Watch. That one garnered a lot of praise, so it’s only natural the HB folks ran it back with a more style-forward, classic design. And it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.
Shop the Huckberry x Vaer Collab
Tim Kohut is the Deals and Trends Editor for Popular Mechanics, Men’s Health, Best Products, and Runner’s World. He has extensive product review and gear coverage expertise, particularly in tech, home, auto, and health. Tim was previously the Deputy Commerce Editor of The Drive and a Commerce Editor at BGR. He’s also overseen gear coverage and strategy at Popular Science, Bob Vila, Outdoor Life, and Field and Stream. He has a strong affinity for cats, Batman, and early 90’s Nicolas Cage films, in that order.
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