Slomo’s First Watch Makes Time Feel Different

by Matt Black

Most watches measure time.

The Slomo Glance asks you to feel it.

For founder Ben Moyle, slowing down is more than a marketing slogan—it’s a design principle. A lifelong art director with an eye for coherence and utility, Moyle built Slomo around a simple idea: that the way we see time shapes how we live it.

The Glance, his debut creation, transforms that idea into reality—an offset dial that reframes hours as spaces, translucent hands that clear the view, and a layout that makes reading time as quick and natural as taking a breath.

Slomo glance Watch Review — Slomo Glance @mattbtravelphotography

First impressions & wearability

At 39mm in diameter and roughly 9.5mm thick (about 11mm if you account for the domed sapphire crystal), the Glance is a very comfortable wear. The hollowed lugs visually slim the profile, helping it sit closer to the wrist – giving the Glance a refined yet everyday feel. The comfortable custom ‘O’ link bracelet features a quick release system allowing you to resize it on the fly.

But that’s just scratching the surface when it comes to thoughtfulness with this watch.

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In speaking with Moyle, it doesn’t take long to discover how the Glance came to be. Everything about its design feels seamless and intentional. “It’s easy,” Moyle explains—“you throw it on and don’t think about it. Even the crown – push, pull, it winds and sets automatically. It’s all the little factors coming together that make the watch just feel effortless.”

That ease also translates into wear. The finishes are clean, the proportions balanced, and the crystal distortion adds a soft, almost nostalgic warmth to the dial. This isn’t a watch trying to impress you with detail—it’s one that invites you to enjoy every moment while you appreciate its very deliberate restraint.

Dial architecture & legibility

The dial is where the Glance truly breaks from convention. Its design revolves around an offset hour ring that reframes how we perceive time—not as a series of points, but as zones of presence. It’s a seemingly obvious yet rather profound way to look at time and the way we spend it.

Moyle explains, “I remember learning to read a clock and thinking, why does the hand being before or after a number matter? It didn’t feel logical. So I started thinking—why aren’t we highlighting the space an hour takes up?”

The result is intuitive once you’ve lived with it. Each hour segment is clearly defined, making time-reading almost subconscious—a true “glance.” On more than one occasion, I looked down at my wrist and almost instantaneously knew the time.

No hunting or second looks required.

The translucent hands play their part too, with cut-out tips that never block numerals. “It’s a small detail,” Moyle says, “but it makes the whole piece easier to live with. You see everything clearly, even as you set the time.”

At the center sits the Slomo logo, perfectly symmetrical – another example of quiet intention. “The name just felt right there,” he adds. “It works because it’s balanced. And if you stare at the seconds hand – that little ‘O’ – it looks like it’s moving in slow motion. It all ties back to what the brand’s about: slowing down to appreciate design and time itself.”

Movement & mechanics

Inside the Glance is the Miyota 9039, a proven automatic that fits the brand’s minimalist, no-date ethos. It’s smooth, silent, and consistent—the kind of engine that lets the design take center stage.

Without a conventional seconds hand, the 9039’s sweep becomes something you feel more than see. That absence of constant motion reinforces the philosophy behind the name—slowing time’s visual pace, replacing urgency with calm. It’s a really neat effect that I came to appreciate right away. The tactile details hold up too. The crown action feels crisp, the case machining tight, and the strap’s integration well considered. The Glance might look conceptual when you first see it, but it’s built like a proper daily-wearer.

As this is an early prototype, Moyle notes a few refinements still to come for the production model. But these are small, thoughtful tweaks rather than wholesale changes. The chapter ring will gain a touch more contrast for easier legibility, and the unique grooves along the sides of the case will be subtly rounded to smooth out the watch’s tactile feel. These are the kinds of details that matter to a designer like Moyle: incremental improvements that refine an already well-executed experience.

The philosophy in motion

Moyle’s background as an art director shows in how seamlessly design and concept blend. “I’ve always loved design and art,” he says. “I’ve been into watches for many years, but I kept finding something a little off – something not cohesive. One day I just thought, why don’t I try to make one myself? I started playing in Illustrator, and eventually landed on something I was proud of.”

That process—iteration, exploration, restraint—is visible in the final product. Nothing on the Glance feels ornamental. Every decision seems to have been filtered through the question: does this make the experience calmer, easier, more natural?

It’s a mindset that resists the micro-brand temptation to over-design. Instead, the Glance lands on coherence—a design that implores its wearer to slow down and savour the day.

Specs

Case	316L Stainless Steel 39mm Diameter 46mm Lug to Lug 11mm Thick 20mm Lug Width Display Case Back 100m Water Resistance
Dial & Crystal	Domed Sapphire Crystal Applied Lume Block Numerals Partially Skeletonized Hands Super-LumiNova
Movement	Miyota 9039 24 Jewels 28, 800vph 42-Hour Power Reserve
Strap	Custom ‘O’ Link Bracelet with Quick Release

Slomo Glance

Final Thoughts

The Slomo Glance isn’t trying to emulate anyone—and that’s its subtle brilliance. It’s a debut that feels confident enough to take its time. The offset dial, the translucent hands, the serene motion of that central “O”—all of it adds up to something quietly original.

As a collector, I admire how it challenges what a watch needs to do to be satisfying. The Glance doesn’t chase precision or nostalgia; it chases feeling. It’s not about tracking time down to the second—it’s about reclaiming the moments of life, hour by hour. As Moyle told me, designing the Glance was less about decoration and more about discovery—seeing what happens when you question the logic of something as ordinary as a dial. “When you shift the way you read time, it changes how you think about it,” he said. The result isn’t just a watch that tells time differently; it’s one that reminds you to pay attention while you still have it.

Pricing & Availability

The Slomo Glance is live on Kickstarter with early-bird pricing starting at $490 USD and a projected delivery date of May 2026. Production models will feature minor refinements, including a more legible chapter ring and softened groove edges along the case.

About the author

Matt Black is a Toronto-based writer exploring the culture, craftsmanship and stories behind modern watchmaking. He is the founder of Matt Black Ink, a copywriting studio focused on watch brands and timepiece entrepreneurs.

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