In the Flesh: MkII Fulcrum

Homage watches are typically love/hate for watch enthusiasts. Some love the idea of getting the chance to own something very similar to a famous, yet unattainably expensive timepiece. Others, however, strongly believe homage watches are lazy and unoriginal. Basically, if you can’t afford the real thing, keep saving. We sit firmly in neither camp. We see the side of the haters; there’s no real value in a cheap knockoff if it’s only to copy the looks without the quality. But that’s not all that’s out there. Some brands are making high quality watches that deserve more attention than mere copies.

Enter, MkII. Over a decade ago, Bill Yao began selling custom parts for brands like Seiko. Eventually that turned into full-on private label timepieces with a focus on durable, tool watches. For the most part, MkII’s designs have very closely resembled some of the most revered Rolexes: ref 6538 Submariner (the Bond Sub), ref 1016 Explorer I, and ref 1655 Explorer II. Their latest release is the Fulcrum, a modern take on the Rolex MilSub. The only way to appreciate the build quality of MkII’s watches is to get your hands on one – but if that’s not possible, don’t worry, we’ll do our best to bring the MkII Fulcrum to you.

The obvious Rolex characteristics are hard to ignore upon laying eyes on the Fulcrum: the MilSub “sword hands,” the hour markers being a mixture of your average Submariner, and a 3-6-9 Explorer dial Submariner, as well as general case aesthetics. Certainly an homage, but the subtle changes subside an initial reaction such as, “It’s just a Submariner with a intentionally faded bezel”!

The Fulcrum wears like a beast. The bead-blasted case comes in at 42 millimeters in width and a hair under 15 millimeters in thickness; its wrist presence is exactly what you want and expect from a “tough as nails”, military-styled timepiece.

Mr. Yao didn’t just give it military good looks; he pulled in practical capabilities and functionality in a holistic manner. First off, my favorite bit, the drilled lug holes. I change straps more often than Barker’s Beauties change outfits during an episode of The Price is Right, so having drilled lugs is a huge bonus. In addition to the easy spring bar access, drilled lugs allows for the use of shoulderless spring bars, which adds a more secure feel when the strap tugs on the bars. Smartly, MkII provides shoulderless and standard spring bars, and a spring bar tool as included accessories.

An interesting choice MkII made was going with the 12-hour bezel. Some may criticize the lack of a 60-minute counter on a dive watch, but I find the ability to track a 2^nd timezone as an upgrade. The bezel itself confidently clicks 120 times in one direction, and has “sharp as puppy teeth” beveling to improve grip.

MkII is one of the few brands amongst its homage-making peers to not only get the outside details right, but also the movement. For the Fulcrum, MkII opted for the Soprod A10, a Swiss made, self-winding caliber. With ETA’s tightened grip on the mass-movement market, the A10 is meant to be a replacement for the 2824 and 2892. Out of the factory, the A10 is tested to four positions, making for an accurate timekeeper in stock form. That’s not enough for MkII, though; Mr. Yao tests and regulates each example to six positions, effectively doing his own version of the COSC test. Since I’ve had the watch, it’s been dead-on accurate. What’s more, the movement is encased with non-ferrous materials, or, a faraday cage – protecting the movement from magnetic fields up to 80,000 A/m.

So what isn’t there to like? Firstly, the OEM rubber strap is of good quality, but it’s not enough for the $1,925 price tag. Since stainless steel bracelets have been options on other MkII watches, it would have been a nice touch here. At the very least, there should have been a couple of NATO straps included, since that’s probably what this watch is most at home on. Another thing that struck me was the polished hands. The rest of the watch is matte and subdued, and the polished hands don’t quite seem to blend with the rest of the design choices. I could also do without the date window. I like the idea of a utilitarian, time-only military watch – then again, I’m not upset I can find the date on my wrist. A better choice maybe would have been placing the date at the 3 o’clock position vice the 4:30.

When you start getting up to the $2,000 price range, the game gets very competitive. For many, it’s difficult to justify spending that kind of coin on an homage watch. I actually tend to agree for the most part, and by “most part”, I’m referring to non-MkII watches. Bill Yao knows how to put a watch together. He takes the required amount of attention to detail to achieve results beyond just ordering parts from a catalog. The Fulcrum, while setting a new price benchmark for MkII, is a badass homerun, and even a great compliment to a collection already featuring a Rolex (yeah, I just said that).

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