MeisterSinger Phanero Review

One of the most memorable booths from Basel World 2016 was Meistersinger’s. It wasn’t because of some fancy set up with fish tanks or other bells and whistles, nor was it because they had some wild, hifalutin complication to show off. That’s not Meistersinger’s style. No, they just had some very attractive, simple watches that resonated with us. I covered them shortly after Basel, which you can check out here, but today I wanted to go hands-on with the model that really stuck out to me, the Phanero.

When someone mentions Meistersinger, the first thing that should come to mind is the concept of a one-handed watch. Though some of their models literally have more than one-hand for complications, they all use a single hand for telling the time. This is a love it or leave concept as inherent in using a one-handed watch is a lack of precision time telling. Rather, depending on how the primary index is set up, you’re likely going to be ball-parking the time within 5-minute increments. It’s odd and takes some getting used to, but if you’re not a stickler for knowing the exact minute or need constant motion on a dial, it gets the job done.