## The Watch | Spec | Detail | |---|---| | Brand | Straum (Norway) | | Model | Jan Mayen Titanium — "Aurora Sky" dial | | Size | 38.7mm | | Thickness | 11.5mm | | Lug-to-lug | 45.7mm | | Lug width | 20mm (quick-release FKM rubber strap) | | Weight | ~82g (titanium) | | Case | Grade 5 titanium | | Movement | La Joux-Perret G101 (Soigné grade), automatic | | Power reserve | 68 hours | | Crystal | Double-domed sapphire | | Crown | Screw-down | | Water resistance | 100m | | Dial | "Aurora Sky" — northern-lights gradient (green → blue → deep blue), chipped-rock texture | ## Role in My Collection An **Art & Design piece** — my #1 art pick, bought purely for the dial, not to fill a functional slot (see [[Watch Wish List]]). It's the most visually singular watch in the collection: nothing else I own or want looks like the Aurora Sky dial. Slots into the collection as the "textured art" counterpart to the [[Baltic MR Roulette]]'s "graphic art" dial. Ordered September 2026 — arriving early 2027. ## Why I Chose It - **The dial.** The Aurora Sky gradient (northern-lights green/blue/deep blue) over a chipped-rock texture is unlike anything else in the collection or on my wish list. Straum's dial textures take over a year to develop — a genuine craft-as-innovation piece. - **Titanium comfort.** Grade 5 titanium at ~82g wears featherlight — a different wearing experience from everything else I own (all steel). - **Size fits.** 38.7mm with a short 45.7mm lug-to-lug sits right in my 36–40mm preference. - **Real movement.** La Joux-Perret G101, Soigné grade, 68hr reserve — a proper Swiss movement, a step up from the Miyota/Seiko workhorses in my microbrand pieces. - **Won the head-to-head.** Chosen over anOrdain (enamel heritage craft) and Atelier Wen (guilloché + decorated movement) as the most distinctive and best-fitting art piece. Craft-as-*innovation* (Nordic texture) over craft-as-*heritage* (enamel). ## The Dial Straum's differentiator is nature-textured dials inspired by Nordic landscapes — basalt rock, glacial formations, and the aurora borealis. The Aurora Sky reproduces the northern-lights gradient with a chipped, faceted rock-like surface, so the color shifts with the light. The texturing process reportedly took over a year to develop and can't be reproduced synthetically — each dial has its own character. It's the same "dial as art" philosophy as anOrdain's fired enamel, but Nordic and textured-stone rather than Scottish and enamel. ## See Also - [[Microbrands]] — Straum brand profile + broader landscape - [[My Watch Collection]] - [[Watch Wish List]] — Art & Design category (this is the #1 priority pick) - [[Baltic MR Roulette]] — my other "dial as art" microbrand piece