Game of Thrones has been no stranger to beautiful tie-in merchandise over the years. These have ranged from the quaint, like dragon egg cookie jars or beer steins marked with the sigils of great houses, to outright stunning, like the life-sized replicas of the series' iconic Valyrian steel swords. The quality has varied, as could be expected, but when all is said and done there's some sort of Game of Thrones item to fit most any desire these days.
One of the latest, and perhaps one of the nicer that I've seen, is Filippo Loreti's new watch collection. Shortly after the debut of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the luxury watch company known for its beautiful themed pieces and (relatively) affordable prices announced its House Stark chronograph collection, in official partnership with HBO. The two watches — Frostborn Blue and Winterfell Grey — feature beautiful imagery that pays homage to House Stark, including a direwolf head icon at 12 o'clock on the watch face, time-telling hands shaped like the Valyrian steel sword Ice, an engraving of the Stark family house words "Winter Is Coming" on the bezel, and a direwolf and weirwood inscription on the back.
I was sent one of these watches (Frostborn Blue) for the purposes of reviewing it. And while I was not necessarily a watch guy before — and certainly not the type to drop a bunch of money on an expensive one — I think I might be converted, because these things are gorgeous, functional, and feel great to wear. Let's get into the details.
Winter Is Coming...so you may as well know what time it'll arrive
While there are some visual differences between the two models, which you can compare in the images throughout this review, the features themselves are the same. These watches are constructed of a stainless steel case that's 42 millimeters in diameter and around 13 millimeters thick, so there's a solid heft to them that feels good in your hand and even better on your wrist. They come with two high quality leather straps — one brown and one white — which you can interchange for your preferred look. The strap also has a stainless steel buckle, as well a direwolf sigil etched into the leather so that no matter what color you choose, no one will mistake your allegiance.
The watch face is protected by a sapphire lens to protect it from damage and the elements, and the time-keeping is powered by VK64 premium meca-quartz. The specifications for these watches say that they are water resistant down to 100 meters, but you'd have to be crazy to test that too far. Make no mistake, this is a piece meant as a collector's item, and while it is certainly comfortable enough for every day wear, it's not the sort of thing I'd take on an outdoor excursion like a hike through the jungle. There are no jungles in the North! Although there is snow, and I would certainly trust it to hold up against the summer snows at the very least.
In addition to the main watch, there are also two silver chronograph counters, and a date counter at 6 o'clock on the face that has a fun weirwood icon for the first day of the month. One chronograph works with the stopwatch function of the watch, while the other tracks the 24-hour cycle of the day. Figuring out how to use the various chronographs and features did take me a minute, and the watch unfortunately does not come with any instruction manual. That said, it only has three buttons with a few different functions, which makes sorting things out by trial and error fairly simple.
As mentioned at the top, the biggest accent pieces on the watch are the big direwolf sigil right at the top of the face, and the Valyrian steel sword hands of the clock itself. The "Winter Is Coming" engraving at the top of the case is also very nice, and combined with the direwolf on the strap, you can rest assured that you'll be seeing some sort of visually pleasing Game of Thrones iconography no matter what angle you look at these watches from.
The main difference between the Frostborn Blue and Winterfell Grey is the background of the watch face, and the two chronographs. On the Frostborn Blue, the chronographs feature a sleek ripple effect and the blue background is meant to simulate the frozen landscape of the North. The Winterfell Grey features a dark gray background and two "thousand-year-old" towers on the chronographs, meant to represent the imposing nature of Winterfell as a fortress capable of holding back anything the frigid Northern winters can throw at it.
While these aesthetics come down to personal preference, the one constant is that these are high quality watches that work extremely well, feature some beautiful nods to the noble house at the heart of Game of Thrones, and are striking enough to fill your nerdy friends with envy.
What's in the box?
Filippo Loreti's mission is to create luxury style watches for a more affordable, inclusive price point. They are still expensive though, retailing at $299, but compared to the sort of eye-watering prices most premium watch makers charge, it does make them quite a bit more accessible. They have a number of different tie-in watches outside of Game of Thrones as well, including Marvel, D.C., and Star Wars. And of course, they also have a number of original collections that aren't tied to any media, but are just designed to look ridiculously stylish.
The House Stark watches come in a collector's box which includes a card insert with the likes of Jon Snow, Sansa, Arya, Robb, and Ned Stark. Rickon is too young for these sorts of watches, and I guess Bran doesn't need one, owing to his omniscient Three-Eyed Raven powers. What is time, when you can see visions from the past, present, and future at your leisure?
Jokes aside, the box is a nice keepsake that also doubles as a way to store the extra strap or watch when you're not using it. Obviously if you're the sort of person to go in on collector's items like this one, you're probably also the sort to save the box for it, and this is one you'll probably want to add to a shelf of prized Westeros-themed merch.
All in all, I've spent around a week-and-a-half with one of these watches, and have enjoyed using it immensely. For Game of Thrones fans who love House Stark, are into watches, or have the never-ending drive and disposable income to expand your collection of Westerosi treasures, they're very much worth a look.
You can find out more about Filippo Loreti's House Stark chronograph collection watches on their website.