Worn & Wound
Brew Introduces the Metric Digital Blend, an Analog-LED Espresso Timer
Brew founder Jonathan Ferrer has been making “coffee timers” for years now. It’s a well established if not definitional part of his watch brand. Inspired by coffee culture, most Brew watches over the years have some mechanism to highlight the passing of 30 seconds, considered by most to be the ideal amount of time needed to pull the perfect espresso shot. I think just about everyone, including Jonathan, would agree that this timing mechanism works well as a brand signature, but that, for the most part, owners of Brew watches purchase them without thinking that they will definitely use it for coffee timing. It’s like buying a chronograph with a tachymeter scale – it’s there, you may even know exactly how to use it, but your enjoyment of the watch doesn’t derive from actively timing laps. That said, there are certainly some collectors, and perhaps professional baristas, who find real practicality in these coffee timers. But you’ll sometimes hear a common refrain: the analog means of timing a 30 second interval might not be the most user friendly in a pinch. Enter, the Metric Digital Blend, one of the most surprising watches we’ve seen this year. Housed in a familiar stainless steel Metric case, the Digital Blend is Brew’s first ana-digi watch, a throwback to the 1980s, and perhaps a truly useful espresso timer. Taking advantage of an LED display, the Digital Blend’s 30 second timer can be activated at the push of a button, with a helpful visual aid ...
