July 12, 2026 · Microbrand
Studio Underd0g isn’t really a watch brand in the traditional sense — it’s a design studio that happens to make watches, founded in March 2020 by Richard Benc, a product designer who spent six years at Braun before deciding the watch industry needed to loosen up. He built the first prototype from his flat in Brighton during lockdown, and the debut Watermel0n chronograph — a pink-and-green dial that looked more like a summer cocktail than a serious timepiece — sold out almost instantly. That’s the whole thesis: watches can be technically serious and visually ridiculous at the same time, and collectors, it turns out, were starving for permission to enjoy that combination.
The 02Series is the brand’s answer to the classic field watch, originally launched in 2023 as a deliberate change of pace from the brand’s chronograph-heavy first collection — inspired loosely by a theoretical 1945 Ministry of Defence brief and the famous Dirty Dozen military watches, but filtered through Underd0g’s usual multi-layer sapphire dial construction. This second generation makes two changes that matter more than the marketing copy lets on. First, the movement: out goes the original Sellita SW210-1 with its 42-hour reserve, in comes the newer Sellita SW200-2 M Power+, a hand-wound caliber running at 28,800 vph with 26 jewels and hacking seconds, rated for a genuinely weekend-proof 63 hours. Second, the case: diameter creeps up slightly to 37.5mm, but overall thickness drops from 12mm to 11.5mm (just 9.4mm without the double-domed sapphire crystal), a real ergonomic improvement rather than a spec-sheet vanity metric.
Two new dial colorways join the lineup — Nightshade, a deep purple with red accents, and Red L0lly, a cherry-hued sunburst — alongside the returning Pink Lem0nade and Steffany Blue, all built on the brand’s signature seven-layer lume construction under a tinted sapphire disc. Each gets its own matching leather strap from The Strap Tailor, and the screw-down caseback carries an embossed jellyfish motif, a nod to the fact that over half of jellyfish species are bioluminescent — the same trick the dial pulls off after dark. All assembly and regulation now happens in-house at The D0ghouse, the Reading workshop Underd0g acquired earlier this year, which is part of why a brand barely five years old can already claim finishing and consistency that punches well above its price bracket.
Specs
| Model | 02Series Gen2 |
| Diameter | 37.5mm |
| Caliber | Sellita SW200-2 M Power+ (hand-wound) |
| Power Reserve | 63 hours |
| Price | $1,200 |
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