July 30, 2026 · Microbrand
Haim Watch Company is a Chicago outfit founded in 2020 by Zakir Miah — the brand name is literally his surname spelled backwards, which tells you something about how unfussy this operation has always been about itself. Microbrands are reliably good at value; they’re rarely good at genuine complication, because complications mean stepping outside whatever off-the-shelf movement the big suppliers happen to sell. For its fifth anniversary, Haim decided to stop working within those limits: the Annum is the brand’s second complication watch, and it’s built around Haim’s own custom module rather than anyone else’s caliber.
The complication itself is the whole story: a complete calendar — day, date, and month, all mechanically tracked and correcting themselves for most month lengths — paired with a moonphase display. That’s a combination normally reserved for watches costing several multiples of what Haim is charging here, and it’s running on Caliber HWC-2, the brand’s second fully customized movement following their worldtimer-equipped Viajero. It’s a genuine engineering statement dressed up as an anniversary release.
The case wears the complication well: 38mm wide, a compact 45mm lug-to-lug, and just 12mm thick despite everything stacked underneath the dial. The lugs are Haim’s own reinterpretation of the vintage “Cornes de Vache” (cow horn) shape, mixing sharp and rounded edges rather than copying the historical reference outright, finished in a mix of brushed and polished stainless steel. Three dial colorways launched together — Dark Cobalt and Stone White both in CNC guilloché, and a smoked-glass Fumée — each with applied markers and leaf-style hands leaning firmly neo-vintage rather than modern-tool-watch. An exhibition caseback shows off the finishing on Caliber HWC-2 itself, and the whole thing rides on a handmade French Epsom leather strap with quick-release spring bars and tone-on-tone stitching.
Water resistance sits at a dress-watch-appropriate 30m, with a push crown rather than a screw-down one, and the sapphire crystal carries five layers of anti-reflective coating. Caliber HWC-2 runs at 28,800 vph across 24 jewels with up to 42 hours of reserve, regulated to ±10 seconds a day — not chronometer-grade, but respectable for a first-generation in-house complication module. Retail is $2,149.99, and as of writing all three launch colorways show as sold out directly on Haim’s site, so this is one to track for a restock rather than an impulse buy right now.
My honest take
This is the strongest microbrand story I’ve come across in a while, because it actually threads three things that rarely go together: a genuine complication most brands wouldn’t attempt, a case that stays wearable at 38mm x 12mm rather than ballooning to fit the movement, and a price that, while not cheap for a microbrand, is genuinely believable next to what a complete calendar and moonphase would cost from an established Swiss house. Selling out across all three colorways at launch says the market agrees. Does a custom in-house complication from a five-year-old brand carry the same weight for you as one from a house with decades of pedigree, or is the movement’s origin still doing a lot of the convincing?
The short version
| Model | Annum (Dark Cobalt / Stone White / Fumée) |
| Case | 38mm x 12mm, 45mm lug-to-lug, stainless steel |
| Movement | Caliber HWC-2, complete calendar + moonphase, 24 jewels, 28,800 vph |
| Power Reserve | Up to 42 hours |
| Water Resistance | 30m (3 ATM) |
| Price | $2,149.99 (currently sold out across all colorways) |
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