Wolfgang Steinkrüger, the creative mind behind the elelgant replica watch brand Sothis, died recently, his legacy a series of highly recognisable and playful replica watches with an Egyptian influence. Although the brand started under another name, its founders Wolfgang and Karina Steinkrüger changed its name to Sothis, the Egyptian name for the star Sirius, in 1999.
In this post we look at one of his most well-known models, the Horus.
Horus was the ancient Egyptians’ patron god, usually depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing a red and white crown. The Horus chronograph was produced in three versions – with an ivory/ silver dial, a matte black/ anthracite, and silver guilloche, each in a limited (numbered) edition of 200.
This is one of the ivory/ silvered dialled iterations (featured on the cover of Wristwatch Annual 2007). The black/ anthracite and silver guilloche versions are slightly more dressy.
With the time indicated via a single 24-hour hand tipped at the ends with a sun and a star, the Horus has a quirky way of indicating both time and day/ night. The hand indicates the time and the star or sun indicates night or day. Time is shown in 5 minute increments and it takes 24 hours to do one complete revolution.
In addition, the star on the dial rotates with the running seconds.
The crown has a distinctive engraved hieroglyph for ‘Sothis’.
Unlike the hours and minutes display, the chronograph is more traditional.
As you can tell from the specs below, this is a replica watch with a decent amount of height to it. With the bracelet, it weighs 175g. It’s not uncomfortable, but with the thickness, you can definitely feel every bit of its 44mm size.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Reference: 026001-W
Movement: Automatic Valjoux ETA 7750, customised by SOTHIS, engraved gold plated rotor
Functions: hours, minutes, date, chronograph
Case: Stainless steel L 316
Crystal : sapphire on both sides
Water resistance : 5 atm
Size: 44 mm.
Height : 13.9 mm
Dial: matte black/ anthracite, ivory/ silver or silver guilloche
Strap: leather strap with deployment buckle, stainless steel bracelet
Limited edition: 200 pieces
With its distinctive design, this replica watch may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re looking for a fun quirky chronograph from a brand that likes to do something different design-wise, it is still possible to find some of these, even in Australia, where they have an AD.
The future of Sothis is still uncertain; Karina issued a press release about it that you can view here.