Vestal MicroDAT v.8

Today is my 4th of my Vestal watches, and is maybe one of their most well known (and sought after) designs.

The Vestal brand has been around since 1997, when it was started by David Bonaventura in California. They make all manner of watches, eye wear, soft goods, and accessories with the themes of image and style, and they are marketed by music culture linked artists, bands, and sports personalities.

This model is the MicroDAT, or more specifically the MicroDAT v.8. It is a large heavy metal design with a face resembling a music cassette (or maybe a Digital Audio Tape). It came in various colours, and this is the steel model with a pearl face (which one site stated was a limited version).

The watch is a 3 hand dial design, and has a date marker at the 3 o'clock position. The face is wide, and has two additional dials at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions which are used for a little stopwatch function (seconds and minutes) which runs using the buttons above and below the crown.

It is a large and chunky watch with quite a weight as it is large and made of metal. I have quite a small wrist, and although it is so large, the strap design means it isn't overwhelming. The strap is stainless steel as well, and has the Vestal name on the clip.

The MicroDAT came out in the mid 2000s and the first references seem to be about 2006, but the watch isn't available anymore. This design also was part of quite a few websites top 10 cool geeky watch lists in the late 90s (which is why I think it is one of the most well known models).