Lets face it, in the world of vintage watches, we attach ourselves to the household brand stories that have been told time and time again. What prospective microbrands have to offer is entirely different and honestly, a breath of fresh air. The best part however, is that we get to watch and experience in real-time their own brand story unfold before our very eyes.

One small independent brand that has always been on our radar is Monta. Their aesthetic, at this point, is pretty well defined. They make rugged, yet refined tool watches that have vintage-inspired designs, with splashes of color and distinguishable design cues unique to the brand. The finishing is notably precise on their cases, with gorgeous bevels on the lugs and bezels, crisp brushing throughout, and their ‘sword’ hands have become something of a trademark and speak directly to our soul. You can already see why we’re fans of the St. Louis-based brand.

When the Monta Atlas GMT released in 2019, it was an outlier in the landscape of microbrand travel watches. The Atlas GMT didn’t have a robust case profile, nor did it sport a rotating 24-hour bezel. It was simple and sleek. And more importantly, functional.

All Atlas variants utilize a nearly perfectly sized 38.5mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal, a gorgeous brushed bezel with a polished edge, and a signed, stylized screw-down crown. Inside, it features a luminous ‘opaline’ silver dial with applied indices, a grey rehaut with a printed 24-hr scale, a matching ‘sword’ handset and Monta’s ‘stepped’ GMT hand, which at first, was a solution for the second hour hand to clear each hour marker as it makes its revolution, but now is a hallmark design cue for the Atlas.

Attention-to-detail is a constant theme here and that continues with how Monta executes their stainless steel bracelets. This Monta Atlas GMt is fitted with an oyster-style steel bracelet equipped with fully-articulating links and a signed fliplock clasp with a built-in quick-adjust system. The Atlas GMT uses an M-23 automatic winding 24-hr movement, which uses the venerable ETA 2893-2 as the base.

Our piece of advice – get your hands on one. Usually the first couple of seconds with a Monta in hand is followed by someone saying, “This really feels well made.” The quality is there. The aesthetics are there. And the founders of Monta are always just a message away.

This piece, as with all Montas, have to be handled and worn to be fully-appreciated!

So do yourself a favor, snag this one before it's gone.