The Elliot Brown Holton Auto GMT 101-A24 ‘Black Whiteout’:
The Storm Trooper that Doesn’t Miss
Disclaimer: Elliot Brown supplied this watch to me for this review. I did not pay for this watch nor was I paid to do this review. Elliot Brown graciously allowed me to keep the sample. The price of the watch as reviewed is $984 USD.
Introduction: It’s no secret that us folks here at the SBWC love Elliot Brown. They are tough watches, made by tough people, FOR tough people to do tough things in. Elliot Brown never misses and the “Black Whiteout” or “Storm Trooper” as it is internally referred to is no exception. If you stop reading beyond this point then just know: of course you should buy one. For those that are already initiated in the workings of the Elliot Brown catalog, Elliot Brown described the 101-A24 as the following:
“The yin to the OG WHITEOUT's yang... A fully “lumed dial in our matte gunmetal grey case. What's not to love?”
What’s not to love indeed. Before we dive into all there is to love with the 101-A24, let’s first go over a bit of brand history. I’m lazy so I am going to rip it straight from my previous article on the Beachmaster, another article and another watch you should definitely check out. “Elliot Brown opened their doors in 2013 after long time friends Ian Elliot and Alex Brown decided they wanted to start a watch brand that focused on making the most wearable, affordable and toughest watches on the planet. Elliot Brown’s watch designs are inspired by military service, the outdoors, extreme sports and the local natural environment of the United Kingdom.
Over the past 11 years, Elliot Brown has built a strong following for themselves amongst military and law enforcement personnel. They have a tidy catalog of models with a variation of colorways per model and a mix of automatic and quartz options. Additionally, Elliot Brown offers a myriad of strap and bracelet options all at great prices that enhance their watches well and allow customers to customize their Elliot Brown to their unique needs. Elliot Brown also offers a unique Military and Police “Special Project” service where units can create their own customized watches.”
The Holton itself, is the flagship and backbone of the Elliot Brown brand. It’s offered in multiple configurations and color ways. I think personally that the 101-A24 stands out as a shining beacon in the Elliot Brown catalog. No doubt due to it’s impressively executed full luminous dial. Of all the lumed dials that I have had the opportunity to handle over the years, this is by far the best example of what a full lume dial watch should be. It is almost perfect. I’ll touch on what I would change later on in the review.
Box and Packaging: The 101-A24 comes packed in Elliot Brown's standard packaging. The watch comes in a medium sized standard brown cardboard fold over box with the Elliot Brown logo located in the dead center of the top. Upon opening it up, I once again found a nice handwritten note from the Elliot Brown team located inside (a great personal touch that always makes the opening experience feel that much more personal). Seated inside was a simple fabric square Elliot Brown zip case. It feels well made and like a packaging worthy of such a tool watch.
Inside the zip case is the watch safely seated into the foam of the case. The watch is well protected and in the top of the zip case is a mesh pocket that holds all the papers that
accompany the watch.
Cut into the foam of the case on either side of the watch are slots for your bracelet tools. These are perfectly sized and fitted tools for sizing and changing your bracelet and strap. Personally, I think it’s a great touch that Elliot Brown includes these in the kit with the watch. They could easily make you pay extra to get the right tools and it’s fantastic that they give you all that you need to hit the ground running with your new timepiece. Overall, they packaging and unboxing experience gives you the sense that you are unboxing a piece of issued kit, but also something special. Bravo Elliot Brown.
Initial Impression: Once, I got to handle the 101-A24 I was immediately impressed by it’s weight and size. In a world where brands are scared to make thicker, heavier, larger diameter watches, Elliot Brown scoffs and makes unapologetically masculine watches. That’s not to say that it’s giant or unwearable. But the watch isn’t trying to be anything other than a utilitarian timekeeper that's meant to be put to the test.
Specs and Features:
● 43mm stainless case with matt gunmetal grey PVD coating
● Ultra high grip, 120 click uni-directional bezel with case-hardened luminous insert
● Scratch resistant 2mm sapphire crystal treated with internal anti-reflective coating
● Fully lumed dial with ultra bright X1 BGW9 Superluminova and X1 C3 hands, with printed solid black indices
● Japanese made Seiko NH34 automatic movement housed in EB's unique anti-shock system
● 40 hour power reserve
● Solid stainless easy change screw in steel strap bars
● Water resistant to 200m/660ft
● Durable EPDM fitted rubber strap
● Bolted down beautifully detailed caseback
● Triple sealed, high grip screw down crown, recessed out of harm's way at 4h
● 9H-3H 43mm excluding crown
● 12H-6H - 52mm max to tip of case shoulders
● Maximum thickness 14mm
● Rubber straps fit up to 190mm/7.5" wrist perfectly
● Our leather and webbing straps fit larger wrists, and metal bracelets can have any number of links added
Upon handling the Holton 101-A24,the dark matte gun metal PVD coated right away lets you know the watch means business. The high contrast of the white dial against the black case creates an incredibly cool effect that I have only ever seen in Tag Heuer's Night Diver and the Sinn’s fully lumed U-Series models. The fact that Elliot Brown is able to capture this contrasting effect so well and knocking it out of the park at a fraction of the price point is highly impressive.
Upon further review, I immediately begin to draw comparisons to the Tudor Pelagos. I did the same when I handled the Beachmaster previously. I think this is due to the fact that Elliot Brown has nailed the tool watch features, dimensions and esthetics. They make purpose built, utilitarian watches and as such they encompass design language that is derived from and focused on that niche of watch making. This is a good thing, Elliot Brown isn’t pretending to be anything. They are authentically themselves. Slab sides, 4 o'clock crown, unidirectional bezel with firm precise clicks and killer lug bars with a great bracelet. Huge win.
On the topic of lug bars, this is something that Elliot Brown has featured on all their professional watches and I think this is fantastic. Harkening back to the MOD/MIL watches of yore, this is an excellent feature that ensures you don’t lose your watch. Elliot Brown secures your strap/bracelet to the watch using a single sided screw bar that is threaded. They are thick and sturdy and inspire a high degree of confidence. It is great the tool required is included in the kit with the watch. The system that this style of screw bar most closely reminds me of is the ones found in Bettarini cased Panerai watches.
The hobnail knurled crown located at 4 o'clock feels perhaps a little small and fiddly to unscrew but it is firmly seated and recessed into the side of the case when screwed in. The knurling on the crown does make it easy to grip in all situations and environments. It unscrews smoothly and at no point does the crown feel like it is at any sort of risk of cross threading. Each click is firm and precise as you go through the various functions of the watch.
The 120 click 24 hour rotating GMT bezel of the watch is fantastic. Firm and planted with a strong positive click. It also features the hobnail knurling found on the crown. This allows for exceptional grip with wet or gloved hands. Additionally, the markings on the bezel are laser cut and filled with the same terrific lume that coats the dial. Allowing for the same level of time tracking capability under nocturnal conditions as during day time.
The caseback of the watch is nicely engraved with the Elliot Brown globe logo. It is bolted down instead of screwed onto the case. This allows for the proper vertical orientation of the logo on all casebacks. Additionally, this ensures proper compression of the gaskets of the watch and the veracity of the 200 meter depth rating, of which Elliot Brown individually tests each watch to its intended depth in order to ensure its quality and performance.
The crystal of the 101-A24 is flat sapphire with an internal anti-reflective coating. Simple, effective, to the point and most importantly… correct. If you want to see me get on my soapbox regarding AR coatings on crystals, check out some of my other articles.
Bracelet: The bracelet of the 101-A24 is decent. It isn’t anything exciting but it is about as good as you can ask for at the price point. Solid end links, 3 link design, screw pins, tapered 22mm to 20mm at the buckle. The bracelet features a twin push button clasp with ratcheting extension. This style of clasp can be found on many tool watch micro brands in this range. It is very good. Just uninspiring. What I do like is that Elliot Brown does their best to make it their own. They achieve this by featuring their logo engraved into the centre of the clasp, then fill it with green lume. This is something I had not seen before. While it doesn't do anything for the watch from a utilitarian point of view, it is one of those little things that when you look down and see your clasp glowing, it makes a little kid inside of you grin from ear to ear. This is my first time checking out one of Elliot Brown's bracelets, and I think it is a great accompaniment to the watch.
If you’re a strap guy instead, Elliot Brown offers their EPDM rubber strap which is flush mounted to the case and is extremely comfortable. You’ll note in my previous review, I found these straps hard to get off due to the tip of the long end having a bit of an acute step that keeps the trap locked onto your wrist. It's a great feature until it’s the end of the day and you want to take your watch off. But in all other respects, it is about as good of an OEM rubber strap as you can get and the bucks is superb.
Movement: The movement inside of the 101-A24 is the venerable and well loved Seiko NH34. It is a fantastic and readily available automatic “caller” GMT. The NH34 is made in Japan and Elliot Brown houses the movement inside of their unique anti-shock system. Seiko’s accuracy standards come in at an unimpressive -20/+40 seconds per day. However, I’ve yet to come across one of these movements that performs that poorly and I get the sense that Elliot Brown probably does some of their own internal timekeeping checks and regulations before putting these out the door. My example gains around 4 seconds a day. All in all its a great utilitarian movements that is made to last forever, is easy to replace or service and already has a long storied history in the watch space despite its relatively short existence as far as movements go. It’s the perfect movement for a watch like the Holton GMT.
Dial/Hands/Lume: So up to this point in the review, we have touched on the basics of the watch’s features. Most of these are consistent with the rest of the Holton range in
the Elliot Brown catalog. Now it is time to get into the details that make the 101-A24 unique. The dial, hands and lume. Let’s start off with the dial. The dial is fantastic.
A stark white that stands strong contrast to the gun metal case. The dial is split up into 12 markers, with numerals marking each cardinal point of the dial. All markings are in black with the exception of the 12 o’clock marker which stands out in bright red in the form of a vertically oriented triangle. Text on the dial is kept to a minimum. Under the 12 on the dial is the Elliot Brown “EB” logo. Above the 6 on the dial are the words “Elliot Brown” with “Automatic” below that. At the very bottom of the dial, below the 6 o’clock marker is the depth rating of the watch. All text is in black. The dial is coated in X1 BGW9 lume which results in an intense blue glow.
The hands of the Holton are one of my favourite features. They are rife with British watchmaking history and are a feast for the eyes. The hour and minute hands are a beautiful set of black bordered sword hands that are reminiscent of the MOD-spec watches that we still see in use today. The second hand is split into two parts. The tail half of the second hand is white with a lollipop counterbalance on it. The tip end of the second hand is black with a spear tip at the end with a red needle protruding further beyond the tip of the spear.
The red of the second hand matches the triangle on the dial. Elliot Brown is awesome about details like that. The main 3 hands are all covered in X1 green C3 Luminova. The GMT has a white step that leads to a perfect representation of the British “Crows foot” symbol as the end of the hand. This is a great throwback feature to British military history and also looks just plain badass. Especially in the form of the black hand against the pure white dial.
The lume of the watch is its most impressive feature. As if the 101-A24 wasn't already a feast for the eyes during the day time, in the darkness is where it really could show off its beauty. When the lights go out, we are able to see how all the contrast and colour combinations come together to create a highly legible nighttime capable watch. The black numbers, text, GMT hand and markers on the dial all create a negative image against the glowing blue of the BGW9 dial. The hour, minute and second hand all contrast in green against the blue dial. The black borders of the hands also assist in sharpening up the image of the hands against the dial, allowing for great readability. Elliot Brown killed it with this design and it’s no easy feat. They should be proud.
Final Thoughts: The Elliot Brown Holton GMT Automatic 101-A24 is more than just a long name. It’s a fantastic tool watch day or night with some deeply impressive specs. It has a unique look that is rare and achieved only by much more expensive brands. The high contrast look of the watch and negative lume display allows for users to enjoy a watch that feels like something special.
One thing I would change, and this is just personal preference, is the hour, minute and second hands. Instead of opting for sword hands with a different coloured lume, I would rather see Elliot Brown push the boundaries of further committing to the night time operability spec of the watch. I’d love to see a variant of this watch with fully blacked out hands. This would allow for the contrast to be even higher in the dark and would not negatively impact the day time time keeping in any way. Again, this is personal preference. The hands are still high contrast thanks to the black borders around them and the different color lume and they have more mass appeal and under the radar look with the standard style hands. Just my two cents. Either way this watch is a win. If you’re a lume freak or just want something different in your watch collection, you should get one.
Keep an eye out for something special this coming April 15th. The SBWC and Elliot Brown have something special in store for you.