Linde Werdelin SpidoLite II: Denmark Takes the Fight To Hublot
- The Linde Werdelin SpidoLite II is an avant garde luxury sports to challenge Hublot and Audemars Piguet.
- Big, bold, titanium, and skeletonized, it’s a look that embraces technology and makes a statement.
- The SpidoLite II is designed to interface with Linde Werdelin‘s Rock and Reef modular sports computers.
- Only 100 examples of the SpidoLite II were built- exclusivity comes standard.
- Available from watchuwant.com with full Linde Werdelin factory boxes, manuals, and documentation.
Linde Werdelin has no fear of giants. And in the luxury watch industry, giants are real.
They have names like Audemars Piguet, Hublot, and Panerai. In the rarefied realm of luxury sports watches, the only strategies to attack the industry titans are head-on or not at all. The Linde Werdelin SpidoLite II is a 300-style Spartan javelin-thrust at the heart of the sports watch establishment.
Launched in 2012 as an exclusive run of 100 units, the SpidoLite II debuted on the tenth anniversary of the Linde Werdelin enterprise.
Formed by businessman Jorn Werdelin and industrial artist Morton Linde in 2002, Linde Werdelin quickly established a reputation as a giant-killer. With no prior experience manufacturing watches, the company entered the ultra-competitive oversized sports watch segment with a double-barrel product polemic against the market leaders.
The company’s two lines, Oktopus and Spido, reflect company chieftain Jorn Werdelin’s personal passions: water and land sports, respectively. In the SpidoLite II, Linde Werdelin expanded on the product virtues that powered the company through its first decade of meteoric growth.
A massive titanium case sets the tone.
It measures 44mm wide by 46mm high, but its character is defined by a craggy biomechanoid style that would make H.R. Giger proud. Morten Linde arrived in the horology segment by way of modernist interior design. As a former design contractor to blue-chip sound wizards Bang & Olufsen, Linde’s pedigree included extensive experience with avant-garde machine aesthetics.
The SpidoLite II takes the basic form of its groundbreaking predecessor and adds extensive machined relief channels to the hulking carapace of the Spido line. Complex interplay of swells and voids echos Linde’s muses: rock formations, icy crags in the Swiss Alps, and thick bark on the evergreen trees of his native Denmark.
But the mechanical element of Linde Werdelin‘s wrist-borne “biomech tech” is undeniable.
Exposed hex-head bolts, visible seams between subassemblies, and a dial reminiscent of a jet turbine emphasize the primacy of the mechanical element within. In the modern age, quartz is king for rote time telling, but the song of the mechanical movement is an irresistible serenade to the luxury watch enthusiast.
A skeletonized dial and sapphire caseback deliver the goods. Linde Werdelin exposes both the front and the back of its custom-built LW04 automatic caliber. From the dial side (movement backside), the stencil-cut date wheel can be seen rotating under the impetus of a revolving movement spur at three o’clock.
Portions of the secondary wheel train can be viewed through the open expanses of the skeletal frame.
Through the sapphire caseback, Linde Werdelin‘s LW04 automatic caliber can be seen in its PVD treated glory.
The shade is keyed to match the hue of the titanium case, and the two major elements of the watch are visually unified to a degree rarely seen in the sector; most rivals treat movements with a blinding rhodium coating that clashes with subdued case tones. Linde Werdelin ensures that the drapes match the carpet. After all, Linde’s background includes interior design…
The LW04 itself is a 28,800 VpH unit designed and built for Linde Werdelin by Concepto Watch Factory of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The movement has been designed expressly for the kind of high-energy activities Jørn Werdelin himself enjoys when away from the office.
As the land sports pillar of the Linde Werdelin line, the SpidoLite II is expected to encounter shock, extreme temperatures, and occasional soakings.
To that end, each Linde Werdelin sports model is designed to interface with both of the company’s professional sports computers.
The SpidoLite II is no exception. Linde Werdelin‘s Reef and Rock computers are built to lock into the slotted “wings” that protrude from the case flanks at nine o’clock and three o’clock.
Both devices are fully digital, powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and stocked with more cutting-edge dive, skiing, and navigation technology than any mechanical device can muster. This offers luxury watch enthusiasts the best of both worlds: cutting edge safety tech when necessary and the romance of a mechanical watch when desired.
Linde Werdelin watches are built, finished, and tuned in Switzerland, but the company’s design ethic hails from Scandinavia.
In the tradition of another Danish design original – Legos – the Linde Werdelin SpidoLite II is highly modular. Besides the clever docking computers, LW‘s trademark is the range of accessory straps and buckles available for their watches. In a nod to strap-swapping accessory king Officine Panerai, Spido and Oktopus models are equipped with a two-bolt strap attachment that can be removed with ease by owners.
A simple hex key does the deed in a matter of seconds.
The Linde Werdelin website doubles as a web store where a huge array of straps can be selected to customize the SpidoLite II.
Different colors, leathers, textile, and rubber straps are available to fortify a SpidoLite II against salt water or civilize it for an upscale ensemble. Additional options include a variety of deployant and pin buckles in several different materials and colors.
watchuwant.com is pleased to offer this Linde Werdlin SpidoLite II with a full set of factory boxes, manuals, and documentation. The watch has been collector owned and presents as new. More than another player in a crowded segment, Linde Werdelin is a standout that thrives on exclusivity, innovation, and unpretentious élan. This boutique player from Copenhagen proves that you don’t need to be a giant to slay them.
