The eponymous Italian brand Giuliano Mazzuoli released the latest version of its much-loved Manometro watch this summer: the Camouflage. Founder Mazzuoli started his career as a typographer. Coming from a family of designers, Mazzuoli took over his late father’s printing business and, alongside the sub-contracted printing work (mainly catalogues), in 1993 produced a limited-edition agenda book of his own design.

Finding success with his agendas – New York’s Museum of Modern Art even commissioned some for its gift shop – Mazzuoli went on to design and make a range of pens and pencils. Initially comprising two lines, one inspired by workshop tools and the other Moka coffee pots, the pen-making part of the business is still going strong and is currently run by Mazzuoli’s sons Emiliano and Tomasso. After writing instruments, Mazzuoli turned his attention to wristwatches, launching the original Manometro in 2004.

As with his previous designs, for his watches Mazzuoli wanted to break from convention. Instead of looking to existing timepiece design, he chose to draw inspiration from a pressure gauge. The word “manometro”, in fact, translates to pressure gauge in English. Designed in Mazzuoli’s Tuscan workshop, the watches of the intervening years have included several other timepieces such as the Contagiri (inspired by a rev counter), the Carrara (featuring a marble case) and the Cemento (with a concrete case). But Manometro has always been the flagship collection.

The new Manometro Camouflage is a time-only watch with three hands from the centre, a chunky 45.5mm x 13.5mm case, offset winding crown at 2 o’clock (a signature of the Manometro collection), and is powered using the trusty ETA 2824 movement. The camouflage pattern is found on the case and is available in four different colours – forest green, navy blue, desert beige and urban black. With the dial and strap of each respective watch in a complementing colour.

The Camouflage’s case is hand-made in Mazzuoli’s Florentine, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa laboratories using a composite material of coloured resin in a highly labour-intensive process. The colours are achieved using pigments extracted from stones and minerals and have a high resistance to both light and heat. We at Revolution have a weakness for Giuliano Mazzuoli’s watches, in particular the Manometro collection. And the Camouflage is a great addition to the brand’s already charming line-up.