I want to let you in on a secret of mine: As I was preparing to attend my first Windup in October of 2023, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t make any impulse watch purchases at the fair. In all honesty, I was still pretty new to watches at the time, and I wanted to make sure I fully understood both the watch’s mechanics and the brand I was buying from before committing to a purchase. Making it through that first fair unscathed, I decided this self-imposed restriction was pretty smart. After coming on staff and being wonderfully overwhelmed working those first Windups, I managed to keep that internal promise for over a year before I finally made my first purchase last year in Dallas.
Having learned a ton from working my first fair (namely, wear good shoes and drink way more water than you think you need), I went into Chicago with an entirely different game plan. While the primary goal was and still is to capture the moments that make Windup so special, I also wanted to start meeting the people behind the brands that I’d heard so much about. In doing so, I found myself chatting with the crew from Elliot Brown Watches. At the time, I hadn’t heard of the brand (or many others in the room, to be honest), but it was the fact that they stood in front of their booth, rather than behind it, that drew me in. While I didn’t walk away with anything this time, I started paying attention to their brand as they released the Arne, a Founder’s edition of the Beachmaster, and then began teasing something new through a cryptic Instagram post.
What followed was a watch that I never expected but couldn’t stop thinking about: the Holton Automatic GMT Black Whiteout. Designed as the dark version of their first Whiteout model, the Black Whiteout features a gunmetal PVD case, a lumed 24-hour bezel, and is built on a Seiko NH34 movement. Its defining feature is the fully lumed dial that glows an icy blue for hours when fully charged. While the Holton had already been on the shortlist for my next watch purchase, seeing photos of the Black Whiteout put it in the top slot, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d be adding one to my collection.
At this point, it’s been almost a year since I bought this Holton, and I’ve developed a pretty strong attachment to it for a few different reasons. First off, the full lume dial and black numerals make reading this watch an absolute breeze when in dark/dim environments. When I’m in the studio, I like to keep things pretty dark, with only my photography lights on as I work. I have several watches with great lume, but having a fully lumed dial that will stay charged for hours is a different experience. Even outside of the studio or other dark environments, the white dial is just distinctly different from other watches I own. As you might expect with a fully lumed dial watch, it’s absurdly bright when fully changed and lasts for hours. On many occasions, I’ve gone to sleep with the lume charged and woken up to a soft blue glow coming off the dial.
Another reason I’ve developed such an attachment to this watch is just how much I wear it. Even with owning my personal grail watch and some other pretty fantastic pieces, I find myself gravitating towards this watch daily, and it was easily my most-worn watch of 2025. It’s much too early to say if the Black Whiteout will claim the title of most worn again in 2026, or if something else will usurp it, but I can confidently say that this watch will be on my wrist quite often.
One other thing that makes this watch one of my favorites is the GMT complication. Whether I’m traveling, my significant other is traveling, or it’s just another day in the office, I usually need to track at least one additional timezone, if not several. Sure, I could add trackers on my phone or computer, but where’s the fun in that? With this watch being powered by an NH34, it functions as a caller style GMT, meaning that there’s an independently adjustable 24 hour hand that you use to track an additional timezone, rather than a traveler’s GMT where you track your home time with the 24 hour time, adjusting local time on a jumping hour hand. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I use this exactly like you’d expect: tracking my local time with the three hand display, and a secondary time zone with the fourth hand. I know that people typically refer to the traveler’s GMT as the “true” GMT movement, but for what I’m doing, the caller style movement is better for me.
Putting aside my personal preferences and design tastes, the Holton can physically take a beating and keep on ticking. Among the team, we’ve all joked about bringing an additional watch (like we weren’t bringing multiples already) for Windup load in/out, just in case our watch gets banged around, and this has become my first choice. Since picking this watch up in Dallas a year ago, it’s been the only watch on my wrist while setting up and tearing down events, replacing the 5600 G-SHOCK series I used to wear. For those days, I prefer having the Holton on a simple nylon strap, with my two personal favorites being the Elliot Brown ZA: STRIPE strap, and a Watches of Espionage Five Eye in dark green. Despite some rather nasty knocks (and even a drop), the Holton continues to keep time, and it looks just about brand new. While I haven’t managed to scuff the case, I’ve noticed that the lume in the bezel has started to show some yellowing, which I personally love and gives the watch a splash of character. Here’s a side-by-side image of my Holton, with one pulled from the shop so you can see what I’m talking about.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that I absolutely love my ‘trooper” Holton, but it’s not the perfect watch for everyone. If you have never handled a Holton, let me tell you that they aren’t small. Coming in at 43mm diameter and 56mm lug to lug, this is a big watch with a lot of wrist presence. I don’t wear a lot of tightly cuffed shirts, but this watch does occasionally get snagged on a jacket or sweatshirt sleeve. It’s not a deal breaker for me, it’s just part of wearing a watch that was designed to be legible and extremely rugged.
In my opinion, Elliot Brown is one of those IYKYK brands: fans and watch enthusiasts most likely know of the brand and might be curious about it already, while other people on the street are less likely to know exactly what it is. The “glowing blue disc on my wrist” might draw some eyes in a dark room, but I’ve never felt like it drew any unwanted attention on the street. Sure, the Holton might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s one of my favorites in my collection and it does everything I need it to do. Elliot Brown
Garrett Jones
2026-02-19 15:00:00