Brew founder Jonathan Ferrer has been making “coffee timers” for years now. It’s a well established if not definitional part of his watch brand. Inspired by coffee culture, most Brew watches over the years have some mechanism to highlight the passing of 30 seconds, considered by most to be the ideal amount of time needed to pull the perfect espresso shot.
I think just about everyone, including Jonathan, would agree that this timing mechanism works well as a brand signature, but that, for the most part, owners of Brew watches purchase them without thinking that they will definitely use it for coffee timing. It’s like buying a chronograph with a tachymeter scale – it’s there, you may even know exactly how to use it, but your enjoyment of the watch doesn’t derive from actively timing laps. That said, there are certainly some collectors, and perhaps professional baristas, who find real practicality in these coffee timers. But you’ll sometimes hear a common refrain: the analog means of timing a 30 second interval might not be the most user friendly in a pinch.
Enter, the Metric Digital Blend, one of the most surprising watches we’ve seen this year. Housed in a familiar stainless steel Metric case, the Digital Blend is Brew’s first ana-digi watch, a throwback to the 1980s, and perhaps a truly useful espresso timer. Taking advantage of an LED display, the Digital Blend’s 30 second timer can be activated at the push of a button, with a helpful visual aid on the screen (a percolating coffee cup). No seconds hand to track – just a digital countdown.
Time is told through an analog display covering the top two-thirds of the dial, with the LED screen below it. The visual language of previous Brew watches is carried over to the Metric Digital Blend, and I think Jonathan deserves credit here for making this watch feel coherent with others in the lineup. That’s the mark of a talented designer.
This is an incredibly straightforward but also very fun execution of the Brew concept, and seeing it come to life, it’s one of those watches that we kind of can’t believe didn’t already exist. For those of us who can remember the early 1990s, these types of ana-digi watches were really everywhere, so they’ll always feel like a throwback, the best kind of comfort food, if you’re of a certain age. I imagine they are a little more exotic to a younger audience, but this style of watch is so charming, I’m sure they’ll be won over just the same.
The new Metric Digital Blend has a retail price of $425, and is available beginning today through the Brew website.
Zach Kazan
2025-09-29 14:00:00