The IFL Watches X Maen Manhattan 37 Graffiti is a Tribute to NYC
I’ve seen a lot of collaborations recently. From Swatch and Omega to Kaws and Audemars Piguet, it seems like collaborations are in vogue. But there might not be a recent collaboration I like more than the newest collab beetween IFL Watches and Maen. The Maen Manhattan has always had the Big Apple and its art deco architecture as its inspiration. Now with the Graffiti, Maen has expanded beyond the single borough of Manhattan to pay tribute to the entire city. From Brooklyn to the Bronx and even Queens, the newest Manhattan uses hand painted Graffiti to offer something incredibly unique and fun. Let’s get into it.
For me, the Manhattan Graffiti hits home, quite literally. I have made NYC my home for the last 16 years. And I have lived all over the city, from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well other New York City boroughs and neighborhoods are all displayed dial-side in a bright array of colors, hand-painted to look like graffiti by IFL Watches’ artists. And the result, I think, is the best collaboration IFL Watches has done to date.
The canvas for the collaboration is the Maen Manhattan. I must say that the Manhattan 37 is one of the best stainless steel integrated bracelet watches to be released in recent years. Some may note the similarities to the Patek Philippe Cubitus (and the Nautilus), but the Manhattan actually predates the Cubitus. Released in 2022, the Manhattan has become somewhat of an icon in the microbrand community (so much so that we included it in our 40 best microbrand watches guide).
Getting into the details, the Manhattan 37 is 37mm in diameter by 47mm lug-to-lug and 9.3mm thick. Due to its modest size and thin case, it is very wearable by most wrist sizes. I felt that it was a great fit on my 6.75 inch wrist. Even with a square/tonneau-esque case, it doesn’t wear overly large. This is due to the fact that Maen decided to stay well under 40mm in diameter, but also the integrated bracelet drapes around the wrist closely.
The bracelet is a fairly standard 3 link bracelet, but due to some space between links, it is very flexible and wears comfortable on the wrist. It has a nice chamfer and polish on all sides of each link and has a nice taper. I am also happy to report that, in addition to it being very comfortable, the Manhattan 37 uses a screws to remove links, which I find infinitely better than a pin adjustment system. The bracelet has a nice butterfly deployant, with the logo visible. It is very nice, but comes at the expense of a microadjustment. I know microadjustments are rare among integrated bracelet designs, particularly because they can interrupt the flow of the bracelet. But I do think it would be nice if a future iteration of the Manhattan had one.
As I already discussed, the Manhattan has a rounded rectangular case shape. Well before the Cubitus was released, collectors noticed the similarities between the Manhattan’s case and that of the Nautilus. Perhaps the most notable similarity are the “ears” on both the Manhattan and the Nautilus. While there does seem to be some inspiration there, I wouldn’t call the Manhattan a retread, and clearly it stands on its own. Like a Nautilus or Royal Oak, the bezel is octagonal. So while there is some art deco design elements in the Manhattan, there is a lot of 1970s sport watch in the design as well. If you are looking for a integrated bracelet design, but don’t want to spend the money for a Royal Oak, Nautilus, or even a Octo Finissimo, the Manhattan clearly is a worthy option.
I’ve spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of the the Manhattan generally, and not the collaboration with IFL Watches. But the real star of the show is the hand-painted dial. Instead of the more traditional horizontally striped dial on previous models, this collaboration has a hand-painted “graffiti” dial. Graffiti art originated in New York in the 1970s. So it makes sense that the collaboration would celebrate New York City using an art-form that arose in the city during the same period integrated bracelet sport watches first appeared.
Painted onto the black dial are famous locations in New York City. Brooklyn, Queens, Wall Street, Harlem, NYC, and Manhattan are all present on the dial, in different bright colors. It may make the dial a little less legible, but its worth it for the artistry. And let’s be honest, it’s not less legible than your typical skeleton dial watch would be. I think it will definitely be a conversation piece. It is nice to see microbrands like Maen, and upstart IFL Watches leading the way on interesting collabs.
The Maen Manhattan 37 Graffiti is Swiss made and runs on the Sellita SW200-1 movement. It has 38 hours of power reserve and beats at 28,800 bph/4Hz. It also has a respectable 100 meters of water resistance. More than enough for an integrated bracelet sport watch. The caseback is closed, so you aren’t offered a view of the movement. I understand this choice as the standard SW200 movement doesn’t warrant a display caseback. However, given that the collaboration is being sold at a fairly sizable premium to a standard Manhattan, maybe a higher grade SW200 movement with display caseback would be nice. However, since the dial is the real talking point of this watch, I am not that concerned.
As I said before, the IFL Watches X Maen Manhattan Graffiti is one of my favorite collaborations to be introduced in 2024. It has a lot going for it. It uses a highly popular watch as the canvas, and is modified in a way that doesn’t seem superfluous and makes sense. I often see collaborations that appear to come out of nowhere and just make me scratch my head. This is not that watch. And it just looks really good. The Maen X IFL Watches Manhattan Graffiti retails for $1,249 USD and will be available for purchase for just 24 hours on November 25, 2024.
