Hands-OnThe RZE Resolute 36

RZE has been around since 2020, and it's the sort of small brand that feels not only aligned with the enthusiast's perspective from 2025, but it's also a small brand that represents a successive generation, one that feels downstream of the brands (microbrands) many of us know and love. Their products, watches (mechanical or otherwise), along with a selection of EDC gear, feel like products designed by people who have tried everything on the market and wanted to build something a bit nerdier and specific (including a very cool collab with Fratello Watches back in March of 2024).

For the Resolute 36, that means a 36mm grade 2 titanium watch that is 9.5mm thick, has a lug-to-lug of 42.3mm, and has a surface coating called "UltraHex", which has a hardness rating of ~1200 Hv (compared to a usual hardness of 110-150Hv for grade 2 titanium). The brushed case is matched by a brushed titanium bracelet with the same hardness treatment. Total weight on the bracelet is around 90 grams (36mm for the case only), and you get 100 meters of water resistance, a screw down crown, a flat sapphire crystal with inside AR, a screwed case back, and a lug width of 20mm.

The Resolute 36 is offered in four dial colors: Waypoint (black), Halcyon (light blue), Tempo (red), and Mojito (green). Alongside the bracelet, there are optional quick-change rubber and textile straps. While we're deep in the specs, the bracelet has single-sided screws, a push-button fold-over clasp, tool-free quick-change solid end links, and RZE's own "QuikCliq" micro-adjustment built into the clasp. It matches the watch nicely and is easy to wear, easy to adjust, and can be swapped out with no fuss. In the event you want to fit your own 20mm straps, the Resolute 36 also has drilled lugs.

While the case and bracelet feel sporty and offer a modern spin on a field watch, the dial provides an additional spin all its own. It's a multilayered dial with applied indices and a textured outer sector. While I wouldn't call it "dressy", it's definitely more complicated, considered, and stylized than what we might see on a Hamilton Khaki Field or similar. Bearing RZE's "R" logo at 12 and two lines of spec text at 6, it's a nicely balanced no-date execution that has a special treat for anyone who loves lume. 

Hit the dial with a blast of bright light and you're treated to lume not only on the hands and the markers, but also on the frame of the inner dial and the outer minute track, including marks for 5 minutes and the complete minute scale. It's a treat to see on your wrist, underlining RZE's detail-driven approach. Despite the value-driven price point, the Resolute 36 does not wear like a "catalog special". 

Actually, I'd go as far as to say its on-wrist experience is quite uncommon, at least, at first. Not at all bad (for my wrist, quite good), but the thin and not especially large case is matched with quite wide lugs (20mm spacing on a 36mm case), so the watch has absolutely no weight shift or wobble on your wrist. It's balanced, lightweight, and very comfortable. Furthermore, if you fit it to the brand's rubber strap, it almost looks like a small Bell & Ross, with the black rubber commanding much of the presence and the lion's share of how the Resolute 36 sits on your wrist. The rubber option is molded to a soft curve at the lugs and is finished with a matching titanium buckle.

Inside, managing hours, minutes, and seconds, RZE has fitted the Miyota 9039, a reliable Japanese automatic movement from Miyota's premium line that ticks at 4 Hz, has a power reserve of 42 hours, and is just 3.9mm thick. It is a no-date movement that offers hacking and a stated accuracy range of -10 to +30 seconds per day. While your results may vary, and I am not a watchmaker, I put the example seen in this review on my Weishi 1900, and it averaged +4 seconds per day over six positions. The screwed down crown is large enough for easy use and feels securely connected to the rest of the watch. As mentioned, this is a no-date movement by design, so there's no "ghost" date position to worry about.

The Resolute 36 builds upon the existing RZE Resolute, which is a 40mm titanium field watch with a Miyota 90S5 movement, 100 meters of water resistance, and an enamel dial with applied markers. For those of you who have yet to scroll down to the price, the Resolute 36 has a retail price of $599 (before taxes and such).

Assuming you want what the Resolute 36 is offering on paper (and don't want to pony up for the enamel dial of the larger model), I can't imagine you're going to feel like the value isn't present in terms of the execution, specs, and nerdy details. Additionally, the watch is on a brief sale (36 hours from the launch), so you can get an even better deal if you want to move quickly. Pricing is one of the things that initially impressed me about RZE, as the UTD-8000 has a list price of $375 (not bad for a tough 200m water-resistant titanium digital watch with the UltraHex coating and the shock resistance – remember the mallet?). For the Resolute at $599, you get a two-year warranty and a 14-day money-back guarantee.

From my perspective, in digital or mechanical, RZE manages to bridge the original value statement of a microbrand (nerdy, enthusiast driven product with an aggressive price) while also feeling like a brand born out of the previous generations of enthusiast-driven brands (to name only few: Halios, Unimatic, Farer, Raven, Autodromo, Astor and Banks, Baltic, etc). Some of these well-known brands are approaching (or are already in) their second decade of existence. As such, the marketplace is now seeing 2nd (and even 3rd) generations of the microbrand ethos, born into a space where the microbrand playbook had already been ratified.

As my second experience with one of RZE's watches and my first with a mechanical option from the brand, I came away impressed by the completionist specs, the solid build quality, and even the price point. The Resolute 36 offers a solid value in 2025 for a non-conformist titanium field watch that has clearly been created by watch enthusiasts. 

For more information, visit RZE's website.