Back in April, Shinola posted a photo of a non-existent watch on its Instagram account as a playful April Fools’ joke. Named the Runlate, the hypothetical timepiece was a rendition of its flagship Runwell model that swapped out each one of the hour markers for the word “LATE” on its dial. While the caption for that original April Fools’ post closed with the words,replica watches “coming to Shinola stores never” as a playful reminder that the post was intended to be a joke, that original statement has turned out to not entirely be true.
Following an overwhelming number of responses from people saying that they would actually like to own the watch pictured in the Instagram post, Shinola has turned its April Fools’ joke into a reality, and as its latest new release of 2023, the Detroit-based brand has created a real-life version of the Shinola Runlate watch that will be available to the public as a limited edition of just 100 examples.
From an external case perspective, the new Shinola Runlate is essentially the exact same watch as the brand’s classic 41mm Runwell model, which means that it features a circular case crafted from polished stainless steel that measures 41mm in diameter by 10.1mm-thick. Just like the brand’s standard Runwell watches, the new limited edition Shinola Runlate features a double domed sapphire crystal above its dial, a solid screw-on caseback engraved with each watch’s serial number, and a signed pumpkin-shaped crown at 3 o’clock that screws down to the case in order to help guarantee the model’s 50 meters of water resistance.
Just like the standard 41mm Runwell model, the wire-style lugs of the limited-edition Shinola Runlate are set 20mm apart, and they are connected to the caseback structure of the watch, instead of just being integrated into the shape of the middle case. Since the lugs stick out from the bottom of the watch and further curve downward, the Runlate benefits from having a very flat caseback profile, and this allows the case itself to sit incredibly flush against the wrist. Fitted to the 20mm lugs is a brown leather strap that is cut and sewn in America,1:1 replica watches uk and completing the strap is a chunky stainless steel buckle that is signed on the underside edge with Shinola’s signature orange lightning bolt logo.
