For anyone who knows me, you know that I have a “mild” obsession with mountains, and the Canadian Rockies in particular. I mean really, if I have not yet told you the names of specific mountains along the Icefields Parkway, can we really even say that we are friends? In all seriousness though, based on the way I speak about them, you would think this has been a lifelong love affair. The funny thing is, it was not. As it seems to be with many meaningful things in my life, they were around me long before I understood what they meant to me.
It all started when I was 15 and spent a few months living in Alberta during the summer. Among the many things I remember in vivid detail from those months, one of the clearest is when my cousin took me to Banff for the very first time. I still remember stopping to take in the mountains and feeling something within me go completely still. I started imagining an entire life there and wondering what it would be like to wake up surrounded by that kind of beauty every day.
After that trip, the mountains came and went a few times: a summer program in Nordegg at 17, visits to family friends in Vancouver, and eventually a move to Victoria, and later Vancouver, in my early 20s. Throughout all of this, my proximity to the mountains was more healing than I understood then, and being surrounded by them had a way of putting me back together. When I left Canada to pursue other dreams, my life near the mountains ended and my focus drifted elsewhere. It is not that I forgot about my love for the alpine life, but it stopped being a priority.
Until about five years ago, that is. I hosted a media trip to Golden, BC, a mountain town about ninety minutes from Banff, and it brought me back face to face with my first love. (Yes, I am cheesy. Have you not learned this yet?) Driving the 280 kilometres from Calgary to Golden, surrounded by these truly grandiose mountains, something in me awakened once again.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
I do not exaggerate when I say that the Canadian Rockies are like no other. Their sheer beauty, grandeur and scale have a way of putting everything else back into proper perspective. Any stress or worry I have on the drive through the mountains somehow stops mattering around the first switchback. The mountains speak to me. They heal, they energize, and they feed something in me that nothing else quite reaches. I started returning at least twice a year, sometimes more – I couldn’t find it in me to stay away. Whenever I feel restless, I find myself looking through photos of trips past or searching for flights for trips to come. At times, it almost feels like pure necessity to get back there.
Which brings me, somewhat circuitously, to the stack du jour.
The Switchback Stack
When I started building this stack, I did not want to interpret “adventure” too literally. There are no carabiner bracelets or hiking-rope accessories here. Instead, I wanted the watch to do the heavy lifting on the adventure side and use the jewellery to make the stack feel like me.
Step 1: The Anchor
About a year ago, a very good friend of mine who is all too familiar with my love for both mountain life and adventure introduced me to Norqain, an independent Swiss watch brand born in the Alps in 2018. Even its logo, two Ns forming the silhouette of a mountain peak, is rooted in where it came from. The brand’s philosophy is “your life, your way,” and adventure sits at the heart of what it does. Naturally, I fell in love, and Norqain quickly landed on my increasingly unreasonable watch wish list. I am happy to say that after a hop, skip and many days of dreaming, here we are with a Norqain Adventure.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
Specifically, the Adventure Sport 37mm in steel and gold, with a mother of pearl dial that shimmers in the light. The bezel is 18 karat red gold with a white ceramic ring, while eleven diamond indexes add just enough sparkle for a watch appearing in a jewellery column. The crown and case back plate are also 18 karat red gold. It is automatic, water resistant to 100 metres and has a 41-hour power reserve. Mine came on a pink rubber strap because apparently even my mountain watch needed to match my aesthetic.
Putting it on for the first time immediately took me back to a heli-hiking trip I was fortunate enough to take with CMH at its Bugaboos Lodge, long before Norqain had ever entered my mind. CMH runs helicopter-assisted hiking out of the Bugaboos, which for a girl who, at that time, had only recently started hiking meant reaching terrain I never could have managed on my own.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
On that trip, I remember hiking trails that barely felt like trails, exploring glacier lakes I would never have seen on my own, scrambling up peaks to reach a summit and looking out at landscapes that still do not feel entirely real when I think back on them. It is a surreal experience. You step out of a helicopter onto a ridge with a glacier on one side and a turquoise lake on the other, and suddenly the rest of the world feels very far away.
Wearing this Norqain timepiece now brings all of it rushing back. More than that, it has me convinced that the Adventure is exactly the watch I want strapped to my wrist the next time I make it back there. And believe me, I will most definitely be going back.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
Step 2: The Personality
Adventure, by definition, tends to push me outside of my comfort zone. When a trail gets rough, the climb feels harder than I expected, or I find myself wondering why exactly I thought this was a good idea, I like being able to look down at my wrist and see something that reminds me of my why. That is why the charm bracelet my niece made me belongs in this particular stack. In a small way, it feels like I have a little piece of her there with me, and sometimes that is exactly the encouragement I need to keep going.
Of course, sentimental does not have to mean unstylish. The bracelet is a wonderfully chaotic mix of colourful blocks beaded together that somehow seems to work anyway. The pink rubber strap already gives the Norqain a playful edge, so rather than trying to make the rest of the stack more serious, I leaned into it. The blocks bring in colour and personality, while also stopping an expensive watch from feeling too precious for the kind of adventure it was actually designed for.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
The hamsa bracelet serves a different purpose. I wear it for protection, and if I am heading somewhere unfamiliar, climbing higher than usual or simply pushing myself beyond what feels comfortable, having that symbol on my wrist feels particularly fitting. From a styling perspective, the gold also connects back to the red gold elements of the Norqain, creating a visual bridge between the playful rubber strap and the finer jewellery in the stack.
Step 3: The Sparkle
The one piece I almost never leave home without, mountains or otherwise: my white gold diamond ring from Dubai.
Styling-wise, I like that the white gold does not match the yellow and red gold elsewhere in the stack. Instead, it picks up the cooler steel of the Norqain, while the diamonds echo the eleven diamond indexes around the dial. It gives me a little repetition without creating an overly coordinated set. That is one of my favourite ways to mix metals: rather than forcing every piece into the same colour family, give each metal something elsewhere in the stack to talk to.
While I know it feels somewhat unconventional to wear a diamond ring hiking, this ring is something that I honestly do not even think about taking off most days. And that may be the most important thing about a stack for me. It does not have to be so curated and perfect. It can be the pieces that are important to you, and in fact, I think it should be.
Step 4: The Texture
For this stack, I selected the CELI Cosmic Bracelet. It is deliberately the quietest piece here. With a colourful charm bracelet, a symbolic hamsa, diamonds and a mother of pearl watch dial already competing for attention, I did not need another statement.
Its simple gold finish gives the eye somewhere to rest and pulls the warmer tones of the stack together without distracting from the Norqain. I also love the texture and visual rhythm of the discs. They give the bracelet something a little more interesting than a simple gold chain without turning it into another statement piece.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
And that, really, is the styling lesson behind this one: contrast works best when there is still a thread connecting everything.
Step 5: The Edit
Perhaps that is my definition of a good adventure stack. Wear the technically capable watch, mix your metals, add something sentimental and leave room for one piece that makes absolutely no sense to anyone but you.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
Style Tip: Eagle Eyes
There are certain things I consider non-negotiable on a hiking trip: mosquito repellent, a water bottle, a camera and a proper pair of sunglasses. The sun’s glare can be piercing, and I’d rather take in the view than squint through it. My pick is the Jackie by AYA, an oversized frame featuring the Eagle Playing design by Indigenous artist Corrine Hunt, a motif associated with strength and freedom. That feels fitting, because those are exactly the two things I’m chasing on a trail. The frames have enough personality to stand on their own, but pair just as easily with whatever hiking look you happen to be wearing.
What makes them more interesting, though, is the story behind the design. Hunt has spent decades translating Komoyue and Tlingit visual traditions, including eagles, ravens and herons, into contemporary forms. She is perhaps best known for co-designing the medals for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games, which featured imagery drawn from her artwork. So this does not feel like a novelty collaboration. It feels like a small piece of a much larger body of work. And if I can bring a little of that with me into the mountains, even better.
Alternate Take: The Après Stack
Of course, I could not justify wearing this beautiful timepiece only while daydreaming about my next trip to the mountains, so I wore it to dinner too.
And this might be one of the best examples of the versatility of the Adventure. On a pink rubber strap, it should theoretically read as sporty. Yet under candlelight, surrounded by gold jewellery, the mother of pearl dial and red gold details suddenly take over.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
For the evening stack, I swapped the daytime pieces for a custom-designed 18K gold hand chain, along with two 18K gold rings that I have had since childhood. I added the Alexis Bittar Asterales Skinny Cuff Bracelet, a birthday gift from two of my very good friends, and a 3mm open bangle from Paris Jewellers in gold plated sterling silver. Here, I leaned much more heavily into the red gold and jewellery details already present in the watch. The hand chain and rings bring in solid gold, immediately shifting the overall impression away from sport, while the Alexis Bittar cuff and Paris Jewellers bangle add texture and shine.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
That is really the point. You do not always need to change the watch to change the look. Sometimes changing everything around it is enough. Same Adventure. Different kind of adventure.
And with that, I am off to start Îethka: Stories & Language in Stoney Nakoda Country, a collection of stories and teachings from the Stoney Nakoda elders whose land holds that very first trip to Banff. It feels like the perfect book to help me better understand the land I have come to love so dearly. If history is any indication, I will probably be back in the mountains sooner than I think – watch, camera, and book ready to go.
Photo credit: Zahra Hemraj
For more stack inspo, follow along on IG: @torontowatchgirl.
Featured in this month’s stack is the Norqain Adventure Sport 37mm S&G MOP, the CELI Cosmic Bracelet, the Paris Jewellers 3MM Open Textured Bangle, the Alexis Bittar Asterales Skinny Cuff Bracelet, and the Jackie by AYA sunglasses.
