A sharp-looking timepiece
Written: Aug 15 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, sleek styling, good warranty, comfy
Cons: Not as accurate as quartz, bezel not very precise
The Bottom Line: Invicta delivers a nice racing-inspired watch for men at a reasonable price. Hard to be disappointed for the money.
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| thegsrguy's Full Review: Invicta Pro Diver S1 2310 Wrist Watch |
Invicta sells a lot of watches. There's probably in excess of 400 styles out there, with countless variations and colors for each. The "S1" series is a race car-inspired line of sporty metal watches that I have fallen in love with.
Having owned two other Invictas over the years, I was already sold on the price-to-quality proposition (value). Although Invicta claims outrageous MSRPs, their watches often sell for 1/3 of the list price. I snagged this one on sale for $105 from Amazon.com...it was normally $175.00, with an automatic 40% discount.
For the money, you're getting a lot of watch. This is no Rolex by any stretch, but it will be sufficient for the average person. The bracelet is fairly weighty and feels sturdy. So far it hasn't pinched any hairs. The entire case and band are stainless steel, of course. The bezel has large, easy-to-read numbers and ratchets nicely. It doesn't offer the precision of 120-clicks like some Seiko divers, but I think that the typical person isn't even going to use that bezel anyways. It can be kind of tricky to turn the bezel sometimes. The crown is a screw-type, which can be confusing to some. This helps improve water resistance, however.
The movement is standard Invicta-fare, being a Miyota 21-jewel automatic. It's not going to be as accurate as a quartz movement, so please keep this in mind when purchasing. Most automatics will lose a bit of time every week. Invicta states that the Japanese movements should be good to within 7-15 seconds a week, and the Swiss ones even tighter (4 seconds or so). This means it will lose maybe a minute a month, which is fine for me. Remember that if you do not wear the watch for a few days it will wind down and stop -- easy to resume though, as you just need to shake it a few times to spin the rotor back up. Being an automatic, you get the spiffy "sweeping second hand" that makes 5-6 ticks per second.
The styling of the watch is hard to dislike. There's no overly-ornamental or obnoxious things here, unlike some other Invictas. The hands and hour markers have a sleek bullet look to them, and the second hand has the racing-inspired red tip. I particularly like how the hands and hour markers compliment each other -- watches are becoming too hodge-podge these days, with no sense of cohesiveness. Everything on this watch fits together well...the markers, the hands, the face, the bezel, and so on. The ho-hum bracelet makes sure you spend your time looking at the simple black face. The tiny red area from 1 to 4-o'clock is a nice touch too -- it isn't distracting like some of the "Pepsi" Seiko divers.
The face is behind a no-frills mineral crystal. It offers moderate scratch resistance, but is not going to be like a sapphire crystal, unfortunately. Seeing as how most watches under $500 are mineral crystal anyways, I doubt anyone will take issue with this. There's no anti-reflective coatings here, but I've always found that notion to be rather hokey.
The "lume" (luminous paint) is acceptable. It is not as good as some of the pricier Citizen Promasters or Seiko divers, but I think it will be fine for the majority of owners. It glows green, but doesn't get too bright or last for too long. There are companies that specialize in re-luming watches that can add a brighter paint. But hey, for a watch of this price, why spend that kind of money on something trivial.
What else...water resistance is 100M. Again, sufficient for the average owner. The date is visible at 3-o'clock, and has the domed magnifier. The magnifier is pretty weak, but it does help readability somewhat. Be careful with this domed portion, as it's easy to scuff against objects you walk past.
Invicta presents the watch in a nice yellow box with a polishing cloth and warranty info. The warranty, by the way, is quite good. You don't have to send the watch to Europe or Japan or whatever, and their US repair center is very helpful on the phone. They can also regulate the movement free of charge if you find it is more than 7 seconds/week off.
But like I said -- the watch feels considerably more solid than you'd expect at this price, and I've never had to send an Invicta in for service. For under $200, I won't be too bothered when I'm sick of it or if it gets stolen/broken/lost. Invicta delivers another winner, offering a nice racing-inspired line of automatic sport watches.
(For those wanting something a bit different, there is a black ion-plated variant, model 3546. There are a few other choices for the watch face, too. They're all the same watch underneath, so pick what you think looks best.)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
thegsrguy
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Member: Dan Parmelee
Location: Naperville, IL, USA
Reviews written: 78
Trusted by: 2 members
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