Topher1556
April 6th, 2009, 22:57
Not usually in this forum, but this is the most appropriate place for the review :-). Hope you enjoy the read...
For a quick background, I started an "experiment (http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=204946)" back in November of '08.
A bit of information from me: My wrist...it's 7.25" in diameter, and I usually wear bracelets loose enough to fit an index finger through. I wear rubber straps or nylon one-piece bands slightly tighter to prevent the head of the watch from flopping around on my wrist but not "tight".
So, week 16 I spent wearing my Steelfish.
Very very comfortable watch to wear for the week. In fact, I wore it since it arrived, which ended up adding an extra 3 days to the normal 7. I kept it on the fantastic factory bracelet. Though the head of the watch is heavy, it's balanced expertly by the bracelet...in fact it's such a well balanced setup I found the head hardly moved on my wrist.
I am spoiled by Seiko lume, and went in to this rotation thinking that the area devoted to lume for this watch probably meant it was going to be on the "weak" side of things. I was pleasantly surprised though :-). It's not as bright as some Seikos I have, but was still initially bright. The really good thing is the lume lasts just as long as a typical Seiko dive watch. And with night-adjusted eyes, is easy to read at all hours of the night (I wear my watches 24/7 when in rotation). A nice little detail is the use of lume on 4 of the markers on the rehaute...something I didn't expect.
The double AR coated sapphire is a joy to look thru. I'm not usually a fan of AR on the outside of a crystal, as it tends to pick up marks. But, I'll have to deal with it as I'm not going to take it off...and the benefit is one heck of a legible face. The inner and outer AR coating combined with just the slightest dome means this crystal really fights off reflections. So much so, that I can confidently say this is the most legible dial I have. Some lowlight situations I was in had me amazed at just how well I can read the dial.
And the dial detail is pleasing. The concentric circles can give the dial a gray hue when in bright light. The polished arabic numerals and date window dress it up quite nicely. And I've always like the Breitling rider tabs on the bezel. Makes seeing the 1/4 hours very easy and quick. I use the timing bezel daily, so this a feature I find I quite like.
My piece was polished by one of the previous owners, so it's a little more "b'lingy" than normal. No big deal for me, but I'm sure it might put some "off".
Timekeeping was quite good. On average, it gained 3.75 seconds per day over the 10 days. Really, it seems to keep +2 to +3 per day, but there were a couple of outlier days at +5. Granted these days were the rare days I took it off for a period of time during the rotation...so I think it had to do with positional variance. Power reserve was a bit of a disappointment though. It did last 40 hours...but barely. It quit after 40hrs 27mins. I figured it'd be in the mid 40's.
So...on to the pictures:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/cd39c03c.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/3f58af24.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/c6715e5b.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/8c39af13.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/bf3df06a.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/9ba84e8a.jpg
For a quick background, I started an "experiment (http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=204946)" back in November of '08.
A bit of information from me: My wrist...it's 7.25" in diameter, and I usually wear bracelets loose enough to fit an index finger through. I wear rubber straps or nylon one-piece bands slightly tighter to prevent the head of the watch from flopping around on my wrist but not "tight".
So, week 16 I spent wearing my Steelfish.
Very very comfortable watch to wear for the week. In fact, I wore it since it arrived, which ended up adding an extra 3 days to the normal 7. I kept it on the fantastic factory bracelet. Though the head of the watch is heavy, it's balanced expertly by the bracelet...in fact it's such a well balanced setup I found the head hardly moved on my wrist.
I am spoiled by Seiko lume, and went in to this rotation thinking that the area devoted to lume for this watch probably meant it was going to be on the "weak" side of things. I was pleasantly surprised though :-). It's not as bright as some Seikos I have, but was still initially bright. The really good thing is the lume lasts just as long as a typical Seiko dive watch. And with night-adjusted eyes, is easy to read at all hours of the night (I wear my watches 24/7 when in rotation). A nice little detail is the use of lume on 4 of the markers on the rehaute...something I didn't expect.
The double AR coated sapphire is a joy to look thru. I'm not usually a fan of AR on the outside of a crystal, as it tends to pick up marks. But, I'll have to deal with it as I'm not going to take it off...and the benefit is one heck of a legible face. The inner and outer AR coating combined with just the slightest dome means this crystal really fights off reflections. So much so, that I can confidently say this is the most legible dial I have. Some lowlight situations I was in had me amazed at just how well I can read the dial.
And the dial detail is pleasing. The concentric circles can give the dial a gray hue when in bright light. The polished arabic numerals and date window dress it up quite nicely. And I've always like the Breitling rider tabs on the bezel. Makes seeing the 1/4 hours very easy and quick. I use the timing bezel daily, so this a feature I find I quite like.
My piece was polished by one of the previous owners, so it's a little more "b'lingy" than normal. No big deal for me, but I'm sure it might put some "off".
Timekeeping was quite good. On average, it gained 3.75 seconds per day over the 10 days. Really, it seems to keep +2 to +3 per day, but there were a couple of outlier days at +5. Granted these days were the rare days I took it off for a period of time during the rotation...so I think it had to do with positional variance. Power reserve was a bit of a disappointment though. It did last 40 hours...but barely. It quit after 40hrs 27mins. I figured it'd be in the mid 40's.
So...on to the pictures:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/cd39c03c.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/3f58af24.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/c6715e5b.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/8c39af13.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/bf3df06a.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/topher1254/Reviews/9ba84e8a.jpg