Product Description:
This automatic watch features a stainless-steel case with exposed gears and a sleek, jet-black leather strap. Case Size: 44 mmCase Thickness: 15 mmBand Width: 22 mmWater Resistant: Up to 5 ATMWarranty: 12-year limited Origin: Imported
Product Details:
- Automatic
- Buckle
- Water resistance: 5 ATM
- No stones
- Band width: 22mm
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Watch By James Andrews
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2TTIE3TARM6LZ I have included a video with my review to show off the beauty of the watch.
I purchased this watch from a department store for roughly the same price that it was selling for on Amazon. It was packaged in a round aluminum container which included information about the 12 year warranty and other paperwork. The warranty covers the "watch movement, hands and dial", and does not cover the crystal, case, or strap. If it ever needs repair, you must send it to a repair center and include $8.50 for shipping and handling charges.
The construction of the watch seems very solid - it is made of hefty stainless steel. The front and back crystals seem to compare with other watches of this price range. I have been wearing it for about three weeks and there is a small, barely noticeable scratch on the face.
This watch is fairly accurate for a mechanical watch. It gains around 10 seconds per day, so it will require adjustments every week or so. I am not sure what movement is used, but it is definitely a cheaper Chinese movement. It looks really nice, but I can not comment on how dependable it will be. The booklet included claims that the watch has 36 hours of reserve power on a full wind, but I have not had a chance to validate this.
Like most other automatic watches it has a rotor that winds the spring by gravity. You can also wind the spring by using the crown. If the watch does become unwound from not using it, it only takes a few winds to get it going again. The rotor seems to do a good job of winding it - I do not have to wind it by hand with regular use.
The watch hands and the hour markers do have a luminous coating, but it isn't very bright. It only lasts for 15 minutes or so after turning the lights off, so don't expect to be able to see the hands after being in the dark for a while.
The biggest complaint I have of this watch is its thickness. In order to accommodate the front and back crystals, as well as the automatic winding rotor, it has to be a little thicker than a normal watch. I do not have proper measuring tools, but it seems to be about 15mm in thickness (or 1.5 cm), where most other watches are 11-14mm. While that is not huge, it is enough to bother me. My wrists are very small, so if you have average to large wrists it probably won't bother you at all.
Overall this is a very nice watch for the current price. Fossil is the parent company to Relic, so you aren't just buying some no-name brand watch. I would recommend it to anyone that wants a very stylish skeleton style mechanical watch for a low price. Considering a lot of the average qualities like the crystals and movement paired with the watch's beauty, I rate it a 4/5 stars.
Any questions? Feel free to comment on my review!
*Royalty free music: Kevin MacLeodExcellent budget Skeleton watch. Perfect for daily wear. By Stephen Hopkins
I received this (along with a few other watches) as an anniversary present from my wife after pointing it out to her a few months prior. I had been wanting a skeleton automatic but they all seemed to fall into the extremely cheap (under $50, junk Chinese build) or expensive ($500+ Swiss) categories with nothing in the middle ($100 - $250 Japanese). The only reasonably priced options I found were from Bulova, but only the Bulova 96A109 fit the style I was looking for. When searching for a local retailer to view the Bulova I came across the Relic in question and was very surprised by the build quality. It obviously fell into the Chinese build category, but the quality was a step above others I'd seen such as Kenneth Cole, Akribos, etc. Even side-by-side with the Bulova it held its own in terms of build quality. Given the Relic 12 year warranty and the fact that they are owned by Fossil, I decided it was worth taking a gamble and suggested it to my wife.
After receiving the Relic months later I'm even more impressed. Upon close inspection and comparison with photos online, it looks like the movement is some flavor of the common Seagull automatic movement which is a Chinese clone of an ETA design and commonly respected as a solid inexpensive automatic movement IF quality control is tight enough. Thus far the Relic has kept time within about ~30 seconds over 7 days, or better than 5 seconds per day. This is pretty decent while still in the break-in period and may settle down even more. The movement also hacks (stops when the crown is pulled out) and hand-winds, both features usually not present in inexpensive automatic movements (even those from the highly respected Seiko SKX divers). The hand-wind and lack of any day/date complications means this watch can very quickly be wound and set after several days/weeks/months of not being worn. The power reserve seems to last about 3 days on a full wind, also impressive.
So far I don't have any real complaints with this watch, especially given the price. At the $80 regular price it's a solid choice, but it also often drops as low as $65 making it a real steal. If you're interested in a Skeleton watch and, like me, couldn't find a good mid-priced Japanese option, this Relic seems to be about the best of the cheaper Chinese choices and well exceeds its price in terms of quality, both the movement and overall build.
UPDATE: After about a month of use, this watch has stayed within +/- 1 minute or better per week. This is excellent for a watch in this price range, making this watch an extremely good value.Extremely upset By Ryan O'Connor
My fiance ordered this watch online for my birthday, and when it arrived it seemed fine. Honestly I loved it, but by the next morning I noticed the time was off by several hours and I felt silly about having apparently set it wrong when I first got it.
Upon setting the time again, a massive problem reared its ugly face- the hour hand was a half hour off, meaning trying to set the watch to noon left the hour hand at 11:30. I figured it could be traded for an identical working model in-store (since the provider was Kohl's).
I went to the store and the helpful ladies helped me dig around for a similar model, but we couldn't find it. Ended up being convinced to do an even-trade for a similar watch, which after a few days of wearing turned out the be extraordinarily uncomfortable, so I decided to go try my luck again and dig around for this model from a different kohls, seeing as a call to customer service informed me several did have it in stock.
After a bit of digging in back-stock (after initially being told by the girl in jewelry they didn't have it) we found the model again, I double-checked the watch hands, sealed the trade and slapped it on my wrist.
Now, roughly 13 hours later, I checked the time, and instead of ~9 in the morning, it was 2:20. Did I set the time wrong again? I went and found a clock and turned the dial to set it back and... oh. The hour hand is a half hour off.
Is this a common mechanical failure or just some cosmic coincidence that I ended up with two identically problematic watches? I don't see any other complaints about it anywhere (the only mentions of off-timing being at most 30 seconds gained/lost a week), yet I'm severely hesitant to trust my luck trading for a third one. Warranty covers the hands and such, but at this point I feel my time is better spent searching for something that doesn't require use of its warranty after just half a day of wear.
TL;DR: It's a beautiful watch, especially for the price, but I've been given two defective models in a row, from both an online provider and a trusted brick-and-mortar store.
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