Michael Hancock
I have had this watch (the Bertucci DX3 Field) for a few weeks and, overall, I'm glad I bought it. I was looking for a relatively inexpensive analog beater watch to wear when I didn't want to have my digital Casio G-Shock on my wrist.Pros: Light weight, durable, simple design, accurate, unibody design with no spring bars, solid band, easy to read dial, competitive priceCons: Misaligned second hand sweep, very average lumeI could have bought another G-Shock with an analog movement instead, but I saw the Bertucci line and I was intrigued. I have never had a simple field watch before, so I thought this might be a refreshing change. It actually reminds me of a watch my grandfather wore (with some obvious modern differences). The details are all online, but quickly: Japanese quartz movement, Swiss lume, three hands, reinforced resin (feels a bit like a G-Shock) 40mm matte black case , mineral crystal face, push crown, hacking second hand, durable forest green nylon band with stainless steel buckle and holders, and 50M water resistance.There were other watches that I considered getting before the DX3. At first, I was considering getting the Bertucci Americana with a Titanium case, USA movement, and 200M water resistance, but at $250, I felt that I was getting out of "beater watch" territory. I had also considered getting a Timex Expedition Scout 40, but although the Scout is cheaper, I felt that it simply is not as well executed or well thought out as the DX3. The placement of the crown at 4 o'clock, for example, is so much better on the DX3 and the DX3 has crown protection built in on the case while the Scout does not. The band on the Scout is not nearly as nice. The Timex does have Indiglo which is a great feature, but it's not enough to make up for the rest of the watch.I have been wearing it to work, out doing yardwork, running errands, and so on. I do a mixture of activities, both inside and outside. Everything has been great so far. I'm pretty tough on my watches, although perhaps not as tough as I was in my irresponsible youth. The watch is light, durable, looks great, and is really comfortable to wear. I forget it's on my wrist.I have gotten it wet with no problems and I plan to go fishing and swim with it, too. The band dries out quickly and remains comfortable. I am not concerned about the 50M water resistance. Some watchmakers, watch sites, and customers really freak out about 50M water resistance in today's watches, advocating for no less than 200M water resistance for swimming. I think this is nonsense. As long as the watch is in proper operating condition and the crown is pushed in, there isn't going to be a problem going swimming with it. Check out ISO 22810:2010 standards and see how those standards apply to today's watches. Furthermore, Bertucci's website says, "Your Bertucci® Watch has been designed to be worn during activities in which the watch will be exposed to water and submersion in water. However, the watch is not a professional diver watch and should not be used for diving." So, there you have it. Don't go diving with it!As soon as I took delivery of the watch, I set it to time.gov. Over the few weeks I have had it, the DX3 has gained one second of time, so accuracy has not been a problem. With the quartz movement, I don't anticipate any significant accuracy issues, even with the hard knocks that I dish out occasionally.The mineral crystal face is slightly recessed into the resin case, so that will help with scratch reduction. I haven't scratched mine yet. If and when I do, I can use Polywatch or toothpaste to get out the scratches.The dial is easy to read and not cluttered up. The lume is okay. Not great, not bad, just okay. After being exposed to a light source, the minute and hour hands are fairly bright in the dark. The second hand and dial are not as bright. I haven't timed how long the lume lasts because I have better things to do, but it certainly doesn't last all night. I haven't had it in dark situations for more than fifteen minutes where I was checking the lume. I have a feeling that it will work for its intended purpose as a no-nonsense field watch.One thing that will drive some people crazy is that the second hand does not (at least on mine) fall directly on the second markers on the dial as it moves around each minute. This doesn't really impact me that much, but I know some folks are put off by this characteristic. People consider this to be sloppy watchmaking and it probably is, but I am not getting too worked up about it at this price point. For what it's worth, I can still tell which second I'm at even if it isn't pointing exactly at the mark.The band is strong and I really like the "Unibody" construction that the Bertucci field watches have. I have an 8 1/4" wrist, so there isn't a lot of additional band left on the end. There's still enough to secure the watch without any problems, but with a larger wrist, there are no issues with having to do any fold and tuck stuff with the band. Having no spring bars is just fine with me, too! When you need a new band, you just slide the old one out, and slide a new one in place. It's really easy and there are no special tools needed. I lost one watch in the past because of spring bar failure, but it is going to be really hard for the bars on Bertucci watches to fail. Eventually, I may go for a slightly darker band color, but that's only because I imagine the forest green band that came with watch could eventually show more stains than, say, a black band. Time will tell.Unlike others, I do not consider this a "disposable" watch. This is too good of a watch to just toss after the battery fails, but yet the battery replacement needs to be done properly to retain the watch's water resistance. Many people don't bother replacing the batteries in their watches because it is a pain to do properly and opt to buy new watches instead, especially for watches in this price range. I kept the packaging and I plan to use the Bertucci battery replacement and cleaning service that the company offers when the time comes. It looks like a pretty good deal and will keep the watch in top shape, so why not?I like the watch for its simplicity. There are times when I wish it had a rotating bezel for timing. A date complication would be fine, but then it defeats the simplicity of the basic field watch design. A solar watch would be cool, too, but not necessary. I knew what I was getting, so these things are not important.Overall, this really is a great watch. Is it perfect? No. Is it a good buy? I think so and I would recommend it to others.
