Sharon Davis
This is a bold watch, with incredible wrist presence. Because of the square design, it takes up a lot of real estate on your wrist, and I don't think it would work well for people with small wrists. They claim it works for people down to about a 6.5" wrist. I agree with them that people with smaller wrists than that might find it to be too big. It is also weighty for a leather-strapped watch, weighing in at 128g. The stainless case and sapphire crystal add needed durability and scratch resistance because a watch this big can sometimes be a magnet for dings and bumps.Despite its large visual presence, it wears comfortably. The lugs are angled down so it does not sit awkwardly but confidently on my wrist, and it is thin enough that it fits under the cuffs of my dress shirts, something which many other watches this size don't.Design-wise, the screw-together case adds to the mechanical interest created by the skeleton dial. The main spring is visible through a skeletonized main-spring barrel (cool feature!), and the pallet fork and balance wheel is visible along with many other wheels, gears, and internal components. The applied indices are lumed, and there is a doubled hour marker at 12 o'clock. The 3, 6, and 9 hour markers are cut short to reveal more of the works inside. There are printed-on minute markers and the chapter ring has Tachymeter markings on it, but they are difficult to see unless you're in bright light. The tip of the seconds hand is red, giving a splash of color to an otherwise mechanical and business-like look, with the gold-colored balance wheel spinning at 6 o'clock and the exposed jewel in a gold colored shock setting being the other splash of color. The red seconds hand also matches the red plastic buttons on the case, about which more later.The band is nicely designed to complement the size of the case with an integrated-style taper from the width of the lugs down to the strap width. The sueded leather looks and feels good, the stitching is well done, and the backing is soft leather as well. The strap is soft and compliant, but the first time or two you pass it through the strap loops it's a tight fit until the leather on the loop stretches just a little. The buckle is a nicely finished big and bold Feice branded buckle with a sturdy, wide pin.The crown is splined for easy grip, recessed to be flush with the plastic case pushers as a sort of crown protection, and the crown is embossed with the Feice eagle. The case back is brushed stainless with polished beveled edges and is screwed on.The automatic movement supports hand-winding, and it hacks for setting. They advertise +/- 45 seconds per day, so it is not the height of accuracy, but I appreciate them being honest about it. I haven't put mine on a timegrapher (I don't own one) but it is keeping time to within 3-4 seconds per day so far for me just by comparison to other watches I have that are COSC certified.The whole thing is well designed, nicely integrated, and well executed with style and confidence. This watch competes in a price range where there are quite a few other options, and when the competition is fierce the details matter, so here are a few details on this watch that I think are a little disappointing.First are those red plastic pushers. Each side of the case has black and red plastic, and on the crown side there are two moveable pushers. However, the pushers don't do anything. There is no chronograph complication, or other function of the watch for them to perform. And, in fact, if you look closely at the pusher buttons one of them is marked with a triangle and double line (play and pause) and the other is marked with a triangle and single line (back a track and stop, maybe?). This mechanical watch doesn't play any music, so it immediately becomes apparent that this case is borrowed and repurposed from an MP3 player or some other device. And this is made more obvious by the fact that these completely functionless buttons are highlighted in red. And speaking of red, the plastic insert on the opposite side is also red in the middle, but on that side it's not even a pusher and does nothing, so why it is highlighted and red? And in general, plastic parts on the case of a watch in this price range is probably not the best choice.In addition to that niggle, we also have a sub-dial issue. The sub-dial at the 9 o'clock position is a duplicated seconds hand. It follows the seconds hand around. Why you need to know the seconds twice is not clear, and this makes the design seem just a bit "fake," like it's trying to be something it's not. The 3 o'clock sub-dial is a 24-hour indicator, so while not hugely important, that is at least a separate function that provides some additional information.While we're on the topic of the dial, it bears mentioning that while the hour and minute hands plus the hour markers do have lume applied to them, the lume does not last very long.Finally, there is an odd claim laser etched onto the case back. On the back, etched in, are the words, "Limited Edition" followed by the Feice eagle logo and then "000 / 999". This is actually just a bit embarrassing, since it looks like either they forgot to put the correct serial number on this particular watch, or, it's not really a limited edition and they're just bluffing. I think you can guess which is the case. They're trying to make it look like something it is not, and that's just not genuine. In this price range, you want to buy a real watch, which stands on its own merits and doesn't need to pretend to be something it is not. This is genuinely a good watch. Why mess it up by laser etching false claims onto the case back?I had the opportunity to work with the Feice Customer Support team because there was an error regarding which product was sent to me, and their customer service was fantastic. They responded very quickly and immediately corrected the issue by shipping to me the correct product, no hassles, no fuss. Honestly, they had much better customer service than Tissot who I recently needed to reach out to as well.So, there you have it. A good watch with huge wrist presence, and bold and original styling but with a few small niggling details that are slightly disappointing. Only I really notice those details, however, so I still really like how it looks and wears and I wear it confidently and with enjoyment.
