Christopher Roberson
This is my initial review, having just received the watch. In a month or two I will write another one, to reevaluate and to compare to a Hanowa Swiss Military Flagship model that is similar to the Invicta but costs twice as much or more.I bought this Invicta from Amazon for a total of $75.59 with tax and free shipping. I had rather low expectations given the price, and knowing a little bit about Invicta -- knowing that the company is now another one of those marketing companies that focuses mostly on, well, marketing. Clearly they are also a "designer" company, given the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of watch designs they have, much like Seiko. So I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to find that this watch is quite well crafted and nicely finished. The all stainless steel case is on par with most modern stainless watches--very heavy, with an adequate attention to detail, equal to its more expensive Swiss cousins. The rotating bezel operates smoothly; the crown pulls easily and the time/date setting functions properly. The dial is gorgeous, the hands and the markers sharp and easy to see. The lume is nice and bright even at the end of a long night. I'm especially impressed with the solid-link stainless steel bracelet. It has smooth edges and the brushed steel portions are not much different from much more expensive watches like Omega and Rolex. The only complaint I have with the bracelet is the locking, fold-over clasp, made with rolled steel: as it is new it is very difficult to open the two clasps to remove the bracelet. This is probably good, as with long-term use the clasps will probably wear in and loosen up, but for now I nearly need a small screw driver to pry them open.You can call this watch "Swiss" but it is really only a "Swiss Movement" watch, most likely assembled in Asia. But, the assembly seems to be good and the quality control tight. As to the Swiss movement, I've tried to find out who makes it. Most likely Ronda or ISA, but without opening it there's no way to know. I set it according to my computer time and synched it with my Hamilton Khaki quartz and 24 hours later it is still right on the money, exactly in synch with both the Khaki and the Mac. I am further impressed that the second hand hits the marker dead on for most of the markers all the way around the dial. None of the Seiko quartz watches I have do that, so it seems to be a good movement.While this Invicta has a water resistance claim of 200M, I would not chance even taking a quick dip in a swimming pool given the fact it does not have a screw-down crown. Most likely that feature would add a few bucks to the price, but I think most watch enthusiasts like myself would pay a little more for the added assurance that if someone just happens to push you in the pool you will still know what time it is when you pull yourself out.Overall, my first impression is four stars. If it had a better, push-button clasp and a screw-down crown I would rate it five stars. Let's see how it does over the next couple months, and how it compares to the more expensive Hanowa. So far, for the money, it seems like a real bargain floating in a sea of overly-pricey Swiss watches.DECEMBER 23, 2012 FOLLOW UP REVIEW. Have to keep it at 4 Stars due to the slight inaccuracy of the quartz movement. Not a big deal but to earn 5 Stars quartz movements should be accurate to within a few seconds per year and this Invicta has lost nearly twenty seconds over the past two months. If that doesn't bother you, it's a great watch for the money and after all, what difference is 20 seconds going to make, ever?
