Model # 6516
At a Glance:
Brand/Model: Invicta Stealth GMT
Movement: Swiss Quartz
Material: black ion plate stainless steel, leather strap
Complications: date display, independently adjustable third/GMT hand
Price: MSRP: $425 USD (fantasy); Street price: $125 USD
Plenty of photos follow the review. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Well, you’re either going to love this watch or hate it, no two ways about it! This Invicta model also comes in a polished stainless steel case that is not as stealthy as well as a blingy rose-gold finish. Other finishes and combinations have also been seen for sale.
I know these stealth styles are highly impractical, because their design makes it very hard to tell the time, since most everything on the dial is of the same or similar color, but I do think they look cool, so in this instance, I’m willing to put form ahead of function.
This Invicta stealth GMT sports a black ion plated case that is shiny black, which looks nifty, but is a magnet for fingerprints and skin oils. This model is also a ‘lefty’ crown, which is supposed to be designed for left-handed WISes who wear their watches on their right wrist. But of course, any lefty watch can be worn on the left wrist by non-left-handed people who just want something a bit different. That’s the category I fit into.
The case measures 45.5mm without the crown, 52.1mm with the crown. Case lug tip to lug tip is 55.4mm. The crown itself is large, clocking in at 9.8mm in diameter. The crown is signed, non screw down and has a fixed lower crown guard which I originally thought was going to be a canteen-style locking device like I had on my Nautica lefty titanium, but it is not. Case thickness is 12mm. Lug width is 22mm.
The lugs do curve downwards fairly sharply, so even the thin-wristed among us (like me) should be able to wear this watch fairly comfortably despite its rather large size.
The case is all stainless steel and is signed on the right-hand side, but the case’s black finish helps disguise this rather garish tendency of Invicta to emblazon their name on all surfaces of a watch. The case back is brushed stainless steel, screw down, and has a cool-looking radiant pattern embossed on it. Water resistance is 100 meters. The crystal is flat mineral.
The dial is the most interesting part of this watch and the part that invites the most controversy. There is a lot going on here, but since it’s mostly monochromatic, it blends in. If it was any other color, it would probably look goofy, busy and clown-like. The hour markers are applied gun-metal rectangles with small engraved hour numbers on them to correspond to the GMT function of this watch. The dial itself is black with a gun-metal Invicta logo, with ‘Swiss’ and water resistance lettering in grey on the left-hand side.
The independently adjustable GMT hand is black and has a skeleton tip. The seconds hand is grey and also features a skeleton tip. The hands themselves are gun-metal and are of a contemporary skeleton design with nifty squared off tips. I’m not a big fan of skeleton hands, but these do look cool. A black dished chapter ring encircles the entire dial with the standard 5, 10, 15, etc. hour markings, with hash marks for the remaining minutes.
The date window is the most interesting design element. A wide-angle window that displays seven (!) dates, with all but the bottom date covered by a semi-transparent grey shield that is held in place by a skeleton gun-metal frame. The frame has a visible gun-metal screw head holding it in place at the three o’clock position. This is one detail they could have done without, as to me, it just makes the dial unnecessarily busy. The visible date window at the 5 o’clock position is black on white; I think white on black would have looked better and would have kept with the stealth nature of this watch. Of course, the date is quickset.
Since this watch is a stealth model, there is no luminous material to be found anywhere, therefore, it does not glow in the dark.
Inside this watch clicks the trusty Swiss Ronda 515 quartz GMT movement that has an independently adjustable GMT hand for tracking time in another time zone. This movement is pretty much the de facto quartz GMT movement these days and is also featured in the black Invicta mesh GMT I own. Time keeping has been spot-on.
The seconds hand hits the minute markers perfectly for the first 30 seconds on the dial and is off by about one-half second on the remaining 30 seconds of the dial. This doesn’t bother me too much, but it is worth noting since some people want to know.
The strap is a nice buffalo grain matte black leather with black stitching and reasonable padding. The strap is 22mm at the lugs and tapers to about 20mm at the black signed buckle. There is one fixed black metal keeper and one floating leather keeper. I would have preferred two leather keepers, as it seems the metal one may be hard on the strap in terms of wear, but time will tell.
Overall fit and finish is quite superb on this model and I have to admit to being duly impressed with its initial quality. Again, time will tell how things hold up and wear.
Presentation is typical Invicta big dopey rubberized inner yellow box with polishing cloth and big dopey outer yellow cardboard box.
I do like this stealth GMT better than the Wenger stealth model I owned, since to me the watch seems to engage me more and has a higher quality look to it.
Pros: cool stealth looks, build quality seems great, independent GMT functionality, unique lefty crown
Cons: size could be an issue for some (too large), hard to tell the time and actually use the GMT function, no luminous, metal keeper a bit bothersome
Verdict: if black is your color and you want to get noticed at the summer lawn party, wear this stealth GMT, just don’t expect to actually be able to tell anyone what time it is
Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics!
Excelsior!
-Marc
UPDATE!
I sold this watch after a few months since it wasn’t getting very much wrist time. It’s still a cool piece if you’re looking for a stealth model to add to your collection, though.
-MCV, 7-16-11
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