Review of Sector Ocean Master Chronograph

Model # R3253966115

At a Glance:

Brand/Model:  Sector Ocean Master

Movement:  Swiss quartz

Material:  stainless steel case and bracelet

Complications:  date display, chronograph timing to 30 minutes in tenths of seconds increments

Price:  MSRP $544 USD

Plenty of photos follow the review.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

I’ve always been partial to Sector watches because I think they make some great designs, are well made and can represent a good value when purchased at the right price.  My very first ‘high-end’ (at least to me, at the time) watch purchase was a Sector SGE-650 Business Time that I bought from Bernard Watch way back in 1996.  Since then, I have owned about six different Sector models and with this latest acquisition, currently own two.

This Sector Ocean Master Chronograph is a Swiss quartz chrono that came in under my $200 self-imposed upper limit for a quartz watch.  Ocean Master chronos are available in the white dial reviewed here, as well as black dial with orange bezel, blue dial/blue bezel, black dial/silver bezel, all black IP case with black dial and stainless steel bracelet or rubber strap options.

I’m also partial to white dials and this watch fills the bill perfectly.  It is a pure white dial, not silvery like some white dials portend to be.  The contrast between the black hands and the white dial is striking and aids legibility.

The Ocean Master chrono has what I call a modified cushion case shape, being a bit more angular at the spots where a cushion case would be rounded, but the spirit of the cushion design is present and it looks superb.  The case is all stainless steel with polished sides and a brushed top.  A screwdown polished caseback with the ‘Ocean Master’ wording seals this watch to a 200 meter water resistance rating.  The case measures 44.5 mm without the signed screwdown crown.  Thickness is 13.9mm, lug width is an odd 23mm.  Fit and finish on this watch is very nice.

The bezel is a 120-click unidirectional variety with a perfect matte black insert and lume pip @ 12.  The slightly stylized hex head accents at each ‘5’ mark on the bezel are fairly understated and lend a unique look to the watch without going over the top like many designs tend to these days (Invicta and Hamilton, I’m looking right at you!)

Sector carries the hex head accents over to the chrono pushers, emblazoning each pusher tip with a hex head design that actually gives a nice tactile feel to the pusher.  The pushers screw down as well.  The crown, as previously mentioned, is signed (with a colored plastic Sector logo).  The crown is about the perfect size, not too large or too small, but has nice deep fluting on it that really gives a good feel when using it to set the time or when screwing it back down.

The dial is white, with a wave pattern running across it.  A subtle tachymeter chapter ring encircles the dial.

The subdials are circular patterned and slightly inset into the dial and rimmed with a polished silver circle.  The applied luminous markers are set at a horizontal position instead of the expected vertical orientation, which again, gives this watch added panache.  The hands are black skeleton style with luminous arrow tips.  The subdial hands are small skeleton style with lumed tips.  The chrono second hand is all black with a lume tail piece showing the Sector logo.  While I’m usually not a fan of skeleton hands, these work well for me and are easily read against the white dial.  A quickset date window is at the 4 o’clock position.

Lume is nice and bright on the arrow hands and acceptable on the markers.  Sector is one of the only makers I know that lumes the hands on their subdials, so you get tiny lumed glows emanating from each subdial.  I don’t know how practical this is, but it does look kind of neat.

A flat sapphire crystal caps the dial and has no distortion or imperfections.  Studying the dial with an 8X loupe revealed no imperfections or faults on the dial or hands.

The chrono measures up to 30 minutes in 1/10^th second increments with no lap timing capability.  The subdial @ 2 is the tenths counter (remains stationary until the chrono is stopped, then displays the tenth of a second reading); the subdial @ 10 is the chrono 30 minute totalizer while the subdial @ 6 is the main watch seconds hand. 

This watch has a Swiss movement in it, presumably an ETA because that is what Sector uses in my other quartz chrono from them.  The only difference is that this movement quicksets the date in standard fashion, as opposed to the other ETA movement where you rotate the hour hand independently through a 24-hour cycle to change the date.  I won’t know for sure who the maker is until the battery dies, so check back in a couple of years!

Timekeeping has been outstanding, over the past 72 hours, it has not gained or lost any time.  The chrono action is smooth and the reset works as it should.

Sector always does a nice job on their bracelets and this one for the most part does not disappoint.  The links are solid and are alternately polished and brushed across the face of each link.  The link shape and texturing is also intriguing.  I do wish that each link was a multi-piece design, as this would add more elegance to the watch.  As it stands, each link is one piece of stainless steel, albeit nicely finished.  Links measure 23mm wide from the watch head to the clasp.

Solid end links, a signed pushbutton double locking clasp and a nice hefty machined deployant complete the bracelet.  Links are secured by standard split pins.

Presentation is typical Sector, a gloss cardboard outer box and a rubberized and stylized plastic inner box with dense foam inserts.  Works for me.

While some of Sector’s designs may not be for everybody, the Ocean Master is a functional, attractive and well built piece that has enough of its own personality to stand easily on its own in a sea of look-alike designs. 

Buy this one at around the $200 mark and you’ve done well and will be rewarded with a watch that looks great, works great and will make you a man for all seasons.

Pros:  stark white dial with contrasting black hands, solid looks and Swiss chrono performance, has all the expected features for the price

Cons:  odd 23mm lug size would make strap options more difficult, hex head stylization may not be for everyone, bracelet links could be multi-piece

Verdict:  Sector did just about everything right with the Ocean Master and presents a solid value in a Swiss quartz chrono with stunning good looks and the goods to back it up.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Excelsior!

-Marc

UPDATE!

I have owned this watch for six months now and I really enjoy wearing it.  The dial is very legible and it has a real quality look to it.  Timekeeping is still excellent, running about one second per week fast.  Sector continues to impress me.

-MCV, 4-20-11

Review of Orient ‘Aviator’ Automatic

Model # EM7A001D

Brand/Model:  Orient Aviator

Movement:  Japanese Automatic

Material:  stainless steel case and bracelet

Complications:  day/date display

Price:  MSRP $275 USD

Plenty of photos follow the review.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Orient introduced this so-called ‘Aviator’ model late in the summer of 2010.  For some reason, it didn’t catch my eye until about two months ago when this model started popping up in various people’s collections.  Orient makes five different models of this military-inspired watch (to paraphrase Orient’s words), in black dial on stainless or leather, full luminous dial on stainless or leather and dark blue dial on stainless.  The dark blue dial is the color I chose. 

While not really a true ‘Aviator’ style primarily due to the presence of a rotating bezel, one should look at this watch as more of an aviator-cum-diver and in this frame of mind, the watch works quite well.  The leather strap versions do feature a strap that has bold contrast stitching, so at least they’re trying to replicate an aviator feel there, albeit without any rivets.

What appealed to me about this watch was its overall clean, purposeful design, one that is devoid of extraneous gee-gaws, such as a wide-angle date window, overly styled Arabics or markers, goofy looking hands or other distracting design elements that seem increasingly common in many watch designs these days.  This Orient speaks in a serious, no-nonsense tone, and I can appreciate that.

The all stainless steel case is brushed on the sides and top, with only the ends of the lug tips being polished.  The case measures 43mm without the screwdown crown; 46mm crown inclusive.  Please keep this fact in mind, although this watch measures 43mm, which for some, is ‘too big’, it does not wear large!

The crown itself measures 5.9mm in diameter, which is a tad small in relation to the case.  The crown screws down and is unsigned.  Lug width is 22mm, case thickness is 12.3mm.  The caseback is polished and screws down.  The watch is factory rated for 100 meters of water resistance.  Overall, the watch has a good heft to it, although the bracelet, while of good quality, seems a bit rattle prone to me.

For quite a while, I was not a big fan of watches that feature a dial full of Arabic numbers.  For some reason, I found them distracting or too simplistic.  But my tastes have changed somewhat and I find myself able to tolerate and even enjoy a fully Arabic numeralled dial, such as on this Orient Aviator.  All the Arabics, save for the 12, 6 and 9, are of equal size, and while the aforementioned digits are larger than the rest, they are not clownishly enlarged nor do they scream at you reminding you of their position at each quarter hour.

The dial is an absolutely beautiful shade of matte navy blue, deep and dark.  It is one of the nicest blue dials I have ever seen on a watch.  A small ‘Orient’ logo in silver and red is applied under the ‘12’ Arabic with ‘Automatic’ in cursive script below the logo.  Just above the ‘6’ Arabic are the words ‘Water Resist’ in cursive and below this, ‘100M’.  Relatively subtle and not overpowering, just the right amount of wording and nicely subdued in terms of font size and font style. 

The hands may seem a bit smallish in relation to the dial and this was one reservation I had going into this purchase.  The hands are flieger style and admittedly are a bit small, but not overly so and I have found them to not be a distraction.  Outlined in gloss black with white inset lume, they work well.  The seconds hand is plain white with a lumed arrow-style tip.  I also like how the center of all the hands, where they attach to their respective pinions, are finished in black, which blends everything in and gives a cleaner look to the dial.

The Arabics on this watch really stand out and are colored a yellow-green, being screen printed onto the dial.  I know some will find this color rather off-putting and I usually don’t relish overtly greenish lume on a watch, but the tinge of yellow mellows these Arabics and the color combo actually goes well with the deep blue dial, so I like the look.  Again, a caution, as others may not like this color differential and may suffer convulsive fits, dry heaves and patchy red spots on their hands and arms when viewing said lumed Arabics.

Another note on the lume.  The hand set is white lume, the Arabics are yellow-green.  This color difference may bother some WISes.  But please note, when the lume is charged and viewed in the dark, it is nearly all the same color, with the hands being a bit brighter/whiter than the Arabics (see photo).  And the quality of the lume, in both its brightness and longevity, I am proud to announce, is superb.

A day/date display window is featured at the three o’clock position and is outlined in white, and I’m glad Orient chose to put a divider between the day and date, as I feel this gives any watch a more upscale and finished appearance.

The date is quickset, set at the first crown position in the standard quickset manner.  Instead of putting their usual (and often times annoying) pushbutton to change the day on this watch, Orient decided to save a few bucks (but enhance the appearance of this watch) by having the day be non-quickset.  You have to cycle the watch through the 9 p.m/2 a.m. and back again sequence to change the day.  This doesn’t bother me too much, but at $275 MSRP and in the year 2011, this is basically unacceptable in a mainstream, brand-name watch.

Another note on setting the day…the day is bilingual (English/Spanish) and my watch arrived displaying Spanish.  The instructions do not detail how to get the day to display in English, which can be a problem with a non-quickset mechanism.  I wonder how many non-WISes get this watch and muck something up trying to change the language.  After consultation with other Orient Aviator owners and my own WIS intuitiveness, I successfully managed to change the language to English.

What one does is to cycle the watch past midnight until the day is evenly and fully displayed in the desired language, in my case, it was English.  Then you back up the hands to before 9 p.m. and then forward them all the way past 2 a.m. and into the next day, and if you’re cautious like me about these sorts of things, all the way past midnight of the next day to assure that English will continue to be displayed.  This sequence apparently resets the action on the day wheel to display the desired language.  I’m just glad it worked and nothing got damaged in the process.

Day alignment in the window is fine, the date could be aligned a bit better, as it rides just a bit high, but not to such a degree as to be distracting.

The crystal is flat mineral and fits perfectly flush with the 60-click rotating unidirectional bezel.  The bezel has engraved numbers and markers which are infilled with black paint.  The bezel top is brushed, the sides are polished.  Bezel action is smooth and only has a bit of play.  It would be nice to have a 120-click bezel, but at least this one aligns well at the ‘12’ mark.  The bezel also has a bit of scalloping or indents between each five minute mark, for easy operation and a touch of style.

Inside this Orient Aviator is found Orient’s in-house caliber EM 46943 21-jewel automatic movement, that in typical Orient fashion, does not hack or manual wind.  Specs are 21,600 bph, shock resistance, 40+ hours of power reserve and running accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day.  Inside my watch atelier, accuracy has been well within specification and I achieved a fine 46 hour power reserve on a full wind/shake.

The bracelet is solid link stainless steel, Oyster style three link with standard split-pin securance.  End links are folded.  The clasp is signed, double locking pushbutton with a polished stamped steel deployant.  The entire bracelet and clasp are brushed finish and complement the rest of the watch perfectly.  The bracelet measures 22mm at the lugs and tapers to 19.8mm at the clasp. 

And here goes, as regular readers are expecting, I prefer a machined deployant on any watch bracelet and if Orient can put a beautiful machined deployant on their ‘Dolphin’ model, which has an approximate retail price same as the Aviator, why can’t they do the same to the Aviator?

Overall fit and finish on this Orient Aviator is very good, save for the slight rattle in the bracelet I mentioned earlier.  The crystal is free of distortion, placed into the case perfectly flush, the bezel feel and action is completely acceptable and the dial and hands, under an 8X loupe examination, showed no defects or obvious flaws.  It’s also nice to see Orient’s lume quality continue to improve!

Comfort while wearing this watch is just right, not too heavy, it hugs the wrist well and doesn’t pinch anywhere.

Presentation is standard Orient, with a plain white cardboard outer box, and silver/black inner box with hang tag and instructions. 

I also wanted to bring up my positive experience with Orient USA, where this watch was ordered from.  There are many less-than-perfect customer service or order experiences people have had  concerning Orient USA.  I have experienced problems myself in the past.  But I am very pleased to say that with the order and delivery of this Orient Aviator, my experience was perfect.

I ordered this watch late on a Friday afternoon; less than two hours later, I received shipping confirmation complete with tracking information.  My watch was delivered on time, in perfect condition, correct model number, and all the ‘free’ items, including their now infamous ‘surprise’ watch, were included in the box.  So kudos to Orient USA for getting my Aviator to me as they should.  I can only hope this marks the start of an improved experience for everyone who orders direct from Orient USA.

List price on the Orient Aviator is $275 USD on stainless bracelet, $260 USD on leather.  Street prices for the watch on stainless is around $200 USD.  Catch it on sale at Orient at more than their usual 30-percent discount and the watch is a solid value.

Overall, the Orient Aviator has broad appeal for fans of diver watches, fans of military or pilot-style timepieces or for anyone who can appreciate Orient’s blend of reliability, value and unique looks.  They could easily expand this line with a range of dial colors, different leather straps or even a black PVD or IP finish.  Whether they will remains to be seen, but anyone who purchases this model will be rewarded with a great looking automatic watch that gets the job done, while exuding a clean, easy-to-read appearance.

Pros:  no-nonsense design, beautiful deep blue dial, Orient automatic reliability and quality, nice bright lume

Cons:  non-quickset day screams of cost-cutting, different color lume on dial and hands could bother some, where’s the machined deployant?

Verdict:  a strong value when bought right, good looks and performance in a hybrid diver/aviator design, Orient scores a nice hit with this one and is a good example why Orient has many aficionados amongst the WIS elite

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Excelsior!

-Marc

Review of Seiko Military Style Chronograph

Model # SNDA57P1

At a Glance:

Brand/Model:  Seiko

Movement:  Japanese quartz

Material:  stainless steel case, leather strap

Complications:  date display, chronograph timing to 12 hours in 1/20^th second increments

Price:  approx. $150 USD street price

Plenty of photos follow the review.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

This year for my birthday, I decided to ask my girlfriend for a specific model watch and zeroed in on this nifty Seiko Chronograph with the 7T92 quartz movement in it.  What attracted me to this chrono was its no-nonsense military-inspired look and the overall clean design.

This model has been out for a while now and can be fairly hard to find.  This one was ordered from Skywatches in Singapore and service was great; order came in about four days.  This model is available in the black dial reviewed here as well as an ivory colored dial and with the satin finish case as seen here or a semi brushed finish case on stainless steel bracelet.  I preferred the greyish satin finish case, so that’s what I got. 

For those on a budget, there are several Pulsar models that utilize this exact same movement and dial layout for about half the price.

The case is smooth satin finished all stainless steel with a brushed screwdown caseback.  The crown is unsigned and does not screw down.  Water resistance rating is 10 bar/100 meters.  The flat crystal is Seiko’s Hardlex and exhibits no distortion.

Case measures 43.2mm without the crown, 11.2mm thick and with 22mm lugs.  Despite its seemingly large dimensions, this watch doesn’t wear big, at least to me and my thinner wrist, so don’t be discouraged if you’re a ‘42mm or smaller’ buyer.

The dial is a perfect matte black with a nice white on black date wheel @ 4.  Date is of course quickset.  The hour and minute hands and the markers on the inner bezel/chapter ring are luminous, with Seiko’s superb Lumibrite material.  No problems with lume on this watch!  It would be awesome if the inner bezel ring rotated, but alas, it doesn’t.

Under an 8X loupe, the dial and hands show no noticeable defects or distractions, aside from a slight dot on the ‘6’ Arabic that can’t be seen with the naked eye.

The 7T92 chrono movement intrigued me because of the concentric totalizers in the subdial @ 6.  These totalizers tally the minutes (longer hand) and the hours (hand underneath the minute hand) up to 12 hours.  The subdial @ 12 is the 1/20^th second totalizer, which spins mercilessly while the chrono is running up to 10 minutes, then stops and only reads the 1/20^th second tally when the chrono is stopped.  This is done of course to conserve battery power.  The orange center second hand is the chrono second hand and the subdial @ 9 is the main watch seconds hand (in orange).  The chrono also does lap timing.

The white Arabics at the quarter hours are sufficiently sized but not too large, distorted or hacked off as seems so commonplace these days on many watch designs.  Again, they speak to the no-nonsense nature of this watch; it’s form following function here.

This model comes on a 22mm continuous width black nylon woven strap with matching signed satin finish buckle.  I’m not a big fan of nylon straps because they aren’t very comfortable for me, but this one is fairly well finished on the edges and doesn’t look too bad. 

I anticipated not liking the OEM strap and ordered a Hadley Roma black carbon look strap which didn’t work out for me (and the quality was disappointing for a name brand strap!) and switched to the softer, German-made leather strap with white contrast stitching as seen in the photos.

For some reason with this watch, I’m having trouble with the strap fitting either too tight or too loose, I think this leather strap will work, but I may still switch back to the factory strap.  Time will tell.

Accuracy of the quartz 7T92 movement has been as it should be, running currently at +1 second a week.  Battery life is rated at three years and the battery is the fairly common 395/399.  This movement also has an EOL (end of life) indicator, moving the watch seconds hand in two-second increments to signal that it’s time for a battery change.

Pricing on this watch varies a bit, depending on where purchased, but usually runs in the $135 to $150 USD range.  A fair price for a very nice, practical piece.

Pros:  all business dial layout, great look, unique chrono subdial @ 6, Seiko reputation, great lume

Cons:  subdials may be hard to read for some, fixed inner bezel, would be nice if a leather strap came from the factory

Verdict:  nice feature set for the price, quality fit and finish, good overall value in a military-inspired chronograph

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Excelsior!

-Marc

UPDATE!

I have owned this watch for almost five months now and it has quickly become my easy go-to watch for weekend wear or when I just can’t decide what to put on.  Super easy to read, the aftermarket leather strap has broken in nicely and fits great (and looks great, too!) with timekeeping now running about +2 seconds per week, still well within spec. and totally acceptable.

-MCV, 4-16-11