Model # Aqua One Military Green ‘A’ (301)
Brand/Model: Aquatico Aqua One Automatic Diver
Movement: Japanese automatic
Material: stainless steel case
and bracelet, ceramic bezel insert
Complications: date display
Price: approx. $200 USD plus shipping
Plenty of photos follow the review.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
We are certainly
living in the golden age of micro-brand watches. Pretty much never before in horological
history have there been so many affordable, diverse and interesting automatic
watches available for the discerning collector (or casual collector for that
matter).
As a dive watch
enthusiast, I keep my eyes open for any new dive watches that might appear on
the market and I literally stumbled on the Aquatico brand while perusing the
Sales Forum on the popular worldwide watch forum WatchUSeek. I was not familiar with this brand and it
seems they haven’t been promoting themselves too much; even their web site
appears to be somewhat of a work-in-progress.
But let’s get this out in the open right away: Aquatico makes a darn good watch, especially
for the price.
What drew me to the
Aqua One diver, aside from its low $200 USD price before shipping (which was
$20 from China to the United States via DHL, with arrival in four days after
purchase) was this model’s great military green dial. It just looks super nifty.
The Aqua One is
also available in black and what looks to be a terrific blue dial, with your
choice of either ‘classic’ Mercedes hands or the ‘snowflake’ handset you see
here. While I own a Tudor Black Bay and
a vintage Tudor ‘snowflake’ Sub, I opted for the snowflake hands on my Aqua One
for a nice change of pace compared to my other micro-brand pieces.
The Aqua One diver
seen here starts with a polished on the sides and brushed on the top all 316L
stainless steel case, measuring 41.4mm without the signed screwdown crown;
46.5mm crown included. Case thickness is
a relatively slim 12.6mm. Lug spacing is
22mm and lug-tip to lug-tip clocks in at 49.5mm, so the overall dimensions of
the watch are just about perfect.
The crown is
signed, screws down with about 2-1/2 to 3 turns and has a nice spring-loaded
tension about it, which exudes a feeling of quality.
The case back is
brushed stainless steel, screws down and is engraved with the Aquatico logo (a
mermaid on a dolphin).
Case fit and finish
is good with no sharp edges, unfinished spots or ill-fitting pieces.
The Aquatico Aqua
One is factory rated for 300 meters of water resistance.
The dial is one
area where this watch really shines. The
military green is a perfect matte green, slightly olive toned in certain light
and looks great against the white handset and applied white markers and
arabics. I wasn’t too sure about having
just two arabics on the dial (at the 6 and 9 positions) but it’s much better
than putting a bunch of arabics on the dial and then hacking them off at
certain spots like some companies do, which is something I really dislike. I’ve grown to like the two arabics on the
Aqua One’s dial.
The markers,
arabics and hands are all white and coated with Super Luminova BGW-9 lume,
which glows that cool blue that we’ve all come to love. Lume quality is good and the lume is evenly
applied, but it could be a tad stronger.
A quickset date
window resides at the 3 position with a small silver frame around the opening. The date wheel is black on white and aligns
perfectly within the window. Quickset
date action works as it should.
The hour hand is
the snowflake design (the diamond part of the hand could be, in my opinion,
slightly smaller, but this is a minor quibble) and the minute hand is a simple
sword style, which should be about one to two millimeters longer. The second hand has a snowflake diamond about
two thirds of the way out on its hand.
The ends of all the hands where they attach to the pinion are finished
in matte black, which gives the watch a more expensive look.
A printed-on-the-dial
chapter ring has small white hash marks for the seconds encircling the
dial. Fairly minimal dial printing
(something I always appreciate) consists of the Aquatico name and dolphin logo
(sans the mermaid) below the 12 position and ‘Aqua One’ printed in orange,
along with ‘1000ft/300m’ and ‘AUTOMATIC’ all positioned above the 6. All said, nothing garish or distracting here.
Under my standard
8X loupe exam, the dial looks clean and the quality of the applied markers and
overall assembly look strong.
The bezel is
polished stainless steel with a ‘bottle cap’edge which makes for an easy
grip. The bezel is a 60-click
unidirectional and exhibits a bit of backlash but operates smoothly and
positively nonetheless.
The bezel insert is
ceramic and has a combination of markers and arabics, along with an inverted
triangle at the 12. All of these items are
finished in white and are luminous with the same lume as used on the dial. The bezel insert also has a matte finish
instead of the high gloss that some ceramic inserts feature, which is a pleasant
change of pace and harmonizes perfectly with the matte finish of the dial.
The ceramic insert
is military green and matches the color of the dial fairly well, which is nice,
because I have seen too many watches that have a ceramic bezel insert that’s
supposed to be the same color as the dial, but where the color match between
the two is too far off and lends a disconcerting look to the watch.
The dial is capped
by a flat sapphire crystal with internal (inside/under crystal) anti-glare
coating. The crystal is flush with the
top of the bezel.
Inside the Aqua One
is the Seiko NH36 automatic movement (which is pretty much the same as or
identical to Seiko’s 4R36 automatic) that runs in 24 jewels, hacks and manually
winds and beats at 21,600 bph.
The NH36 is the
day/date version of the NH35 (date only) and I have no idea why Aquatico chose
a day/date movement for a watch that has just a date display. My guess is that maybe the NH36 positions the
date display farther out on the dial, which they found more aesthetically
pleasing? For whatever reason, I have no
complaints about the choice.
I have the NH35
movement (same as the NH36 but date only) in a bevy of other watches and some
are more accurate than others, so I don’t know if the more accurate ones are
tweaked by the watch companies prior to casing, but it shows this movement is
capable of very good timekeeping. This
movement has become nearly ubiquitous in the micro-brand watch world, along
with the similar Miyota 9015 automatic movement.
The NH36 in my Aqua
One is exceptional, running at +1 second over 24 hours in the crown up position
and while on the wrist, it shows no variation at +/- zero seconds! Superb!
Power reserve was an expected 45-3/4 hours. The watch winds, sets and functions
perfectly, which has of course contributed to my overall enjoyment of this
piece.
The bracelet is a
fully brushed all stainless steel Oyster style with solid end links and a
double locking signed clasp with machined deployant. The clasp has four micro-adjustment
holes. There is no dive extension or
half links. The links are secured with
standard split pins and sizing the bracelet was a straightforward exercise.
It would be nice if
watch companies would include at least one half link on a bracelet, since
lately it seems I have encountered too many watches that are either too tight
or too loose and where a half link would make all the difference. The Aqua One almost fell into this category
for me, but I was able to achieve a comfortable fit after all. Comfort while wearing the watch is good and
the balance of the watch on the wrist is just right.
The bracelet
measures 22mm at the lugs and tapers to 20.1mm at the clasp.
Presentation is
simple, with a small blue cardboard box with a white cardboard sleeve, totally
appropriate for the price point. No
instructions or specifications were supplied, just a warranty card with a
rather poor translation into English.
It’s also the only watch warranty card I have ever seen that
specifically states no warranty coverage due to earthquakes (!)
As I mentioned
earlier, despite the company’s web site being a bit incomplete in parts, the
actual on-line ordering of the watch went fine and shipment occurred in less
than 24 hours from ordering. Delivery
took four days from China, so no complaints here.
Overall, the
Aquatico Aqua One automatic dive watch is a terrific piece. It features excellent build quality, solid
credentials and a not-totally derivative look to create an unbeatable
value. Aquatico appears to be an upstart
company that has a future to it if they would only get the word out more. A smashing first effort!
Pros: perfect
military green dial and bezel, high quality dial work, accurate Seiko automatic
movement, solid build quality with good crown action, impressively low price
Cons: minute
hand could be a bit longer, lume could be a bit brighter, a half link in the
bracelet would be nice
Verdict: the
Aquatico Aqua One is a micro-brand dive watch that merits your close attention
if you want a good looking, well-made diver that won’t break the bank while
looking and feeling like a much more expensive watch. Nicely done!
Thanks for reading
and enjoy the pics.
Excelsior!
-Marc
