Aquatico Watch Bronze Sea Star Military Review

Today’s review is the Aquatico Watch Bronze Sea Star Military Green Dial. We have never came across this brand before and we are very excited to be reviewing the watch. Just a little background detail before we review the watch, the inspiration behind the brand is Calvin. Inspired by his grandfather’s Seiko watch and his trip to the scenic Aquatico Beach in the Philippines in 2015, he decided to set up Aquatico in 2016. This young Hong Kong watch brand is relatively new to the scene but is definitely doing well on the world stage.

Features

CASE

Material : Bronze CuSn8 Satined with Bezel Insert Ceramic Applied BGW9
Diameter (mm) : 42
Thickness (mm) : 14
Case back : Closed
Indexes: Superluminova BGW9
Lens: Sapphire glass with double anti-reflecting coatings on the interior

MOVEMENT

Type : TMI SEIKO NH35 with 24 jewels
Origin : Japan

STRAP

Material : Quality Horween Leather Strap & Bronze buckle
Buckle : Tang
Width (mm) : 22

Other Details

Water Resistance : 30ATM
Crown: Screw down crown for time and date
Weight: 120g

Unboxing Aquatico Watch Bronze sea green dial

First Impression

The packaging was not a grand as the Vintro Watches but we were surprised to see an extra strap, a mesh strap. The watch gives a classic diver watch look but it is quite minimalistic in terms of its look. The green dial is cool and calm in the background and the bronze casing establishes its presence. The watch is bulky but we expected this given it is an automatic and a diver watch. So far we are definitely impressed!

Casing

First we will start to talk about the casing material of the Aquatico Watch Bronze sea. It is made from Bronze CuSn8 Satined and this is the first time we have come across this. It is not your typical shiny case but this one is slightly matte. That being said, it is definitely not a bad thing. There are famous and recognised diver watch brand which uses this type of casing and we actually like it.

The casing is 42mm by 14mm. It is not the largest watch and it fits around the wrist perfectly. There is a perfect balance with the size of the casing and fit of the watch. With many watches we have reviewed, the lugs on the watch is also curved and helps to push the watch onto the wrist.

At the bottom of the casing, there is a marking, ’06/88′ engraved. This is because the watch we have is the 6th in only 88 Aquatico Watch Bronze sea green dial ever made.

The backcasing is engraved with Aquatico’s logo and is closed. Is this a good idea? We would rather have an exhibition casing and for the watch to show off its 24 jewels but maybe to keep the cost down, they thought of having a closed case.

The crown is of a decent size and has been given a teeth cut design to help with operating it. There is a small logo engraved and there are no issues when it comes to using the crown. However we would have loved to see a closed off crown, like the one you see on Submariner watches. For us, the casing is crying out for it and it would just add more character to the watch. Given the size of the crown, for us, it would made sense to have this feature.

The lens is made from Sapphire glass with double anti-reflecting coatings on interior. Reflection is none on this watch. The lens absorbs any reflection and it is perfect. There are some glares at different angles, but they are very small in details and will not be bothersome.

The bezel is made from ceramic and it is not uni-direction. There are 120 clicks and it rotates perfectly. The clicks are sharp and crisp. The bezel does not slide out of place and there is a red marker at the top. The only downfall for the bezel is that it is not uni-directional. The number of the bezel do have Superluminova BGW9 and they are very clear.

Dial

Let’s start with the index. You have a combination of dots, rectangles and a triangle to mark the hours. The are large enough and very much noticeable on the dial. The white colour of the shapes to mark the numerals do go well against the green background. To mark the minutes, there are batons around the index. They are small but legible.

The date window located at the 3 o’clock position is of a decent size. It does not take much space of the dial and you can read the number clearly.

The hand design they have gone for is ‘snow flake’ hands. The design does suit the watch casing as it is bulky and give it a strong feel.

One feature of the dial which you will notice straight away is how deep the dial is from the lens. There is a huge divide from the lens to the dial. This helps to create the 14mm thickness and on-top with the bezel, this adds to the depth of the watch. Now why have such a deep dial? From what we can see is that it helps to focus the dial and it gets rid of any distraction around the dial.

Both hands and index have Superluminova BGW9 and we cannot complain about the brightness of the lume.

Overall, the dial is simple and there isn’t much doing on, which is a great feature on diver watches.

Movement

The movement inside is a TMI SEIKO NH35 with 24 jewels. We have come across this movement multiple times and we can say it is reliable. We can expect a power reserve of 36 hours and a time accuracy of -20/+40 seconds day.

It is a decent movement for the Aquatico Watch Bronze sea green dial given the price of the watch.

Strap

The strap is made from Horween Leather. It is comfortable and does wrap around the wrist well. However, there are not enough holes if you have a smaller wrist. This is something which Aquatico should address for later releases.

The strap does not need to be broken into and is supple. The colour of the strap does go well which the rest of the watch and it is slightly darker than the casing.

The finger for the buckle is huge. It is wide. It does suit the watch given the it’s large casing.

There is another strap which was provided by Aquatico. It is a black mesh strap. We do not really like the mesh strap on this watch because the strap is very thin. It will look very odd to have a slim strap holding such a bulky case. However, if you love slim mesh strap, then it will suit you.

Buy, Shortlist or Avoid?

Before we answer this question, let’s find out the RRP. The watch retails for $299/ £240/ €265. The price of the watch is not the cheapest nor the most expensive in the market. It is definitely a mid price watch. We would say to buy this watch. You are getting a great watch, simple and effective. However there are a couple of minor issues which Aquatico may choose to sort out, the crown and extra holes. There are also different colour dials available if you do not see eye to eye with the green dial. Do use NEWLABER for 10% off.

AQUATICO WATCHES

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