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Date product posted
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0
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4716
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Thu August 31, 2006
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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No recommendations
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None indicated
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None indicated
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Description:
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~Weight as delivered, 247g on bracelet
~Weight on wrist, 229g (w/ 3 links removed)
~Height, 16.75mm @crystal apex
~Case width, 43.8mm (measured 10:00 - 4:00)
~Width incl crown, 49mm
~Length, 51mm lugtip to lugtip
alphatimewatches.com
Those of you familiar with the Muhle Rasmus, Dreadnought, or JE Atlantis aren’t going to find anything new here. While these siblings from the same parent are not precisely identical, the similarities far outweigh the differences.
Steverino put me in contact w/ Harald Mundt at info@alphatimewatches.com. Mr Mundt was quite helpful, and considering the time differential responded to my inquiries extremely rapidly. Assuming Mr Mundt was an employee in marketing or distribution I was surprised to find his picture and title (Geschaftsfuhrer) in AlphaTime’s instruction/warranty booklet. Seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Order was finalized 26 Feb, delivered 6 Mar.
The watch arrived packaged with typical Teutonic overkill. After unwinding a few yards of packing paper and opening the outer box I discovered a 9 inch wide black lacquered case of jewelry box quality. Granted, this could very well be a $1.99 Chinese gimme, it still makes quite an initial impression.
The first thing that strikes you as you pull this watch off it’s pillow is.. this thing is heavy! At close to 9oz, this watch feels dense. Still over 8oz with bracelet sized, imagine strapping two quarter-pounders to your wrist.
Bracelet, 22mm non-tapering, is very solidly constructed of 10mm by 4.2mm oval links. Sizes easily with screws and pins. Attaches with massive solid end-links. Fold-over clasp is a substantial stamping. Linkages, including diver extension, are castings and again beg the question why don’t big name Swiss manufacturers provide bracelets of equal quality for much higher priced watches? 3mm thick ridged perforated rubber strap is included.
Bezel feel is smooth and consistent all the way around with no stiff or easy spots. Unidirectional, it’s 60 click with deep firm detents. Bezel exhibits a couple of tenths of a mm lateral “slop”, slight side-to-side play, but no perceptible vertical, up-&-down movement. Takes quite a swipe with the heel of your palm to move, don’t expect accidental brushes to cause an inadvertent change once set.
Domed sapphire crystal’s internal anti-reflective coating is effective enough that I was unable to catch enough of a reflection on the back surface to determine whether it was flat or curved.
Dial graphics are unusual enough that they have already stirred some controversy. In the flesh they are small enough that love em or hate em, they don’t attract undue attention. The simple austere hands are immediately legible, if somewhat small, and their black bases almost disappear against the flat black dial. The white on black datewheel is a nice touch as well. Not sure why you’d put a port colored bezel insert and a red sawfish on a watch described as “created specifically for members of elite units in Germanys armed forces”. OTOH, the sawfish is a close relative of the shark, can grow to over 20ft, and sure looks mean.. so if you think a mean looking fish is belongs on a divewatch, I guess this is as good as any. ;o) Dial size seems a little small. Given dial/bezel/case ratios more commonly found on dive watches, this 28mmdial is proportionately undersized for a 44mm watch. Long minute track markers crowd in further than necessary making a small dial feel even smaller. Despite this, after a couple of days wear the dial/hands presentation looks good and is “readable” at a glance.
Lume is adequate. Nowhere near Seiko bright initially, lume is not Invicta dim either. A 60sec maglight blast at 10pm results in a dial legible to the dark adapted eye at 3-4am. Small narrow indeces and smallish hands just don’t offer much surface area for luminous paint.
I’m not as big a fan of the bead-blasted finish as many. In my experience a dead matte finish is extremely easy to mar. Each bump or rub seems to result in a “shiny” spot. With this in mind I was not surprised to find several “touches” on the bracelet where it had folded back upon itself and rubbed in the initial assembly process. A couple of passes with the 3M pad hid those spots easily enough, but given a few months of wear and touch-ups I suspect this watch will be a bead-blasted/brushed hybrid.
Height and weight combined for a noticeably “topheavy” feel initially. This added to the deeply domed caseback protruding beyond the lugs made the 1st couple of days wear mildly awkward. Continued bracelet adjustment and a little adaptation have the watch feeling comfortable, but it did not feel “right at home” right out of the box.
Nothing in the literature or advertising leads me to believe that this movement is anything other than a base 28,800bph ETA 2428-2. Sec hand sure does sweep nicely though.
Watch is advertised to offer 70,000 A/m magnetic field protection. Won’t pretend to know what a 70,000 A/m field represents, for all I know that’s strong enough to pull the pins out of my wrist.
So, bottom line. I like it. Like it quite a bit. The weight and overbuilt construction make it feel bankvault solid. The size is almost too big, but not quite. Wears comfortably once you make friends with it. Overall bearing comes across like an M1A Springfield; all business, serious in intent, no frills or foo-foo. Purely utilitarian tool value. (..looks mean & nasty too)
And speaking of value. Your best price on another Fricker based tool diver will vary widely depending on your luck and the best deal you can find. This Fricker tool diver will set you back 771.55euro (895. less %16 VAT) + 50.euro shipping. Sawfish #64 landed on my doorstep for under $1,000.
Beat that!
Cheers, Danny S
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Keywords:
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AlphaTime Sawfish
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