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WATCH REVIEW: AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02

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#1 · (Edited)
Reviewer: James aka TVDinner

Watch / Models Being Reviewed: AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02

The Seafire was a brave attempt at engineers to bring to the sea – the best that military aviation could deliver in terms of longer range offensive capabilities. The boldness of the Seafire with its pronounced foldable wing – is announced with this timepiece from Avi-8. Coin edged bezel design frames this exquisitely polished case with piston like pushers and horn like lugs. The dial references classic vintage timepieces of the era with upto date mechanics and style. Split timing chronograph precision timing is available to add more than a dose of performance to this already luxurious timepiece. (Click here for Source)

AVI-8 Company Web Links:

Main Site - http://avi-8.co.uk/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AVI8Watches
Twitter - https://twitter.com/avi__8
YouTube Videos - https://www.youtube.com/AVI8UK
Instagram - http://instagram.com/avi_8

Model being reviewed - http://avi-8.co.uk/collection/SupermarineSeafire/AV402502
(watch was donated by the brand for the review)

About AVI-8 (from the company website) -

Faster, further, higher - Aviation exemplifies Man's desire to fly and soar above the Earth…
The best engineers, scientists, designers and pilots have combined over the years to produce cutting edge machines that were designed for the crucial purpose of a country's defense. Drawing on the absolute best in materials and resources, a series of iconic planes have emerged over the years that serve as a benchmark to look upon in man's progress in the sky. Our collection of timepieces seeks to honor both the aircraft and the untold story of the airmen who have dedicated themselves both in and out of the cockpit to bring these incredible machines to life
(Click here for Source)

AVI-8 Company Contact Info
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Contact Us Form on Company Website - http://avi-8.co.uk/contact-us

North America Service Center:
Precision Time WSC
e-mail : info@avi-8nation.com
http://precisiontimeco.com/watch-service-center/

AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Specs

Movement: TMI VD53 Japanese Chronograph with Date
Case: Stainless Steel Case
Water Resistance: 5ATM (165 feet)
Diameter of Case (3-9): 43.00 mm
Case Thickness: 12 mm
Lug To Lug: 52.0 mm
Strap: Brown Genuine leather strap with solid stainless steel buckle
Strap width: 22m
Strap length - men's standard
Dial Color: Black
Price: MSRP - $420 / $125 (current Amazon - LINK)


AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Packaging:

The outer box is a plain white cardboard box with the company name printed on it. Traditional and standard outer box.



The main watch box is solid construction with a nice brown leather outer material and snap down mechanism. The white accent stitching around the top, bottom, and snap down flap on the box is a nice touch.



AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 First Look:

Inside the box the watch sits on a very soft, plush, and stuffed pillow. The company's logo is printed on the inside top of the box as shown below.
Also included are multiple manuals, books, a warranty card and hang tags.



There are multiple features of the watch that I immediately noticed on first glance.

1) The case shape is unique and combines elements of both straight lines (on the left and right sides) and the traditional round dial shape.
2) The coin edge ridged bezel slopes and angles down to the case below it. This gives the watch a "flowing" feel from top to bottom to me.
3) The font used on the dial for the numbers is unique and untraditional
4) The stitching on the brown leather strap has a lighter stitching which ties nicely to the outer box design.
5) It is hard to see in the picture below but the sub dials are located in what seems to be almost a slightly sunken middle area of the dial. This gives the illusion of depth to the dial.
6) Lastly I noticed the unique shape and position of the number "10" on the dial. more on that later in the review.



AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Non Crown Side

One of the best features of this watch in my opinion is the distinct angles and lines of the case. The Supermarine Seafire has the features of a square watch and a traditional round watch. The long straight lines on either side of the case contrast with the round bezel sitting above it. Then the case curves inward and downward with the slope of the lugs. Very interesting case design.



In this picture on the wrist you can really see the case design and how it angles around the side combining both straight lines and curved ones. Overall the watch has a low profile on the wrist and wears comfortably and flat on your arm.




AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Crown Side

On the crown and pusher side of the case you have the same combination of straight and curved lines and the addition of the 2 chronograph pushers and main crown. The crown is stamped with a circular pattern that is a nice contrast to the rest of the polished smooth case and pushers.






AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Leather Strap

The brown leather strap is 22mm wide and a nice shade of brown. I tried to capture it in the pictures in this review but as you will see the shade of brown looks slightly different in different lights. The leather was nice and soft right out of the box and has a quality feel.



The brown strap with the black dial works well with this model in my opinion.



For me, branded leather straps are like branded clasps or buckles. It is a nice touch when a brand takes the extra step to brand their leather straps with their logo. AVI-8 does this nicely on this strap as shown below.



Here you can see the AVI-8 logo stamped cleanly on the underside of the strap.
You can also see the stitching on the keeper. I found this tight and secure.




AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Buckle

Pretty standard buckle and the overall look when in place is clean and nice. The company name is engraved nicely on the buckle as displayed in the images below.



As I have mentioned in other reviews, putting the logo on the buckle or clasp and not just using a generic one is a plus and positive for me. It are these little details that make a watch nicer in my opinion. AVI-8 has done a nice job on this model branding the buckle.





I tried to get an extreme close up of the engraving on the buckle so you can see how clean and deep it is.




AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Case Back

Pretty cool caseback. I like the plane image and the VERY clean engraving. The overall look of the case back is VERY clean and classy. Well done.

The engraved banner has the words "Strike Hard Strike Sure" written in it.




AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02
Case and Dial Pictures

Nice picture of the shape of the case I mentioned earlier in the review. The case design really is the stand out feature of this watch in my opinion. Again you can see the long straight lines on the side of the case next to the curved lugs and the sloping coin edge ridged bezel.

Great use of color contrast on this model from AVI-8. The brown, black, silver, white, and touch of red works really well together creating an easy to read distinct look overall.



The brand and model name is printed clearly on the dial below the 12 position. You can also see slightly sunken inner dial area which is lined with a stitching pattern.



Close up of the crown, pushers, coin edge bezel and size of the case. I really like the spiral pattern on the top of the crown.



The shape, size, and design of the crown make it very easy to grab and manipulate.





You can see all of the hands in this picture. The hour and minute hands are very easy to read with their white color against the black background of the dial. The red tip for the subdial hands and longer main second hand are very visible against the black background as well.

In this picture you can see the unusual "10" on the dial. More on that below



24 hours subdial next to the 3 postion on the dial.



The Chrono seconds subdial is located directly above the 6 postion. I tried and tried and tried to reset this hand to get it to line up perfectly when resetting at the 60 top line but it always was slightly off (to the left). This was the only subdial with this issue but it is worth noting that it was slightly off. This could be fixed by someone adjusting the movement and hand position.



The 60 minute subdial is located next to the 9 position. No issues with this subdial and perfect alignment.



I did find the date window slightly to small for my liking. Many of the numbers with 2 digits (10-31) seemed cramped in the small circular opening.
** I would suggest making the date opening slightly larger so the numbers are fully shown.



Again here you can see how the date seems to barely fit in the date window opening.



Addressing the "10" on the dial. As you can see below it looks slightly off, unusual, and possibly misshapen.

1) I emailed the brand 2 times this past week asking directly if this was a mistake or done on purpose or part of the unique style of the watch. I did not hear back from anyone.

** The font used for the numbers on the dial is definitely unique and a slightly informal style. There seems to be a 3-dimensional look to the font used.
** I do not have an issue with the font used for the numbers, but the 10 seems slanted and positioned wrong as you can see in the pictures below.
** Again I tried to get clarification from the brand if this is normal but never heard back.
** I will update this thread if/when they get back to me or maybe a representative from AVI-8 will post in this thread.

2) If this was simply a one-off error then I am sure the brand would swap out the model with the customer




Close up of the unusual 10 on the dial. Looks like the lume paint was either applied incorrectly. As mentioned above I am waiting for a response from the brand about this.



If you look at the stock image I found online (below) for this watch it does look like the 0 in the 10 is positioned to be a little slanted, but not as much as on the model I reviewed.

Also if you look at the stock image you can get a nice view of the case design and overall shape.





AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Lume Pictures:

Initially you would not expect a lot of lume on a watch of this style but it was not bad. The minute and hour hands are very very easy to read in the dark and the unique font numbers also were pretty clear. I will say that the lume application seemed uneven in some places and again the 10 just looks positioned incorrectly.
I think part of the 3-D look may be attributed to how the lume is applied to the numbers on the dial.

The glow from the lume lasted a normal average amount of time and faded slowly.

I looked on every website I could find and could not find out what type of lume application was used.





AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02On The Wrist Pictures

This model has a nice presence on your wrist. It is a light weighing watch and has a larger then listed feel. That is mainly due to the large dial opening and not having a wide bezel. As mentioned the watch feels considerably larger then its 43mm size.

As you can see the colors nicely contrast making this watch very very easy to read which I know is important to many people.



You can see in this picture how nice the brown strap looks next to the black dial. The low profile and dial layout/design gives this a classier feel. It could be worn in a dressy situation with shirts with long sleeves or casual situations with jeans. That makes this watch versatile and wearable in different situations.




AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Quartz Movement

** Overall the watch kept perfect time and the quartz movement seemed to work as expected. As mentioned above the small hand in the subdial above the 6 position needs to be adjusted/regulated to line up correctly when reset (was slightly off to the left)

Here is some information about the TMI VD53 Japanese Chronograph with Date Movement used in this watch.

M
ovement Specs

  • Outside Diameter: 12 3/4 Ligne or 29.5 mm
  • Movement 4.57 mm thick
  • Dial is white at 4:30
  • Requires watch cell 371
  • Requires watch hands: hour 1.10, minute .65, and sweep second .20 mm
  • Chrono second at 6:00
  • Chrono minute at 9:00
  • Has NO jewels
  • Supplied with stem: 351177, Tap 10
  • The following stem is available but must be ordered separately: 351892, Tap 11
  • Includes watch stem and temporary plastic watch crown
  • Hattori Japan quartz movement
  • Japanese assembled





AVI-8 Supermarine Seafire AV-4025-02 Final Thoughts

There are a lot of things about this model that I did like starting with the unique shape and design of the case. The included strap was also nice and soft right out of the box. I also found the colors used a perfect combination (black, brown, white, red, silver). The minute and hour hands hands are attractive in shape and style to me and very easy to read.

As mentioned above there were a few things I found on this model that I would suggest adjusted/tweaking. This included one of the sub dial hands needing to be regulated slightly to line up correctly when reset. The hope is that this is checked on all watches before they leave the factory. But issues can occur during shipping (watches get bounced around over long delivery distances, etc) so that can't be over looked either. Also the unique "10" on the dial is still a mystery. Hopefully I will receive clarification on this and will post an update in the thread. And finally I would personally make the date window slightly larger so the number is easier to read and does not look squeezed in the small opening.

I enjoyed wearing this watch and received a few unsolicited comments from people that they liked it and the colors used. At the $100 price point you can purchase this watch on Amazon I think it is an overall good value for the style, design, and look you recieve.

Thank you again to AVI-8 for providing this watch for review on Watch Freeks.
Please see the next post for some measurement pictures.

Thanks for reading.


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#31 ·
Very good review there James. Excellent Photos, excellent writeup. etc.

On first mentioning of the mysterious "10" issue, I looked and looked and couldn't see anything unusual. Once I saw it, that's all I can see now.

Having said that: that's a smoking watch. I really am digging the unique curved and straight edges on the case. I like the font, but it's the crown that really makes it come together into the old school style and fits with the nouveau-vintage motif. I, like many others, are a real sucker for this kind of style.

At the price point, I'm assuming it's a mineral crystal?

The mysterious, apparently misprinted "10" is a real bummer, but it's a real shame that they sent you a misadjusted chrono hand. No matter how good the QA/QC is, some will always get through. Hopefully they're CS will quickly make it right.

Last thought: the quartz: how cool would it be to have this as a manual wind (maybe with an exhibition back?)
 
#32 ·
Thanks for the feedback and comments on the review. I agree it would be cool as an auto.

On the 10 being off they quickly replied to me that it was a misprint at the plant and offered to immediately replace with another one. I am pretty sure the crystal is mineral but have to check through all of my emails back and forth with the brand to reconfirm.

Overall it is a unique and interesting model and a good price.
 
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