Watch Reviewed: Zelos Abyss
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Company Information:
Website: http://zeloswatches.com
Email: elshan@zeloswatches.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zeloswatches/?fref=ts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeloswatches/
About from Company Website:
Zelos was founded to offer timepieces with cutting-edge designs and materials. We design and produce watches from the ground up, ensuring that you get a watch that can be found no where else.
Since the start of Zelos in 2014, we have launched 3 models on Kickstarter with increasing success. Our first model, the Helmsman garnered 273% of the targeted funding. The Chroma followed next with 350% and finally the Abyss with an overwhelming 650% of funding.
Zelos is based in Singapore and was founded by Elshan. Having been fascinated by mechanical timepieces for many years, building one was the next logical step. He believes that great timepiece designs should not be confined to luxury brands.
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Zelos Abyss - Green Dial
Description of Watch:
A watch built to withstand 3000m of crushing water resistance and crafted from marine bronze which ages based on your experiences.
Stock Photo:
A short video clip by Zelos on the new Abyss 3000M Bronze:
Watch Specifications:
- Case Material: CuSn8 Bronze
- Case Diameter: 43.0mm
- Case Thickness: 18.0mm
- Case Length: 51.5mm
- Dial Color: Green
- Crystal: 7mm Sapphire, double domed with anti-reflective coating
- Caseback: 316L stainless steel, screwed-in
- Movement: Citizen Miyota Caiber 9015
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, elapsed time
- Strap Material(s): Leather, Rubber & Nylon
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Water resistance: 300 ATM / 3000 Meters
- 1 Year Warranty
Price: $820
The Abyss Bronze is available in four different dial color options -- black, brown, green and blue, plus a black dial version with a black bezel. For this review, the green dial was provided.
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Packaging:
The packaging for the Zelos Abyss is in line with their offerings. The outer box is made of wood, which is heavily grained, with rather rustic appearance. The lid of the box features a carved Zelos logo. The box is secured with a brass fastener and hinges.
[URL="http://s864.photobucket.com/user/andrema_bucket/media/Zelos/Abyss%20Green/7ad7ba67-844d-4226-9660-156074b14c53_zpsy5xv4qcg.jpg.html"]
Inside the box, the watch is stored in a nice, light tan leather travel roll. The roll is made from genuine leather and has a belt style closure, with a stainless steel buckle. The roll has a fairly large capacity and can hold 4 watches up to 47mm as well as a strap tool. As I have said previously, Zelos puts together fantastic, practical packaging! This roll will come in handy many times over, while all of those watch boxes from other brands will just sit in a closet somewhere unused.
In addition to the Abyss watch, a black NATO style strap with brass hardware, a rubber dive strap, a strap changing tool and a cool bronze warranty card are also included.
Here is a shot of the Abyss warranty card…is it just me, or is this thing just cool! I love the extra effort Zelos puts forward to create these extra touches to increase its customer’s ownership experience. This is just another example.
The case is very nicely made and serves as a great case for transporting watches or storing them while not in use.
Case, Bezel and Crystal:
The Zelos Abyss is a 3000m rated deep diver, with a 43mm case constructed from CUSN8 bronze. The case has a nice, sporty appearance, which I would describe as a tool compressor diver. The watch features a dual crown setup similar to the super compressors of the past, but its appearance and overall dimensions provide it with the rugged appearance of a tool diver.
One thing that I wanted to mention up front is that bronze will oxidize and, as a result, will discolor with age. The watch reviewed has not gone through this process and will look very different once it has been exposed to the elements after some time. This is part of the “charm” that comes along with owning a bronze watch and also something to keep in mind while owning a bronze watch. This “charm” or “character” is referred to as patina. Some people force it, some people let it develop on its own…anyways, if you are interested in learning more geeky information about CUSN8, I have include a link below:
Here is a link with more information on CuSn8 Bronze: http://alb-copperalloys.com/phosphor-bronze/c52100/
The case is finished with a combination of brushed and polished surfaces. The flat surfaces of the case have a brushed finish applied. This finishing is well done and evenly applied throughout the watch. The edges of the cases, however, have a nice polished finish, which provides a fantastic contrast to the brushing and adds a great refinement to the overall watch design.
The Abyss case is relatively thick at 18mm, but that is to be expected to maintain a water resistance rating of 3000m. This thickness is also needed to accommodate a thick, 7mm double domed sapphire crystal sufficient enough to handle the depth rating.
Like the case of the Abyss, the bezel also has robust proportions to match. The CUSN8 bronze diver’s countdown bezel has engraved markings, with an illuminated triangle at the 12 o’clock position. The finishing on the bezel continues the theme from the case, with brushing on the top of the bezel and polished sides. It’s 120 click, unidirectional design functions smoothly, with firm and precise clicks.
The deeply notched grips on the bezel are thoughtfully designed and provide a fantastic surface for gripping. This design accentuates the tool diver feel of the watch and provides great functionality for the watch, even in wet conditions.
The Abyss's double domed sapphire crystal sits just above the surface of the watch's bezel. To assist with viewing the dial the crystal has antireflective coating applied to its underside.
The Abyss also features a Helium Escape Valve (HEV) on the non-crown side of its case. Although most owners will never need the functionality of the HEV or even get their Abyss wet beyond a rain shower, this feature is definitely in line with the tool diver theme of this watch as well as the intended role of the watch itself.
In line with a traditional compressor style design, the Abyss has its two 7mm crowns located at the 4 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions on the case. The crown located at the 4 o’clock position actuates the Miyota 9015 functionality. The second crown at the 2 o’clock position controls the watch’s internal bezel. To protect against water intrusion and meet the watch’s 3000m water resistance rating, each crown screws down and utilizes 5 seals to achieve this feat.
The Abyss features a dual crown design. The crowns have a DLC coating applied, which is matte in appearance. Each crown has deeply notched grips and the Zelos “Z” engraved into its end. This is very well done!
The crown itself is easy to manipulate when setting the time and has a nice feel and action.
The Abyss’ 316L stainless steel, screwdown style caseback has a circular brushed finish, with and engraved underwater scene engraved into its center. The scene depicts a submarine ad depth, in a vast underwater trench. The center features a recessed finish, which has a matte blasted appearance and raised brushed details. The watch's technical data as well as model number is engraved around the outside perimeter of the caseback. To seal the watch from the potential pressures of being 3000m deep, Zelos incorporated a double o-ring system to seal the caseback and made it 4mm thick to ensure that it could handle the tough conditions at depth.
Dial and Hands:
The Abyss dial features a multi-level design, with large applied markers and bronze toned accents. The main dial has a deep green color, which I would describe as a “hunter green”. However, due to the brushed finish of the dial and its metallic finish, the dial has a nice radiance, which shifts with ambient lighting from light to dark green. This is primarily caused by the circular bushing of the interior portion of the dial. The inner dial also includes Zelos logo and “Automatic, 3000m” in a bronze finish at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, respectfully, on the dial.
The outer section of the dial is raised slightly higher than the center. It features large hour markers, which are a combination of bars and numeric indices. The indices have bronze tone borders and are filled with generous amounts of white BGW9 Superluminova.
The Abyss’ features the Zelos signature custom made, bronze hour and minute hands, with a great polished finish. In my previous Zelos review, I had described these hands as a “semi-skeletonized baton” style hand and I still feel that is very appropriate. This is because the general shape of the hand resembles a traditional baton style hand, but some of the inner portions have been removed to create an open space between the outer frame of the hand. In my opinion, this design is very unique and attractive!
The standard pointer style second hand does not have lume, but the final ¼ of the hand has been painted red.
As you can see from the photo below and several others in this review, the polished markers and hands really pop when light reflects off of them. This helps to make the watch a little more legible at sharp angles.
The photo below provides a closer look at the bronze Zelos logo just under the 12 o'clock position on the dial. The bronze details of the dial are a very nice touch and really help to make the watch design cohesive.
As you can see from the photos, the BGW9 Superluminova used on the dial, hands and bezel pip has a nice greenish tone. The lume is fairly bright when fully charged, but tends to fade quickly. As you can see from the photos below, when it is fully charged it glows nicely.
There is a slight difference between the glow of the hands as well as the 6 and 9 markers as compared to the rest of the dial. These tend to glow less bright, as compared to the remainder of the indices on the dial. I believe this is due to the thickness of the non-numeric markers.
Straps:
The Abyss comes with a wide variety of 22mm straps – Leather, Rubber and Nylon.
The watch arrived with a non-tapered brown leather strap installed. The leather strap is fairly thick at 4.5mm and has a less formal, rugged appearance. The stitching used for the strap is white and features on open ended style at the lug ends. The edges of the strap are rough cut, which provides a more casual feel to the watch.
The rubber strap supplied is a vintage inspired rubber “ladder style” strap. The strap features cutout sections at the center of each section of the strap and recessed areas at the edges of the strap. To assist with comfort, the strap features a recessed back, which allows air to circulate between the strap and your wrist when it is being worn. The rubber is on the firm side, but that is preferable due to the weight of the Abyss and helps to keep the watch steady on the wrist.
The photo below provides a closer look at the Zelos branded keeper on the rubber strap. It's a nice addition to the strap and definitely adds a custom look to the watch.
The final strap option for the Abyss is the supplied black nylon strap. It is a five ring Zulu style strap, which includes brushed, brass hardware. The nylon utilized is fairly thick, as most Zulu straps tend to be, but soft when worn.
Of the three strap options provided with the Abyss, my personal favorite is the rubber dive strap.
The Abyss comes with a single CuSn8 bronze, signature Zelos buckle. For those unfamiliar with this buckle, it is a custom made, thumbnail style buckle, with the Zelos logo engraved on its top surface. It has a nicely brushed finish, which coordinates nicely with the finishing of the case. In addition, it features a very unique cutout section in its sides.
Movement:
The Abyss utilizes a Citizen Miyota 9015 automatic watch movement. This is a very reliable movement and is well regarded within the watch industry.
Citizen Miyota 9015
(Stock photo)
Technical Specifications:
For more information on the movement, please refer to the following link: http://www.citizen.co.jp/miyota_mvt/...c.html#cal9015
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Wrist Shots:
For reference purposes, my wrist is 7.25 inches.
The Abyss II measures 43.0mm in diameter and 51.5mm in length. With these dimensions, the watch is the perfect size for MANY and is certainly a popular size in the WIS community. With its short lugs, the watch wears very comfortably on the wrist and will fit nicely on most wrist sizes.
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Overall impression and final thoughts:
Overall, I feel that the Zelos Abyss is a very cool looking bronze tool diver with nice finishing and great components. I was pleased with the well thought out design of the watch as well as the execution of the finishing throughout the entire piece. If you take a step back to think about it, you are getting a marine grade bronze watch with a custom made case, internal bezel, sapphire crystal, Miyota 9015 automatic movement, a leather travel roll and three straps…all for $820. That is a fairly good deal!
While preparing my review and evaluating the watch, I was hard pressed to come up with many, if any, shortcomings of the watch design. However, as I do with all of my reviews, I have compiled a few are areas that could be improved or changed to accentuate the look of the watch. Below are a few features of the Helmsman that, I feel, could be addressed. These points are nit-picky, but warrant mention:
** I would have preferred if there was a bit more lume applied to the hands as well as the 6 and 12 o’clock indices. When fully illuminated, it would look a little more “complete”. Even if the markers had to be a little larger to accommodate the lume, I think that would be nice.
** The nylon strap supplied with the Abyss has hardware that does not match the finish of the watch case. I would have preferred either matching hardware or black hardware on the strap.
** The watch currently only comes with one thumbnail buckle, which needs to be swapped between the 22mm leather and rubber straps. Given the price point of the watch, I would have preferred to see both straps come with a buckle installed.
Well, that concludes my review …Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments ~ Mark
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Company Information:
Website: http://zeloswatches.com
Email: elshan@zeloswatches.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zeloswatches/?fref=ts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeloswatches/
About from Company Website:
Zelos was founded to offer timepieces with cutting-edge designs and materials. We design and produce watches from the ground up, ensuring that you get a watch that can be found no where else.
Since the start of Zelos in 2014, we have launched 3 models on Kickstarter with increasing success. Our first model, the Helmsman garnered 273% of the targeted funding. The Chroma followed next with 350% and finally the Abyss with an overwhelming 650% of funding.
Zelos is based in Singapore and was founded by Elshan. Having been fascinated by mechanical timepieces for many years, building one was the next logical step. He believes that great timepiece designs should not be confined to luxury brands.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zelos Abyss - Green Dial
Description of Watch:
A watch built to withstand 3000m of crushing water resistance and crafted from marine bronze which ages based on your experiences.
Stock Photo:
A short video clip by Zelos on the new Abyss 3000M Bronze:
Watch Specifications:
- Case Material: CuSn8 Bronze
- Case Diameter: 43.0mm
- Case Thickness: 18.0mm
- Case Length: 51.5mm
- Dial Color: Green
- Crystal: 7mm Sapphire, double domed with anti-reflective coating
- Caseback: 316L stainless steel, screwed-in
- Movement: Citizen Miyota Caiber 9015
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, elapsed time
- Strap Material(s): Leather, Rubber & Nylon
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Water resistance: 300 ATM / 3000 Meters
- 1 Year Warranty
Price: $820
The Abyss Bronze is available in four different dial color options -- black, brown, green and blue, plus a black dial version with a black bezel. For this review, the green dial was provided.
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Packaging:
The packaging for the Zelos Abyss is in line with their offerings. The outer box is made of wood, which is heavily grained, with rather rustic appearance. The lid of the box features a carved Zelos logo. The box is secured with a brass fastener and hinges.
[URL="http://s864.photobucket.com/user/andrema_bucket/media/Zelos/Abyss%20Green/7ad7ba67-844d-4226-9660-156074b14c53_zpsy5xv4qcg.jpg.html"]
Inside the box, the watch is stored in a nice, light tan leather travel roll. The roll is made from genuine leather and has a belt style closure, with a stainless steel buckle. The roll has a fairly large capacity and can hold 4 watches up to 47mm as well as a strap tool. As I have said previously, Zelos puts together fantastic, practical packaging! This roll will come in handy many times over, while all of those watch boxes from other brands will just sit in a closet somewhere unused.
In addition to the Abyss watch, a black NATO style strap with brass hardware, a rubber dive strap, a strap changing tool and a cool bronze warranty card are also included.
Here is a shot of the Abyss warranty card…is it just me, or is this thing just cool! I love the extra effort Zelos puts forward to create these extra touches to increase its customer’s ownership experience. This is just another example.
The case is very nicely made and serves as a great case for transporting watches or storing them while not in use.
Case, Bezel and Crystal:
The Zelos Abyss is a 3000m rated deep diver, with a 43mm case constructed from CUSN8 bronze. The case has a nice, sporty appearance, which I would describe as a tool compressor diver. The watch features a dual crown setup similar to the super compressors of the past, but its appearance and overall dimensions provide it with the rugged appearance of a tool diver.
One thing that I wanted to mention up front is that bronze will oxidize and, as a result, will discolor with age. The watch reviewed has not gone through this process and will look very different once it has been exposed to the elements after some time. This is part of the “charm” that comes along with owning a bronze watch and also something to keep in mind while owning a bronze watch. This “charm” or “character” is referred to as patina. Some people force it, some people let it develop on its own…anyways, if you are interested in learning more geeky information about CUSN8, I have include a link below:
Here is a link with more information on CuSn8 Bronze: http://alb-copperalloys.com/phosphor-bronze/c52100/
The case is finished with a combination of brushed and polished surfaces. The flat surfaces of the case have a brushed finish applied. This finishing is well done and evenly applied throughout the watch. The edges of the cases, however, have a nice polished finish, which provides a fantastic contrast to the brushing and adds a great refinement to the overall watch design.
The Abyss case is relatively thick at 18mm, but that is to be expected to maintain a water resistance rating of 3000m. This thickness is also needed to accommodate a thick, 7mm double domed sapphire crystal sufficient enough to handle the depth rating.
Like the case of the Abyss, the bezel also has robust proportions to match. The CUSN8 bronze diver’s countdown bezel has engraved markings, with an illuminated triangle at the 12 o’clock position. The finishing on the bezel continues the theme from the case, with brushing on the top of the bezel and polished sides. It’s 120 click, unidirectional design functions smoothly, with firm and precise clicks.
The deeply notched grips on the bezel are thoughtfully designed and provide a fantastic surface for gripping. This design accentuates the tool diver feel of the watch and provides great functionality for the watch, even in wet conditions.
The Abyss's double domed sapphire crystal sits just above the surface of the watch's bezel. To assist with viewing the dial the crystal has antireflective coating applied to its underside.
The Abyss also features a Helium Escape Valve (HEV) on the non-crown side of its case. Although most owners will never need the functionality of the HEV or even get their Abyss wet beyond a rain shower, this feature is definitely in line with the tool diver theme of this watch as well as the intended role of the watch itself.
In line with a traditional compressor style design, the Abyss has its two 7mm crowns located at the 4 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions on the case. The crown located at the 4 o’clock position actuates the Miyota 9015 functionality. The second crown at the 2 o’clock position controls the watch’s internal bezel. To protect against water intrusion and meet the watch’s 3000m water resistance rating, each crown screws down and utilizes 5 seals to achieve this feat.
The Abyss features a dual crown design. The crowns have a DLC coating applied, which is matte in appearance. Each crown has deeply notched grips and the Zelos “Z” engraved into its end. This is very well done!
The crown itself is easy to manipulate when setting the time and has a nice feel and action.
The Abyss’ 316L stainless steel, screwdown style caseback has a circular brushed finish, with and engraved underwater scene engraved into its center. The scene depicts a submarine ad depth, in a vast underwater trench. The center features a recessed finish, which has a matte blasted appearance and raised brushed details. The watch's technical data as well as model number is engraved around the outside perimeter of the caseback. To seal the watch from the potential pressures of being 3000m deep, Zelos incorporated a double o-ring system to seal the caseback and made it 4mm thick to ensure that it could handle the tough conditions at depth.
Dial and Hands:
The Abyss dial features a multi-level design, with large applied markers and bronze toned accents. The main dial has a deep green color, which I would describe as a “hunter green”. However, due to the brushed finish of the dial and its metallic finish, the dial has a nice radiance, which shifts with ambient lighting from light to dark green. This is primarily caused by the circular bushing of the interior portion of the dial. The inner dial also includes Zelos logo and “Automatic, 3000m” in a bronze finish at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, respectfully, on the dial.
The outer section of the dial is raised slightly higher than the center. It features large hour markers, which are a combination of bars and numeric indices. The indices have bronze tone borders and are filled with generous amounts of white BGW9 Superluminova.
The Abyss’ features the Zelos signature custom made, bronze hour and minute hands, with a great polished finish. In my previous Zelos review, I had described these hands as a “semi-skeletonized baton” style hand and I still feel that is very appropriate. This is because the general shape of the hand resembles a traditional baton style hand, but some of the inner portions have been removed to create an open space between the outer frame of the hand. In my opinion, this design is very unique and attractive!
The standard pointer style second hand does not have lume, but the final ¼ of the hand has been painted red.
As you can see from the photo below and several others in this review, the polished markers and hands really pop when light reflects off of them. This helps to make the watch a little more legible at sharp angles.
The photo below provides a closer look at the bronze Zelos logo just under the 12 o'clock position on the dial. The bronze details of the dial are a very nice touch and really help to make the watch design cohesive.
As you can see from the photos, the BGW9 Superluminova used on the dial, hands and bezel pip has a nice greenish tone. The lume is fairly bright when fully charged, but tends to fade quickly. As you can see from the photos below, when it is fully charged it glows nicely.
There is a slight difference between the glow of the hands as well as the 6 and 9 markers as compared to the rest of the dial. These tend to glow less bright, as compared to the remainder of the indices on the dial. I believe this is due to the thickness of the non-numeric markers.
Straps:
The Abyss comes with a wide variety of 22mm straps – Leather, Rubber and Nylon.
The watch arrived with a non-tapered brown leather strap installed. The leather strap is fairly thick at 4.5mm and has a less formal, rugged appearance. The stitching used for the strap is white and features on open ended style at the lug ends. The edges of the strap are rough cut, which provides a more casual feel to the watch.
The rubber strap supplied is a vintage inspired rubber “ladder style” strap. The strap features cutout sections at the center of each section of the strap and recessed areas at the edges of the strap. To assist with comfort, the strap features a recessed back, which allows air to circulate between the strap and your wrist when it is being worn. The rubber is on the firm side, but that is preferable due to the weight of the Abyss and helps to keep the watch steady on the wrist.
The photo below provides a closer look at the Zelos branded keeper on the rubber strap. It's a nice addition to the strap and definitely adds a custom look to the watch.
The final strap option for the Abyss is the supplied black nylon strap. It is a five ring Zulu style strap, which includes brushed, brass hardware. The nylon utilized is fairly thick, as most Zulu straps tend to be, but soft when worn.
Of the three strap options provided with the Abyss, my personal favorite is the rubber dive strap.
The Abyss comes with a single CuSn8 bronze, signature Zelos buckle. For those unfamiliar with this buckle, it is a custom made, thumbnail style buckle, with the Zelos logo engraved on its top surface. It has a nicely brushed finish, which coordinates nicely with the finishing of the case. In addition, it features a very unique cutout section in its sides.
Movement:
The Abyss utilizes a Citizen Miyota 9015 automatic watch movement. This is a very reliable movement and is well regarded within the watch industry.
Citizen Miyota 9015
(Stock photo)
Technical Specifications:
For more information on the movement, please refer to the following link: http://www.citizen.co.jp/miyota_mvt/...c.html#cal9015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wrist Shots:
For reference purposes, my wrist is 7.25 inches.
The Abyss II measures 43.0mm in diameter and 51.5mm in length. With these dimensions, the watch is the perfect size for MANY and is certainly a popular size in the WIS community. With its short lugs, the watch wears very comfortably on the wrist and will fit nicely on most wrist sizes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall impression and final thoughts:
Overall, I feel that the Zelos Abyss is a very cool looking bronze tool diver with nice finishing and great components. I was pleased with the well thought out design of the watch as well as the execution of the finishing throughout the entire piece. If you take a step back to think about it, you are getting a marine grade bronze watch with a custom made case, internal bezel, sapphire crystal, Miyota 9015 automatic movement, a leather travel roll and three straps…all for $820. That is a fairly good deal!
While preparing my review and evaluating the watch, I was hard pressed to come up with many, if any, shortcomings of the watch design. However, as I do with all of my reviews, I have compiled a few are areas that could be improved or changed to accentuate the look of the watch. Below are a few features of the Helmsman that, I feel, could be addressed. These points are nit-picky, but warrant mention:
** I would have preferred if there was a bit more lume applied to the hands as well as the 6 and 12 o’clock indices. When fully illuminated, it would look a little more “complete”. Even if the markers had to be a little larger to accommodate the lume, I think that would be nice.
** The nylon strap supplied with the Abyss has hardware that does not match the finish of the watch case. I would have preferred either matching hardware or black hardware on the strap.
** The watch currently only comes with one thumbnail buckle, which needs to be swapped between the 22mm leather and rubber straps. Given the price point of the watch, I would have preferred to see both straps come with a buckle installed.
Well, that concludes my review …Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments ~ Mark