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Watch Freeks > General Watch Discussions > Reviews: > Watch Review > Watch Review: H3Tactical S.W.A.T Lightweight Silicone Strap Watch | |||||||
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Watch Freeks > General Watch Discussions > Reviews: > Watch Review > Watch Review: H3Tactical S.W.A.T Lightweight Silicone Strap Watch | |||||||
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| Watch Review: H3Tactical S.W.A.T Lightweight Silicone Strap Watch | Rate Topic |
| Author | Post |
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24th, 2012 05:00 am |
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1st Post |
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Tattoo Chef Moderator 
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Reviewer: Don aka Tattoo Chef Watch Being Reviewed: H3 Tactical S.W.A.T H3.802231.11 Watch was donated to Watch Freeks for review. H3TACTICAL Company Website: http://www.h3tactical.ch/home.html H3TACTICAL Watch Collections - http://www.h3tactical.ch/collections/all-collections.html H3TACTICAL Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/H3-TACTICAL/187300900052 H3TACTICAL Contact Info Kapellstrasse 26 CH-2540 GRENCHEN Switzerland T +41 (0)32 654 60 60 F +41 (0)32 654 60 61 office@h3tactical.ch H3TACTICAL Technology: Tritium is a hydrogen (H) atom that has two neutrons in the nucleus in addition to its single proton, givig it an atomic weight near three (3). Its chemical symbol is therefore "H3". Tritium is produced naturally in the upper atmosphere and its common form is in water. Tritium gas is also produced in reactors for diverse commercial purposes. In wristwatches, tritium gas is hermetically sealed in small glass tubes coated with a phosphorescent paint. The paint and the gas create together a chemical reaction that produces a permanent colorful glowing light. The tritium used in watches has a half life (T25) of +/- 12.5 years. That is why the glow intensity as often a 10 year warranty even though it might stay illuminated up to 25 years. Our company uses the world's highest quality H3 tritium produced in Switzerland by Mb-microtec. These tactical tritium watches glow 100 times brighter than watches with another illumination system. H3TACTICAL watches self-powered illumination system is guaranteed for 10 years H3 Tactical S.W.A.T Specs: *Precision Swiss Made Jeweled Quartz Watch Movement *5 Year Long Life Battery and Energy Saving Movement *Date Function - Window at 3 o'clock position *Analog Hands and Dial with 24 Hour Military Time also Shown *Tritium Gas H3 Illumination *Unidirectional Bezel with Tritium Dot at the "Zero" Position *Black PVD Case *Special Screw-Down Crown at 10”o clock *Screw-Down stainless steel case back *Black H3 Tactical Signature Silicone Strap *Depth Resistance: 200 Meters or 666 Feet *Swiss Made *Diameter: 42 millimeters (45 mm including setting crown) *Lug Width: 22 millimeters *Thickness 12 millimeters *Sapphire Crystal Price $600 USD H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Stock Photo:  H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. First Impressions: My first impressions were that it is a good looking tactical diver with a nice coin edge bezel. I also liked the use of numbers on the dial and the orange accents.  H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Packaging: Basic simple packaging here. Black and orange leatherette case with the H3 tactical logo printed on it. Inside it sits on a hard plastic holder and the inside is the same faux leather. Includes the warranty info and instructions.    H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Dial: All black matte dial with the H3 compass arrow logo at the 12, Swiss made at the 6 position. No other writing on the dial. Tritium tubes at all hour markers and on hands. I like the use of numbers as well as the tritium tubes. Would be great if the numbers were actually superluminova, giving the best of both worlds. Also this dial has the military time on the dial as well. It is good for someone who likes that feature , but I do think it starts to crowd the dial up. Date at the 4 position, white on black date disk. The use of the white hour hand, orange minute hand and white second hand, gives a nice contrast and makes it easy to read.    H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Case dimensions: Weight: 109 grams 42.4mm width 47mm with crown 12.45mm thick (4mm thick bezel) 6mm crown 22mm lug 51mm lug to lug H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Case: The 42mm case is stainless steel done in black pvd. It is a traditional round style divers case, with a slight curve to the lugs. The crown is located at the 10 position. Weird place to put a crown, but does make this watch stand out a bit because of it. You can see it has screws for the lugs, which is always nice because it makes it more secure. The lug screws are tight in there, but not so tight where it is difficult to remove.  You can see here the 6mm signed crown, with the H3 logo. The crown also has an orange rubber band in the middle of the crown. No idea what the purpose of this, besides design aesthetic, but it does look cool.    H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Lug screws  H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Bezel: The bezel is what I call , strange. The aluminum bezel insert is a countdown dive bezel, but it is reversed, which is weird. I have been told it was done for the customer this watch was originally designed for, and that they did it just do something different. I will say it is different, but I am not quite sure I like it. While I really don't use dive bezels, I will say it looks, odd. The bezel itself I am told is stainless steel pvd, but it sure feels like a composite, like you would find on a Luminox. I can not confirm if that is what it really is, but that is what it feels like to me. The bezel is easy to grip, but it turns very rough, and the ratchet sound reminds me of when you would play with a toy machine gun as a kid. You can see a good shot of the flat sapphire crystal here. The crystal has an internal AR coating.   H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Case back: The case back is pvd as well. I like that, as I have seen some pvd watches with stainless case backs and that always looks out of place to me. The case back has a small H3 tactical logo engraved into it and also the model number, crystal type and water resistance. Pretty standard case back, nothing flashy, but is smooth and feels nice against the wrist.   H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Rubber Strap: The strap is made out of silicone. It is very soft and pliable and comfortable on the wrist. It has ridges in the strap as part of the design and one side says H3 tac and the other side tical. I don't really like that aspect they broke that up like that, I think it would have been better to have H3 on one side and tactical on the other. It has one big silicone keeper on the strap, which does keep the strap in place on the wrist. As you can see in the pictures below it is a lint magnet. A big lint magnet, it attracts everything. I would like to see them in the future maybe use a natural rubber strap instead.   The buckle is black pvd as well and is signed with the H3 tactical. It is an over sized buckle, not too large, but better than some standard buckles you would find on a generic strap. The buckle is held in with a friction pin.  H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Wrist shot on my 7 1/2" wrist: The watch plays well on the wrist, wearing a little larger than the stated 42mm. It is very comfortable on the wrist. I have about 6 holes left when buckled on the wrist, so it should fit someone with up to an 8 1/2 wrist with no issues.      H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Movement: The movement is a RL 515.6 from Ronda with special date disc. No issues , has seen to be keeping almost perfect time, as most quartz watches should. H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Lume: The lume of the H3 Tactical is by the way of tritium tubes. It is a T25 tritium tube watch, and glows as such. As always the benefit of tritium is that it glows all the time without any light source. As you can see below the colors are green and orange tubes.   H3TACTICAL S.W.A.T. Summary: I want to say that I enjoy the look and feel of the H3 Tactical on the wrist. It is very comfortable and has a nice subdued look about it. The black and orange colors , if you like those colors ,or are an HD fan, are very attractive. The bezel itself I think can use some reworking, and as said above, I would like to see a natural rubber strap over the silicone strap used, but understand that some people do like silicone due to it being super soft and comfortable. I see on the website this also comes with a black pvd bracelet, so maybe if not a fan of rubber , that would be the way to go. I wouldn't mind seeing this in an all stainless steel version as well. Though it does have a sapphire crystal and tritium tubes and Swiss Ronda movement, I would like to see an automatic movement at this price point, but also understand that as a tactical watch, a quartz movement is more shock resistant and usually the preferred choice for doing anything rugged with the watch. Overall a nice, rugged, comfortable tactical diver, that can probably be worn in most conditions. Thank you to H3 tactical for providing this for review, and as usual I look forward to comments. 
____________________ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. .......and Im all out of bubblegum.  |
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31st, 2012 03:23 pm |
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2nd Post |
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CC51 Watch Freek
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good review but its not for me.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31st, 2012 03:41 pm |
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3rd Post |
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sdwalt Walt 
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Excellent review and pictures, I enjoyed it.
____________________ I got players with bad watches - they can't tell midnight from noon. Casey Stengel |
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31st, 2012 11:33 pm |
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4th Post |
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arnie11 Capone. Al Capone ! 
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Nice review as always "Darth" !! Like the watch and most of its characteristics, but ............................. quartz ???? !!!!!!!!  
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| Posted: Sun Apr 1st, 2012 12:23 am |
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5th Post |
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Spaceview Go Yankees !!! 
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How would you compare this to a Luminox? I don't own either but I would tend to go with the Luminox if I was buying this type of watch just based on the reputation of Luminox and the price. Any thoughts by owners? Nice review TC.....as always!
____________________ In Rotation: Accutron Spaceview T Case (1970), WF LE NFW AutoPilot, Luminox 1861 Auto Chrono, Citizen AT4008-51E, Omega Planet Ocean XL, Raymond Weil Nabucco GMT, Citizen Skyhawk JY0000-53E, UNIQ GAF Military, Steinhart Apollon, Halios 1000m Puck, Benarus Megalodon 500, Breitling Super Avenger A13370, H2O ORCA, CITIZEN ECO-DRIVE NIGHTHAWK AS4020-44B, Kickstarter Pebble, Jorg Gray JG9700, Boschett Cave Dweller WF LE (pre-order), Lum-Tec M53 Bronze (pre-order)  “You may delay, but TIME will not.” ~ Benjamin Franklin “TIME is an illusion.” ~ Albert Einstein |
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| Posted: Sun Apr 1st, 2012 02:58 am |
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6th Post |
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Mesh Guy Watch Freek 
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Nice review (as always) Don. Does this really sell for $600 though? Seems way high to me anyway. What do I know but it looks more like $150-200 range to me.
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| Posted: Sun Apr 1st, 2012 01:22 pm |
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7th Post |
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MikeAB Watch Freek 
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Great review on the watch. Not really a watch for me though!!
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| Posted: Mon Apr 2nd, 2012 01:57 pm |
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8th Post |
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UKWolfeman The Extreme 
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Quality review Don. Readers will get a good read on H3. Thanks for sharing.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2012 01:28 am |
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9th Post |
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Stratos27 Watch Freek 
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Nice review Don. I have a few Tac divers, this one would feel at home with them.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2012 05:21 pm |
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10th Post |
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rarno8 Watch Freek 
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Great review!!! The bezel is really odd. I want a tube watch, but for $600 this is not the one.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 4th, 2012 12:32 pm |
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11th Post |
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Earl Grey Watch Freek 
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Nice review, thank you. A couple of things.... The lint on the strap can be easily overcome by applying a small amount of Armor All which a normally used on autos for enhancing vinyl. Even a household silicon polish might do the job as well. I agree, the dial is somewhat crowded with the military time inside the arabic numerals. The diver bezel is seldom used and why its the wrong way round beats me. There were some models of H3 that had a 12hr bezel enabling the user to choose a second timezone or sync the watch to a mission time. I think that would look better on this model. Price is a bit high, even though it has a sapphire crystal. Last edited on Wed Apr 4th, 2012 12:42 pm by Earl Grey ____________________ 
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