Reviewer: Don aka Tattoo Chef
Watch donated for review
Watch Being Reviewed: Momentum Steelix Field Watch with Sapphire Crystal
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Specs:
Case diameter with crown: 47.99mm, Case diameter: 44.15mm , Lug to Lug: 50.50mm, Thickness: 10.78mm, Band Width : 22.00mm , Weight (including strap): 100 grams
Japanese Quartz Analogue ,371 Silver Oxide Cell (approx. 3-5 years) Solid 316L Stainless Steel, screw back, screw-down crown ,Heat-tempered, anti-glare, Mineral crystal(optional Sapphire crystal)
Brushed steel , Charcoal dial , Water Resistant 200M / 660FT
Price $85, as shown with sapphire crystal $115
Stock Photo:
First Impressions:
My first thoughts were how nice and well constructed the Steelix is. It does not seem like a watch that cost only $85. It has a vintage/Seiko style case and crown and a great size and large dial opening.Â
Packaging:
This is Momentum's new Eco-Friendly, 100% recyclable packaging. It holds the watch safe and secure. I like the direction Momentum has taken with the packaging. It is probably much less expensive than the metal box (that they still use for other models) and easy to dispose of.
Dial:
The dial is described as a black/charcoal dial. Honestly I guess it might not be a deep black dial, but I would not call it charcoal.
The hour and minute hands are sword style hands and outlined in white, and the second hand is all white.
It has very large Arabic numerals and markers, making it easy to read at a glance. The hands and markers are light green due to the Green luminous paint.
The date wheel is a cut out date wheel located at the 3 position. This is the only thing I would change on the dial as I am personally not fond of cut out date wheels, and really don't see the use for them. That said the date is still pretty legible.
The chapter ring also displays military time and the numbers and hash marks are orange for contrast and readability .
Case, Bezel and Crystal:
The case somewhat reminds me of a Seiko 6309, but with longer lugs and of course no dive bezel.
The lugs are very nice and curved, and fit the wrist very well. This is a very comfortable watch to wear. The screw down crown is located at the 4 position and is well protected by crown guards. As this watch is marketed as a field watch, I was glad to see that it has a water resistance of 200m and a screw down crown. The crown is signed with the Momentum logo and also directional arrows with open and close written on the crown. It is very secure and unscrews and closes very smoothly.
Since it is not a dive watch, but a field watch it does not have a rotating bezel, but a smooth brushed steel bezel that is slightly domed.
The model provided has a sapphire crystal, which is not AR coated, though the mineral crystal version is.
Case back:
The case back is a standard screw down case back with all pertinent info. It is also sand or bead blasted, as opposed to the brushed steel of the case.
Nato Style Nylon Strap:
The Steelix comes on a choice of a black, olive green or striped nylon strap.
As you can see I chose the olive green. I admittedly do not wear nato style straps often , but of the many I have seen and the few I have worn, this example is very nice. It is well stitched, is thick but comfortable and comes on a very thick Momentum spring bar buckle.
Natural Hyper Rubber Dive Strap(Optional):
As said above, I am not the biggest fan of nylon straps, so I ordered the Momentum black Hyper Natural rubber dive strap. I have had this strap before on another Momentum I reviewed and I really like it.
These straps cost $30, and they are very soft and pliable, have vent holes in the strap for breath-ability and metal keepers to keep the strap very securely in place.
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Wrist shot on my 7 1/2" wrist:
Here are wrist shots below on both the nylon and rubber straps.
Movement:
The movement is a Seiko Quartz movement. I was not able to confirm from the website exactly which movement it is though. I have not had any issues and it has been keeping pretty much spot on time in the past week.
Lume:
The lume is a green luminous paint(not superluminova) and it is surprisingly well applied for a watch at this price point.
As you can see below the lume is brighter on the hands than on the numbers and hour markers, telling me they applied more lume paint to the hands. The lume on the markers does start to fade away after about a half hour, but the hands glow for about a solid 4-5 hours before completely fading out. The second hand being all white is not coated with any lume.
Summary:
Overall, not only is this an excellent value at $85($115 with the sapphire , $145 if you purchase the rubber dive strap) but a great watch period. Its a perfect size in my opinion, not over sized but not small either, very easy to read, better than average lume and very nice case finishing. It really is hard to believe they can produce this kind of watch for the money, and I applaud Momentum for coming out with a sub $100 watch for those people that want a good looking and functional watch, but without having to spend alot of money.
Momentum also makes another version , called the Base Layer, which has a sandwich dial. The price of that is $95 and you can see the stock photo below.
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Thank you again to Momentum Watches and as always I look forward to your comments.
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