imported post

Name of Reviewer: Michael W. (UKWolfeman)
Name of person who took pictures in review: UKWolfeman
Watch Name / Model Being Reviewed / Brand: RedSea - PVD Holystone

RedSea Watches
Twin Cities, MN
Email: info@redseawatches.com

Website: http://redseawatches.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RedSea-Watches/101286633252347?ref=search&sid=543155427.1488336166..1&sk=wall

Model: PVD Holystone
Price: $695 USD

History (Direct from the Source):
The Creation Of RedSea. It is amazing how much you find out you have in common with someone when you start to discuss watches. For instance, both of us (Troy and Josh) are not only long time watch collectors who admire the art of horology, but we both have an large entrepreneurial drive and coincidentally were born on the same day and year. Ironically we didnt cross paths in life until a few years ago when we had our first conversation around dive watches. Since then it has been countless discussions revolving around what intrigued us about our favorite pieces and what we would change about them if given the chance. Eventually, these discussions led to one simple question - the one that started it all -- would you consider starting your own watch company? We soon began defining our mission - to design watches with an amazing build quality, a unique design, and a high-beat movement, all at an affordable price.

RedSea We put a lot of thought into the name "RedSea". RedSea really hit on all fronts of what we wanted to represent in our line of dive watches. The Red Sea is one of the greatest dive locations in the world, it has an amazing history, and the name itself seems to invoke a feeling of excitement and adventure. Our first line of watches capture some of this history in both design and naming convention.

Holystone In naming each of our models we wanted to stay away from marine life names that are commonly found in many brands out there today. The name Holystone, a soft and brittle sandstone used for scrubbing the decks of wooden ships, fit well into that old school theme we wanted to infuse into a tool diver watch. What is really interesting is that both the British and American navies used to holystone their decks before the introduction of steel decks. Even more so, the Iowa class battleships (New Jersey, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Iowa) were holystoned into the 90s until they were decommissioned as they had wooden decks as well. Our Holystone model also draws upon this military inspiration by incorporating the mil-time on the dial.

Six Pounder When you think about sea exploration and the famous battles between navies and pirates, the thought of cannons are probably one of the first things to cross your mind. The term pounder refers to the size of the gun. Six pounders fired solid lead shots that weighed approximately six pounds. Design elements from cannon balls can be found on our Six Pounder model including the second/minute/hour hands, date box, minute ticks, and bezel marks which are all completely custom molded parts.

Product Specifications:

Case: 44mm 316L Stainless Steel or PVD

Lugs: 22mm

Height: 14mm

Weight: 119 grams on strap, grams on bracelet

Movement: Miyota 9015 (28,800 BPH)

Lume: LUM-TEC (Blue)

WR: 300M

Crystal: AR Undercoated Sapphire



First Impressions: Nice watch case, nice diver, nice straps. No nonsense diver with a very appealing look.

Watch Box/Case: The Holystone came packed well with inner box surrounded with bubble wrap. The inner box containing the watch box/case as you can see below is stamped with the company name, logo and geographic location.The watch box/case is of the travel case variety making it extremely useful and not just another watch box/case to throw in the bottom of your closet. The box/case is made of a leatherette type material and has dual zippers for securing the box/case. RedSea has embossed their logo and specific model name on the top which is a nice little added detail. The interior of the case is composed of two separate lined compartment for the purpose of carrying two watches or one watch and additional straps securely. I enjoy it when watch companies such as RedSea decided to provide the consumer with a little something extra that is useful rather than just a standard box that takes up space.







Case (Crown Side): The crown side of the case reveals thePVD finish,bezel (not quite gear cut), spring bar access holes and a signed 6mm crown at the 4 position. The signed crown is knurled and easy to graps.The crown screws and unscrews with ease and is very firm with zero wiggle or play. The crown has 3 positions when unscrewed. The 1st position allows for manual winding of the watch movement. Position number 2 allows for independent date setting while the 3rd position is for time settingpurposes.The 6mm crown works well with the overall casesize and height and I would love to see an oversized crown next time around. The spring bar access holes allow for extremely easy strap changes. Overall nicely done by Red Sea. The case is approximately 51mm lug to lug.



Case (Non-Crown Side): This side of the case normally in my reviews I mark as unremarkable. However in this case I would like to comment on the nice even application of the PVD finish as well as a nice view of thebezel. This view allows one to see that the bezel is slightly larger than the case.



Bezel, Dial and Hands: The Holystone comes with a pretty standard appearing smooth 60 click dive watch bezel with more than appropriate resistance for rotation. There resistance is adequate enough that one neednot worry about the bezel moving while diving. Thebezelis extremely easy to grasp which is an important feature. However, when I first started looking over these areas of the Holystone I hadone major question in regards to the lumespecificallyon the bezel.In regards to the bezel the lume markers were raised and my first concern was the lume was painted on the bezel rather than being inset into the bezel. Well rest assured that is not the case. RedSea used 8 layers of LUM-TEC blue lume that was specifically formulated to resist the effects of salt water as well. The 8 layer application resulted in the lume being slightly raised on the bezel which is different from many inset lumed bezels that I have seen where the lume isflush with the bezel orinset downin the bezel.

Beneath the 2.60mm thickSapphire crystal of theHolystone rests what I would describe as a black sunray style dial. The dial opening measure in at around 33mm. The dial is very clean and uncluttered in my opinion. TheRedSeabrand name is located below the 12 with a little color in the name to provide some color coordination with the minute hand. Not sure if RedSea did this intentionally or not but I like it.The model name and water resistance arenoted on the dial just above the 6. Black datewindow/white numbers rests at the 3 which I really like rather than the standard placement at the4 on many divers. Also a plus in my opinion to have the black date windowwith white numberson a black dial/PVDwatch as it just seems to fit the watch better. Lume markers at every hour position with each hour postion marked in military time 13-24 just to the inside of the lume markers giving the dial a miliatryOPS style appearance. The LUM-TEC lume appears to be appliedevenly and in great abundanceon the hour markers as you will see further in this review.

As far as the hands go they are nice dive watch style hands that I would describe as ladder style. The minute hand is outlined in red providing some color to the dial area while the hour hand is fully white and slightly smaller as it should be. Bothhour and minute hands are lumed well.The second hand sweeps the dial as you would expect with therelatively new Miyota 9015 movement under the hood giving the hand an almost ETAtypesweep in appearance. The second hand tip is also well lumed with the same LUM-TEC lume as the rest of the hands and markers.












Movement (stockphoto credit to: http://www.citizen.co.jp/miyota_mvt/9015/images/photo_img_01.png)



Case Back: The case back is nicely engraved with the diving/pirate logo of RedSea a the limited edition number is shown as well with this piece being 17 of 75. Initially I thought the case back lacked detail but in actualitythe case backis perferct as it is just simple and no frills with just the logo and edition number instead of providing other spec info about the watch that many other companies put on their case back. Very clean appearanceand nicely done.



Straps/Bracelet: The Holystone comes with bracelet, nato and rubber straps. However those that pre-ordered would receive an extra red/black nato which I will show below. The nato straps are well constructedhigh quality natosand the buckles are black PVD coated to match the PVD case. The nato straps suppliedwereone black and oneblack/red which looks really nice as it corresponds to the dial colors.The rubber strap is extremely soft and comfortable on the wrist with a signed PVD buckle matching the watch case as well. Bracelet discussed further below.

Nato Strap#1



Nato Strap #2 - my understanding is that those that pre-ordered would receive this Nato as an extra strap



Rubber Strap: Soft very comfortable to wear with nice PVD buckle to match the case





Bracelet: The 5 link bracelet has the same evenly applied PVD finish as the case and is pretty easy to install using either the curved spring bars or the standard spring bars as I noticed no difference between how either allowed the end links to flush to the case. I will note that be very careful changing straps. While the PVD finish has an even application and looks fantastic I am somewhat skeptical about the durability as even the slightest brush with the spring bar will mark the finish and even remove the PVD finish. I have had other PVD watches that could take a bit more roughness when changing straps. RedSea chose to use pressure pins over screw in links and with the PVD finish I believe it was the better choice in this case. The links measure in at around 4mm in thickness.

The push button deployant clasp is signed with a diver's helmet and is the stamped variety with no diver's extention. The only real area of potential concern in my opinionis the lack of micro adjustments and no half links so those with odd sized wrists may find a pefect fit problematic. Overall well done by Red Sea I just wish they would have used a different clasp to allow for more micro adjustments for better sizing.Again just use extra care and caution when changing straps and the bracelet.









Another Strap option: I also decided to take my 22mm Isofrance and put it on the Holystone and believe I got a winner with this look as well. Lots of options available for this diver with a 22mm lug width.



Lume: The Holystone comes with8 layers of blueLUM-TEC lume on the bezel dial markers and hands. The photo below was taken after a 20 second burst with a Surefire flashlight. Very even application of the lume throughout. Lume was pretty constant for several minutes in regards to intensity and faded gradually. The afterglowon the lume lasted well into the morning hours as I was still able to tell the time easily at around 5am.





Summary: Personally I have been looking forward to reviewing this piece for some time. Based on the images and posts on the RedSea I was expecting a very nice toolish type diver. RedSea set out to produce a quality "tool"diver that was carefully created and planned out. Based on my observations I believe RedSea has produced a quality relatively low cost tool type diver with many extras. In the Holystone the owner will get a nicely designednon-catalog case,300m of water resistance, sapphire crystal, LUM-TEC Lume and multiple strap and bracelet options.

I always find it refreshingwhen the origin and name of a watchrelate specifically the type of watch beingcreated especially something that is tangible and real. Sometimes companies do not provide you with the history or meaning behind a model they create.As mentioned in the history of the RedSea company.Holystones were used to scrub the desks of older ships thus they used an little known or used term for the name of their diver.

The only areas of concern are this being a dive watch with a bracelet option having no diver's extension, half links and lack of micro adjustments for precise sizing. Of course there are multiple strap options that make this less important.I do know from speaking directly with RedSea that they are aware of the needed upgrades to the clasp and bracelet so I look for those matters to be resolved on their next offering. The first time is always a learning experience.

Regardless, the efforts, history,value, quality and extras that one gets with the Holystone make it worth the price of admission in my humble opinion. I would like to thank Josh and Troy from RedSea for providing the Holystonefor this review. Thanks for reading and as always look forward to your comments.