Urszuly Patrik

My experience is not with the Tissot T-Sport PRS 200, but with the Tissot Seastar 660 chronograph, which is basically the same watch with a slightly different dial and bezel.

The Seastar 660 is powered by the same Swiss quartz chrono movement housed in a very similarly designed and sized case, with an identical bracelet and a common purpose behind the creation, which is to offer a very blingy and very capable sports watch for those with an acquired taste.

What I love most about my Seastar 660 chronograph (besides the fact that it is now discontinued, making ownership of the watch feel that much more special) is that it gives me the impression of both an Omega Seamaster 300 and a Breitling Chronomat at the same time, while remaining a completely original and “Tissot-like” wristwatch.

My Seastar 660 looks miles better than any model from the current Seastar catalog, and that is due mostly to the very obvious late ’90s and early 2000s design language, which is very unique and was very short-lived.

The 41x49mm case is big and it wears big too, but due to the thinness of 12mm, the flat caseback, the light weight of the case and of course the beads-of-rice-like, very nicely articulating bracelet, it wears very comfortably.
The long, elegant, polished lugs are something to die for; it is one of my weaknesses when it comes to watches and it is completely worth the wrist overhang of the lugs.

The most fun is happening on the dial, where we find nicely polished and shaped applied indices, sharp and not intruding printing, three sunburst subdials and a handset which I really like, and of course the beautifully colored blue dial, which is a deep, darker shade of blue but under the playful photons of light it is very sparkly and vivid and just generally gorgeous. Very nice stuff indeed.

The watch is a proper diver made possible by the screw-in caseback and crown, and it is all secured by the screw-down pushers. The pushers are very nice and even though this watch does not house a mechaquartz movement, the buttons push in with a very tactile feeling and an audible clicking sound, which are very important aspects of perceived quality and this really works like a charm.
The whole watch feels like a very well-built luxury watch, and this elevated impression of quality is not at all compromised by the hollow end links, nor the pressed clasp and diver’s extension. These small drops in quality (and I hate to rationalize and relativize blatant cost-saving measures of brands) are honestly welcomed features for me, as they aid with lowering the weight of the watch, making the wearing experience that much better.
And the bracelet itself is a great piece of hardware, the small links are beautifully polished, catching the light from all kinds of angles and playing with it like a bored cat playing with the poor canary whose cage was left open unintentionally. They articulate very well, grabbing onto, or to put it a bit more mildly, gently clinging onto your wrist, like a newborn infant not wanting to let go of its mother’s gigantic index finger. It is a very pleasant wearing experience indeed.

The Seastar 660 is one of my favourite watches. I love its versatility and obnoxiously shouty blinginess, which is taken back a little by the red coloring on the first 15-minute markings of the bezel, turning down the seriousness and the try-hard flexing of the design. The bracelet is lovely, the watch is not complete without it, and the Swiss quartz movement offers great accuracy and elevated functionality seasoned by the set-and-forget nature of the technology.

I really, really like the vintage GMT Master from Rolex. I’m not sure what it is that completely captures me about that watch, but it is right up my alley, that is for sure. I’m especially in love with the proper vintage Bakelite bezel version with the smaller case. I saw one recently on Chrono24 for 150 grand EUR. I laughed hysterically.

For those of us who can’t cough up that kind of money for a dainty watch with a jingly-jangly bracelet, a pressed clasp, and a friction bezel, and just general poor quality, the Timex Q GMT is here to offer a shoulder to cry on.

Now, I own this watch and I really like it, but before I start glazing it I must get a couple of things off my chest.
Firstly, price. It is not as bad as 150 grand for a vintage Rolex, but it is almost as audacious. 250 euros can get you some pretty sweet deals elsewhere, ones that include sapphire, a quality bracelet, and worthwhile water resistance in the package, usually powered by a mechanical movement, so I would take the self-proclaimed authority and say this watch for this kind of price is not a good deal, not at all. I bought mine for 50% off, that is where its value truly lies.

I would like to note that the negatives listed above (lack of sapphire, lack of safe water resistance, jingly-jangly bracelet, and a friction bezel) are only issues when we take the asking price into consideration, but they are otherwise features rather than disadvantages.

The acrylic crystal is really good-looking, it’s warm and cozy, offers nice distortion, and you will definitely scratch it up, and scratch it up badly. That is what I did at least in the very first couple of days of ownership without even noticing it, and I am generally very careful with my watches.

The bracelet looks awesome, kinda like a Jubilee but not really, as it is more similar to an integrated style bracelet. Very nice. Only issue is the 18mm lug width, which you only notice when you take off the bracelet and replace it with a vintage-style brown leather strap (you know, the one with the white threads on the top for decoration, because that kind of strap was specifically made for watches with Pepsi-colored bezels), and it is an issue because the 18mm strap attached to an already small, 38x44x12.5mm sized watch makes the whole package wear very small, too small to be honest.

Wearing it on the integrated bracelet, however, is great (if you don’t mind complete lack of micro-adjustment, therefore probably wearing the watch loose) as the visible width of the bracelet starts from 21mm tapering down to 18mm, which makes the watch feel perfectly sized, and the pressed clasp, jingly construction, and general light weight all can be accepted and even loved a little bit as they enhance the vintage feel of this watch, which is the whole point really.

The movement is great. It is quartz, which may be an issue for some of you more uptight folks with an internalized, everlasting trauma caused by those evil Japanese during the quartz crisis, but for the rest, it’s great as it will be a lot more accurate than the 150 grand GMT Master, and servicing it through the small hatch on the caseback will only require a neglected, overgrown fingernail and a couple of bucks for a decade worth of batteries.
Now it must be said, because there are enthusiasts out there that really care, which is beyond me but anyway, this GMT is a “caller” or “office” GMT. So there you go.

The Timex Q GMT is the type of watch you just love to look at. It almost feels like a dear friend or rarely seen but loved even more relative. You look at the dial and get lost in the reminiscence for some nostalgic romanticism that stuck with you for some reason, you admire the domed, warm acrilyc, the polished indices, you chuckle a bit when you see the half-finished Mercedes hour hand, you look at the GMT hand and have no idea what time it is there, wherever it is pointing, you twist the vibrantly colored red and blue bezel while you dream about flying a commercial airplane over the Atlantic Ocean (even though you barely even passed your driver’s exam and you regularly forget to shift down from 4th to 2nd when a corner is coming up), and you just have a really great time, with a really well-designed watch, that just screams fun.

My review of the Zelos Spearfish GMT is, in fact, not at all a review of the Zelos Spearfish GMT.
It is, however, a review of the Zelos Blacktip GMT which I have owned in the foggy dew-hidden past, and of which I have very strong opinions. Falling in love and eventually parting with this watch was one of my very first heartbreaks, and we all know that the first one usually stings the most and remains vibrating at an unbearable frequency in our soul the longest.

For those who are interested in the Spearfish GMT, not the Blacktip GMT, and are getting ready to close this questionable rambling of a review, I say HOLD UP! Please don’t go! I’m in dire need of your sweet attention. My mother spoiled me a little when I was a little child, and now I have validation issues.

Oh, and another thing, the Blacktip GMT is awfully similar to the Spearfish GMT, there is literally one millimeter difference between them, and an open caseback, and a different movement, so okay, they are pretty different, but the wearing experience (which I will talk about once I finish my unnecessary rambling, and because of which I ended up selling my Blacktip GMT) is very, and I mean very similar due to the almost identical cases of these watches.

So! How did the Blacktip GMT wear, or in other words, how would the Spearfish GMT wear?
Well, I can only give a certain answer for the former and a speculation for the latter, and my answer to both is: AWFUL. I know, I know, a very strong word. Let me explain.

The main issue was the unfortunate combination of a thick case, heavy movement, and small, protruding caseback. 13 millimeters isn’t an awful lot, it is regular sports watch thickness territory, but due to the complete lack of ergonomics considered in the making of my Blacktip GMT, it wore a lot more like a 15mm thick watch.
Firstly, the caseback was way too small compared to the whole case, think of it like a one cent coin compared to a quarter dollar coin (US). Because of this and the compact lug-to-lug, and the heft of the case and movement, the watch was top-heavy, it never stayed in place no matter how tight or loose I wore it, no matter strap or bracelet, wearing the Blacktip GMT always felt like an anvil strapped to my wrist. An anvil that takes immense joy out of applying pressure to the most vulnerable parts of my wrist.

Now for the bracelet. The Blacktip is equipped with an H-link bracelet whereas the Spearfish comes on a slightly different bracelet with smaller links that seem to articulate much better. The Blacktip’s H-link was, again, AWFUL.
It had an articulation similar to a badly lubricated door hinge, it was very, and I mean very heavy, the undersides of the clasp (you know, the part where it touches your naked flesh) were sharp as a freshly refined Bowie knife in the 1800s American frontiers, and no matter the otherwise very welcome and honestly expected on-the-fly adjust system, I could never get a good fit on the bracelet. And the cherry on top of all this was the quick-release spring bars, which were of course way too long and way too sharp and pointy to ever leave production without a complete rethinking of the whole system, so the pain coming from the underside of my wrist where the clasp was biting its teeth into me, and the pain coming from my wrist bone, where the top-heavy case was making sure to cause as many microfractures as possible, were both accompanied by the pain of the quick-release spring bars digging into the top of my wrist, like the nails of a dominant, slightly sadistic lady friend, if you’re into that sort of stuff.

It is a real shame, because I adored my Blacktip GMT. I had the teal-colored one, and loved every bit of how it looked. I loved the quality feel of the watch, loved the slightly domed sapphire, the crown action, bezel action, everything. Well, everything but wearing the damn thing.

The Casioak. The only hype watch I have ever purchased. I have let it go since, and there is one main reason for that besides just getting bored of it long term, which happened also.

The digital subdial. Completely inadequate, useless, disappointing, frustrating and other matching phrases to continue.
The problem with the digital screen is legibility. You can barely see it with young, healthy eyes; forget about reading it properly once you're in the age where eyesight starts to lose its youthful strength.
The fact that the hands completely cover up the screen several times a day is just the last nail to the coffin, or to be a little bit more positive, the chef's kiss, the cherry on top, the last straw and other matching phrases to continue.

It took me a longer-than-usual time to sell the watch tho, because I quite liked it and I still think it looks amazing.
It's big, but it wears G-Shock big, which is always fine. It is comfortable on the resin strap, lightweight of course, and as I always had a thing for monochrome black watch dials, well, I have fallen in deep with my Casioak, and felt bad for selling it.
I bought the watch to be a gym watch, and in the gym I am in dire need of the stopwatch and countdown timer, as I must know to the exact second how much time I wasted scrolling on my phone while keeping one of the busy machines from being used by others, so the small, unreadable screen was a dealbreaker.

As for the Royal Oak resemblance, frankly, I didn't care much about that. I don't really see that in the design, maybe if I really squint my eyes I can see something that resembles an Offshore, but really, they are speaking a completely different design language, and I think that is for the best.

The Seiko Turtle. My God. I believe it is my favourite Seiko. So, reader, be cautious, my review of the Seiko Turtle will be completely corrupted and biased.

To offset that a little bit, I must also state that I do not own this watch any longer, I have parted with it. Why, you ask? Well, as they say it, I was young and needed the money. But seriously, there were some issues. I’ll be happy to talk about the issues. Let’s do exactly that.

My version of the Turtle was the SRPC91K1 Save The Ocean model, which sported a beautifully textured, vibrant blue dial and black PVD-coated bezel and crown. It was my first serious watch, I paid for it with my first paycheck, so it was very sentimental.

As you may have guessed already, the main problem was the size of the watch. It is HUUUGE, as a certain US president would say. It is huge indeed at 45mm diameter and a tad over 47mm lug to lug, and the above 13mm thickness didn’t help at all.

It must be said, though, that it is highly likely that Seiko’s design and ergonomics team are deeply invested into black magic, and I’m also pretty sure that there is a group of witches aiding them with their creations, and I’m convinced of all of that because I never had a Seiko dive watch on my wrist that wasn’t incredibly comfortable.
There is something about the way the lugs are turning, the caseback, and probably the features of the cushion case itself, which makes wearing this big old daddy diver a heavenly experience.

Me personally, when I think of the Turtle, I immediately think of the Willard, which means I’m also thinking about the Vietnam War, not the horror and sadness about it, which is the reality of war, but the coolness of it captured in the movie Apocalypse Now, and specifically the scene where the US attack helicopters devastate anything that moves, while they are blasting Ride of the Valkyries from Wagner, which, in my honest opinion, is the coolest, most epic and cathartic couple of minutes in the history of cinema. I associate the Turtle with the jolt of adrenaline I always get from watching that scene (sometimes over and over again), and really, no marketing strategy could or would beat that ever.

Now for the other issues. Price. Especially current pricing, especially for the King Turtle, for which you have to pay around 600–700 euros, for the privilege of a piece of sapphire and a little bit of ceramic.
The regular Turtle is not that much better either—450 euros for a Hardlex-covered black watch housing a 4R movement on a rubber strap, packaged into thin pieces of paper, is, frankly, outrageous. This issue, of course, is now affecting pretty much everything Seiko is selling at the moment, so my advice is: buy pre-owned.

That is exactly what I did when I bought my Mini Turtle, which lacks the cool historical and pop cultural factors of the OG Turtle, but it is modestly sized and still great value for money.

To conclude, the Seiko Turtle is an amazing watch, with properly exciting heritage behind it, for outrageous sums of money. Buyer, be aware: your wrist must be HUUGE, but if it is, I do not see any reason why you shouldn’t own this insanely cool piece of watchmaking. Besides the price. But you can always get around that. I suggest you do.

The Casio A168W series is, in my opinion, the default choice not only for buying a Casio, but also for buying (or gifting) your first watch.

The F91W is a great watch, it was the choice of the president of United States (way back when) and for the leader of Al-Qaida (way back when), so it is a pretty cool watch, but lets face it, it is a little bit boring afterall. Small black resin case, little digital screen, unimaginary black resin strap...it is for the most sensible people amongst us.

For those who are irrational enough to crave a little bit of pizzazz to be a feature of their timekeeping device, but still want to reserve their finances for the more important expenditures of their lives, like vacations or real estate purchases (the latter is only added for comical purposes, as the number of us who'll be able to purchase real estate is shrinking dramatically, but that would be Socio Economic Politics, and that is a frowned upon topic in a beautifully common ground hobby such as watch collecting, as it should be) well for those individuals, the A168W is the perfect choice of a watch.

It keeps accurate time, it can wake them up in the morning, it can help them time their workouts in the afternoon, it can help to make sure they dont get sunburned laying on the beach after a refreshing swim in the lake or sea (where the watch accompanied them of course, as the claimed 50m of water resistance is a mass understatement) and it is also the perfect accesorie for any type of outfit and for any type of individual, no matter gender or size, which is very weird, but it is true.

I also dont understand how can a 36-37mm retro style digital watch look this good on literally anyone, but I stopped asking questions a long time ago due to too many headaches, and now I just go with the flow.

Long story short, the Casio A168W is a Casio, which automatically translates to it being a great watch with cool aesthetics for not a lot of money. The reason why we all love Casio.

The Casio duro. A watch loved by enthusiast and one that gained legendary status for a good reason.

Learning about its dimensions for the first time, especially before trying it on can be quite scary. It looks awesome, rewiewers sang songs and ballads about its robustness and value for money propositions, and altough it is very reminiscent of the copied to the gates of boredom Rolex Submariner, it is an original watch, from a proper, highly likeable brand. But its too big, isnt it?

Well no, not really. First of all it is very thin. Only 12mm thickness is what you have to live with, and due to the downward curvature of the lugs, the flat caseback, the flat sapphire and the nicely finsihed, flat midcase (and of of course not to mention the light weight made possible by the japanese guartz movement housed inside), this beast of a watch wears incredibly comfortable, like its not even on the wrist.

Once you glance down on your watch howewer, it becomes immediately obvious that you are indeed wearing a watch, and quite a big one at that, because there is no getting away from the 44mm case diameter and roughly 47-48mm lug to lug length. The Duro is a large watch, but its size, and this is my subjective opinion of course, is a big part of its charm. Its supposed to be big. Its even supposed to be slightly oversized. It makes the watch cool. Gives it wrist presence, but without the obnoxious qualities that we generaly associate with people wearing oversized watches. 

Its flashy in an understated way, very charming and easily loveable, and of course there arent many challenges it could not take on without any hassle.

For me, watches like the Casio Duro are the definitions of what a tool watch is and supposed to be. Some like to call expensive swiss mechanical watches tool watches, but I think that is missing the whole point. A proper toolwatch is an inexpensive, well, tool, that you can wear while attending to any demanding phisycal labour or exercise, partly, because you can easily replace it, but mostly because you can be confident in its capabilities.

If I were to be drafted and sent off to an armed conflict, and I were to be given the choice of wristwatch to take with me on my deployment, I would not choose a Tudor Pelagos, nor a Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical, not even a Seiko Turtle. I would pick the Duro, as it was created to look insanely cool, and aesthetic, while always performing without skipping a beat, even in the messiest of situations.

The Casio G-Shock GW-M5610U

The classic G square. Cool, historically significant design you can never get bored of. Insanely pragmatic and functional tool watch, providing its wearer with all the important complications, priced in the tens of thousands elsewhere, mainly world time, day and date, alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer. On-the-dot accuracy due to the atomic timekeeping, which makes sure not only that you're never late from anywhere, but also that all your inaccurate mechanical watches can be set exactly to the second each time you wind one of them up. Truly set-and-forget capabilities due to the solar movement, sparing you from the hassle of taking a walk to the local watchmaker for a battery change every two to three years.

The dimensions at 43.2 mm in diameter and 12.7 mm in thickness sound intimidating at first, but once you have the watch on wrist you realize, it is completely fine. G-Shocks look great large, and due to the compact lug-to-lug and complete lack of weight, the wearing experience is heavenly comfortable. The resin strap attaching the watch to your body is nothing to boast about, it is alright, not great, not terrible to quote the famous TV show, but it gets the job done.

This Casio is pretty much all the watch any sane person would need. We, watch enthusiasts, are of course not sane at all, on the contrary, but we still need a sensible watch in our collection to remind ourselves of our insanity. It is great for proper self-reflection, which all of us can use every now and then.

And from a pragmatic viewpoint, when you attend a protest, or practice your skateboarding skills, or work on your weekend automobile, or sell illegal substances on the street corners, the Casio G-Shock GW-M5610U is your best friend, your best bet indeed.

For starters, I would like to note that Laco is one of my favourite watchmakers out there. They have a truly rich and interesting history, they can be listed amongst the high and luxury watchmakers such as Lange or IWC due to producing the same products for the same buyer in the same historical timeline, which is awfully cool in my opinion, and they remained true to their origins, selling affordably priced watches to cover the needs of many watch consumer types.

With that being said, and with acknowledging that Laco offers true German fliegers with great brand history behind them for affordable prices (something that is not very common but very much needed and appreciated) it has to be noted for the interest of the consumer that their basic lineup is not that great, and it is not at all priced accordingly.

The design

The strongest selling point of these watches is the historically accurate and very eye-catching WW2 flieger style design, that besides its heritage values has many pragmatic benefits for the wearer. This design, no matter A or B style, is highly legible, easy to read, symmetrical and generally pleasing for the eyes and it balances perfectly between sporty and dressy, making it a very versatile watch theoretically. But is it a versatile watch?

Specifications:

The Laco Augsburg models can be found in different sizes, so no one is left out of the picture. My experience is with their 42mm Augsburg Polar version, a Limited edition of 250 pieces, and it has to be said that the wearing experience is quite nice, although the 42mm case size suggests a large watch, especially with the big, white dial, but it wears smaller than that due to the thin case and manageable lug-to-lug distance.

Staying with the versatility aspect, the watch comes with generously lumed hands and indices, which last through the night, making in-dark legibility a non-issue.

Where the watch lacks the most however, and what made me sell it eventually, is the lack of water resistance. 50 meters from a push-pull crown is okay for a dress watch, but for a watch with sporty capabilities it is pitifully low. The crown itself is not secure at all, it doesn't provide any reassuring tactile quality traits one would hope for, and it can indeed come loose, get pulled out, especially if one pairs the watch with an accessory, such as a bracelet.

The movement

All Laco basic automatic models come with the Miyota 82S0 movement, which is a hacking, hand-winding movement with its power reserve in the ballpark of 40 hours. Utilizing a Japanese movement in a traditionally German wristwatch, especially for one that is produced in Germany (as it is proudly stated on the dial and other places) is in on itself not very desirable, but it is understandable considering the price range of the watch. Don't get me wrong, the Miyota 82S0 is an OK movement, but it does not belong in an otherwise German heritage watch.

The choice of the movement is not great either. A big disadvantage of the Miyota movement over a Seiko NH movement, for example, is the unidirectional rotor, which only winds the mainspring in one direction. When the rotor tilts to the non-winding direction, it spins freely, making a loud and frankly annoying sound, that can be heard even when the wearer is in a crowded, noisy place and has his wrist hanging down to the hips. This noisy feature is very devastating for the perceived quality of the watch, and when it is paired with the underwhelming crown action... well, that is just a deal breaker, especially for me.

It is a shame, because the watch is otherwise a great product, boasting a nicely finished case, beautiful onion crown, a flat piece of sapphire, gorgeous blued hands, tons of lume, good ergonomics and very nice packaging.

The issue therefore is with the asking price mainly: All the negative features could be accepted for a lower price, but at the asking price of 370–400 EUR, Laco should be able to do better. Let's not forget that with a quick shop on Aliexpress or any other similar site we can find similarly looking, far better spec'd pilot watches at lower, much lower prices, and this fact is exactly where I'm getting my conclusion from, which is that Laco can indeed do much better, either with quality or affordability.