TACTICAL FROGHeimdallr 44mm Stainless Steel Mens Automatic Watch, Sapphire Crystal NH35A Movement Dive Watch Luminous C3, 200 Meter Water Resistant
W**I
Affordable homage gives you the feel and presence of the original...
This a lovely homage dive-style watch with pretty much all the bells and whistles but carrying an affordable price. Nicely finished black turtle case, screw-down crown, smooth automatic movement, excellent lume, and a black and orange bezel graced with satisfying buttery clicks, it has a definite presence on your wrist without being overbearing. A tiny quibble is that at 20mm I thought the original band wouldn't match the case's presence, but finding a more interesting alternative solved the (minor) problem for me and made the whole watch "pop" nicely. Though the typical strap it came with was perfectly acceptable, I swapped it out with a low-cost but striking black and orange sport band to help highlight the dial's color scheme. Beautiful! In the future, a nylon NATO strap in various colors would also work well, and will give the watch a fun refresh. For the price, this timepiece offers legitimate dive-style aesthetic that will catch eyes while giving you the feel of the original. Edited to add that the winding mechanism feels solid, and the power reserve is quite robust. All in all, for the price, this is an eye-catcher worth adding to your collection, if (like me) you select on looks more than price tag.—W.D. Gagliani, author of The Judas Hit
J**M
Best of the 6105 tributes
If you do not already know, this watch is an homage to the Seiko 6105. There are several of these "Captain Willard" tributes out there, and I have purchased many of them: the Steeldive1970, the Addiesdive diver, WatchDive's 6105, Detroit Mint's Caretta. Seiko, too, has its own homage to the 6105; it's the Seiko SPB151. But Seiko's version costs about 6-10 times as much as these watches. (And the consensus seems to be that what you get is not commensurate to that price point.) So, I decided to check out these mostly Chinese watches instead.There are plenty of reviews online, and many of them argue that these watches are all identical, minus the branding. Not true. While they do share the same NH35 movement, there are plenty of differences: for instance, they have different weights (I found the Watchdives to be heavier); and the crown guards are definitely different (the crown guards for the Watchdives diver and Steeldive1970 do not have sharp edges, but they do have corners which dug into the back of my hand); similarly, the casebacks vary (some are high and others are low-profile; the etching of the Addiesdive grated my wrist); and the lume differs greatly (the Detroit Mint Caretta lume was mediocre at best). Some of the crowns protrude, others are flush with the guards. You get the idea.At the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, the Heimdallr was the perfect fit for my 6.75" wrist. It has weight, but on the wrist I forget I am wearing it. The crown guards are rounded on the underside, so nothing digs into your hand. The caseback is low-profile, so it sits flush on the wrist. The lume is not Seiko lume, but it is pretty darn good.I purchased the version that comes with the rubber waffle strap, which was fine. But I got a better fit with an Uncle Seiko Waffle with fat boy spring bars and small tips. I’ve since put it on a Miltat Waffle, and … it is perfect. (Yeah, maybe I am like Goldilocks.)To be fair, I should say that I was impressed with all of these watches, which invariably looked better in person than they did in the photographs. Ultimately, however, I kept the Heimdallr and sent the others back. It's keeping great time: +\- 5 seconds per day.Hope this is helpful for anyone on the fence.
F**T
A Seiko Captain Willard for 80% discount!
I have always been intrigued by the Seiko “Captain Willard” but a bit put off by the Seiko re-issue’s price tag north of $1,000. After purchasing the Heimdallr SKX clone (excellent watch I consider superior to the original SKX, at least the one I received), I ordered the Captain Willard direct from Heimdallr. That one came looking nice except the face was mis-aligned inside the watch. I am speaking with them about a return, but am not liking the idea of having to ship it back to China. Because the quality of the watch was there other than the dial mis-alignment and my excellent experience with their SKX, I took a chance and ordered another Captain Willard through Tactical frog/Amazon store….. knowing return would be easy if there was a problem. Well, there is no problem. This thing is beautiful. High quality fit and finish. Everything aligns perfectly. Perfect bezel feel with no play. Ceramic bezel and sapphire Crystal. There really is nothing I don’t like about this watch except that it doesn’t say Seiko on the dial (no fault of Heimdallr). Perhaps the only significant upgrade the Seiko re-issue offers over this Heimdallr is the movement, as the Seiko version uses a higher end movement. But this Heimdallr contains a Seiko NH35… so it is a Seiko. And this latest one I received from Tactical Frog has lost exactly one second in 24 hours!! So I can’t really complain about the movement and would be a fool not to praise it! I clearly lucked out, as most mechanical movements will not run this accurately.I recommend the Captain Willard if you get a good one. Order through Amazon in case you receive a dud, as I did the first time.
R**L
HOW... is this even possible? Seriously...
I've been into watches for 30 years... And this thing has BLOWN my mind..Seiko MVTKeeps AMAZINGLY ACCURATE time! (better than some Swiss Brands!)Sapphire crystalCeramic bezel!Very bright in the dark.HOW CAN THEY DO THIS FOR THIS PRICE?!?!?!If this is what China can do with an auto watch... The watch business is in big trouble.AMAZING VALUE!Just buy it and thank me later
A**R
Great all day.
Fantastic fit and finish and sublime bezel action. Seriously the bezel action feels damped like a Hi-Fi stereo knob from the early eighties with clicks. Lume is great except for the minute hand. I thought the orange minute hand would be lumed, but this example has none. The orange markers on the bezel however glow nicely. Dawn to dusk legibility is outstanding thanks to that orange minute hand. At night this is a one hander. C3 on the hour hand and indices glows strongly all night. Accuracy has been excellent.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago