Hi and welcome to another Watch Geek video!
Today I'll be doing a review of a Victorinox INOX watch.
But first I would like to thank Silvertime watch store for supplying this watch and if
you want to check them out, you can click on the link in the
description.
This watch debuted in 2014. on 130th
anniversary of the company and was heavily advertised as an
incredibly tough watch with no less than, you guessed it, 130 tests performed on it.
Some of these tests were a bit weird, like being washed in a laundry
machine for 2 hours at 90 degrees, but some were pretty
impressive, like being run over by a 64 ton tank, or being dropped from 10 meters of height
onto a concrete surface, which is what G-Shocks were
known for when they were first introduced.
And speaking of G-Shocks, one has to mention them, as I
see this watch as a Swiss version of a G-Shock, with the
usual Swiss attributes, meaning more elegant, more traditional and naturally, more expensive
than its Japanese counterpart.
When this watch was released I tried to find out what exactly Victorinox did to make this
watch tough, as the specs suggested that the watch is powered
by a standard quartz movement, and some reviewers said the watch is just a standard quartz that's
been advertised as super tough, when in fact any quartz
watch would be that tough.
But then again, people say that about G-Shocks as well, and although it
might be true when it comes to digital watches, with analog ones, it's a bit different as
they have parts that can fall off due to high forces during
an impact.
The way Casio solved that on their Gravitymaster series, as they are all analog, is by encasing
the movement in Alpha Gel, an incredible material that
absorbs shocks and vibrations in such an impressive way that the only explanation for its existence
is that it comes from Aliens!
If you don't believe me, watch this video of an egg being dropped from a height
of 6m onto only 5cm of that material.
In case that wasn't enough, they made the hands balanced, so they
have the exact same weight on the front part as well as on the counterweight part, meaning
that when the watch is subjected to shock, the stress
is evenly distributed.
On top of that the shaft of the hands is much wider than on usual analog watches to
make for a sturdier attachment.
And if all of these failed they incorporated what Casio calls a Tough
Movement technology, meaning the watch checks the
position of its hands once every hour and corrects them if necessary.
So as you can see, that watch differs from regular quartz watches quite a bit.
When it comes to INOX, the only info they give and boast about is
that the dial is what they call a monobloc design, meaning it's
completely stamped, so the applied hour markers aren't really applied but are a part of the
dial that has just been shaped to look like an hour marker,
so the hour markers can't fall off.
They may have done some other alterations to the watch but they
certainly haven't told us about it, which means they maybe
haven't.
When I compare the amount of engineering that went into making a Gravitymaster shock resistant,
to what Victorinox did to make the INOX shock
resistant, I really wanted to hate INOX, especially at the
price they are asking for it, which was about $500 at the release, but guess what.
Upon holding one in my hands, I must admit that not only do I not
hate it, but surprisingly, I like it quite a lot and see the appeal.
A Gravity master is a still a G-Shock, meaning
it comes with a G-Shock design that is not to everyone's
liking.
This on the other hand has a more serious design that one might call elegant compared
to a G-Shock.
Everything is beautifully shaped and gives you this feeling like the watch was SCULPTED.
I especially love the design of the bezel that looks a lot like the one on the Girard-Perregaux
Laureato, in fact, the whole watch looks like the GP on
steroids.
The crownguards are very big but flow with the case beautifully while giving the crown
one of the best protections I have seen, so the crown just
looks tucked away and safe from any harm.
It is naturally a screw-down crown which gives this watch a
200m water resistance.
The finish of the case is a wonderful brushing that is done very well and feels silky under
your fingers.
The only polished parts are found on the slopes of the bezel.
I would usually say that such a tough watch would be better of without the polished parts
as they will pick up scratches easier, but they just make the
watch pop, and when I try to visualize it all scratched and beaten up, it looks even
better that way.
If you really want to preserve the watch, you do
get this G-Shock looking bumper protection, but with it, the
watch loses the one thing that separates it from G-Shocks, so I prefer to wear it without
one.
Oh and just to make it clear, the 10m drop test I mentioned
at the beginning was done without the bumper, so you
don't have to worry about the watch losing its toughness if you wear it naked.
You can also order a full body bumper that covers the watch completely,
and it comes in different colors, but like I said, it works and looks best
the way it is.
The strap is genuine rubber, and has to be one of the best rubber straps I ever tried.
It is not the plasticky junk you find on older Seiko divers,
but it's also not the overly soft dust and lint magnet found
on newer ones.
Now don't get me wrong, I love newer Seiko rubber straps, but this one is right in
between when it comes to softness and pliability which makes it perfect.
There is only one other strap I wore that felt this way, and it was on my
Orient STI from 2010.
It was durable, comfortable and just a joy to wear, all day, every day.
The only negative is that it is 21mm wide, which is an odd size, somewhat
limiting your strap options.
And speaking of strap options, ever since the INOX was introduced people
were praying for a bracelet, and after supposedly 2 years in development they did make one,
so now you have that option as well.
On top of that, if you want the full "doomsday survivor" styling, you can have it
on a Paracord strap as well.
When it comes to wear-ability the watch is large at 43mm in diameter and a lug to lug
of 51mm.
The thickness is 13mm and it comes in at a hefty
138g on a rubber strap, which helps in making the watch
feel sturdy.
Surprisingly it doesn't wear as large as it's dimensions would suggest, but I would still
like to try the 37mm version just to see how it sits
on my wrist, plus that one is a no-date version which in my
opinion looks better because of that.
Since I mentioned the 37mm version I should also mention that the
INOX is also offered as a divers watch with a rotating bezel, round lume markers and increased
size to 45mm, while the regular one is also offered
in titanium and carbon case with slightly different dial that
has the 3,6,9 numerals on the dial and a 24 hour scale on the underside of the crystal.
The crystal on all models is a flat sapphire and they say it's triple coated with AR, hopefully
on the underside only, but again there is no info
on it, so we can only guess.
The crystal sits just slightly lower than the bezel meaning it's well protected
against chipping and a 65 ton tank driving across it.
The dial is, like I said, stamped from a single piece, but it doesn't give you that impression.
It really look like it has applied markers and thanks to
the sloping chapter ring with these cutouts for the markers it
has some depth to it.
The chapter ring also has the 24 hour scale or military time on it, but it's so small
that one almost doesn't notice it at all.
What one does notice is the outer part of the chapter ring that has
yet another set of markers, and these are divided like on mechanical watches which makes
no sense on a watch that ticks once a second.
So it's just a gimmick, and feels like they finished the dial and case,
and when they went to assemble the watch they noticed the two didn't fit, so to fill in
the gap they just made another chapter ring with a new set of
markers.
It really looks like an afterthought and should have
no place on otherwise a pretty well designed watch.
And I really like the design of both the dial and the
hands, and love their use of the company logo as a 12 o'clock marker.
It makes the dial less cluttered and very legible.
The date is at 4:30 and done in white.
Honestly I think the watch would look better without the date all together, or if they
had to use it, I wish they went with black or matching green.
The lume is a bit of a let down on this watch, because the rest of the watch really set the
bar pretty high and exceeded my expectations, so I kind of
expected the lume to be on the same level, but sadly, it isn't.
It's not completely useless, but it was barely visible when I woke up at 5am, and that was
after it was charged extensively with a UV flashlight before
I went to bed.
For comparison I did the same with my SNX111, just to see how the 2 compare, and
the SNX was a lot easier to read and visibly stronger, and I
consider it a dressy watch.
Whether the diver model has better lume, I have no idea, but I do hope
it does.
The watch is powered by a swiss made Ronda 715 quartz movement, and I really cannot complain
about it.
It is a high torque quartz movement with an End of Life indicator, meaning the seconds
hand will skip to let you know when to change the battery,
and that will not happen very often as it's rated to have a 5
year battery life which is impressive for an analog watch.
I also love that the seconds hand hits the markers pretty much perfectly, which is often
not the case even on more expensive watches.
I did read about some people's watches being off but
the ones I had the opportunity to see were all near perfect.
To conclude, the Victorinox INOX is an excellent swiss made refined version of a G-Shock that
has such
a feeling of sturdiness and heft to it, that you feel like it can really withstand anything
you throw at it.
It also looks great, and feels great on the wrist.
So even if you are a mechanical watch lover, having a grab
and go quartz watch is always good, especially when it feels and looks as tough as this one
does.
I personally have my G-Shocks for that, but
if you want a more classic looking "end of the world" watch,
this will fit great.
It is a bit pricey for a beater watch, but that's the price of having a swiss made beater.
If you live in the US, you lucky bastards, just
like with G-Shocks that are ridiculously cheap there compared
to the rest of the world, these can often be had at way under $300 which makes it a bargain
for what it offers.
Some have argued they would like to see a mechanical version as well, but a mechanical
watch could never be as tough as even the cheapest
quartz watch, so I doubt a mechanical version will ever
see the light of day.
Even if it does, it will most certainly not be able to handle a 10m drop test, well
maybe if it was encased in a lot of that Alpha gel I mentioned at the beginning.
Well, this pretty much completes this week's review, so thank you for watching.
I hope you enjoyed, if you did, please like and subscribe by pressing
this button right here, and until the next video, bye!
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