I’m not a ring guy but lately I’ve been wearing a massive granite-colored ring that looks like something Sauron would have slipped on to mess with the Hobbits. Why? Because it’s also one of the best health trackers I’ve ever worn.
Nerd jewelry like Fitbits and Garmin devices are everywhere and the Apple Watch, once considered a poor replacement for a Timex Ironman, has become the gold standard of fitness devices. But all of these wrist-worn devices have one detriment: they are ugly.
No, you don’t need to keep your automatic watches on winders. Some will agree with that statement while others will vehemently disagree. The fact is, your watches will function just fine if you let them kick back and “unwind” for a while. Watch winders simply aren’t necessary, but they can be convenient. Today we’ll take a look at the Accuratic Cubic Modular Watch Winder. If you’ve been on the fence, or thinking about getting a winder for one or more of your pieces, this may be a great option for you.
Smartwatches.. they seem so interesting, and are going through so many rapid revisions lately. Apple, Samsung, LG, Huawei, and a ton of other brands all make them. But are they actually worth it? Do I really need to have a tiny digital computer on my wrist? Do I really really really need to be able to see every notification at all times? Do I want to have to worry about the battery life of my watch? Will being able to granularly track my every metric, notification, and piece of data really benefit me? I don’t know – but luckily Huawei is right there for me, providing the opportunity to try out the new Huawei Watch 2 smartwatch for a bit.
Armitron has been making affordable watches since the 1960’s. Recently, they’ve come out with their “Adventure” line, including a few solar powered pieces. They look good, and sport OK specs – but how great are they really? Do they hold their own as a reliable adventure watch? Are they worth their salt for an every day wearer? A special occasioner? I tried out the Armitron Adventure “AD/1000BKTI Solar-Powered Analog Watch with Black Stainless Steel Bracelet- 46MM”
Short answer? Not really – the Armitron Adventure Solar AD/1000BKTI looks good in photos, but its hollow links, misaligned second hand, fair/not great water resistance, and overall less quality feel don’t live up to the $150 pricetag. By my account, if you’re in the market for a solar powered basic adventure watch that can handle a long life of every day wear, give you quartz accuracy, and deliver a solid fit and finish, go with a basic Seiko Solar like the SNE331 (more outdoorsy, soft strap) or SNE325 (less outdoorsy, metal bracelet).
The box isn’t the highest quality – strictly budget here. But the watch in the case looks pretty darn good, actually.
Love the red accents on the dial, and overall outdoorsy look.
The watch started right up as soon as I exposed it to the sun. It has a nice “low battery” feature and ticks once every other second when the battery is low.
This thing is big! 46mm is a bit big for my wrist. I suppose I should have considered that before ordering.
Those hollow links – immediate impression when picking it up is that it’s lightweight – not necessarily a bad thing.
Fit and Finish
The color is consistent, the dial is printed well, the logos and nice and crisp, and overall fit and finish is great. HOWEVER, the main issue here is the second hand is misaligned – it ticks between marks on the dial. So it never ticks directly on 12 or any other markets. To me, that misalignment is a deal killer, and getting close to a defective product. I reached out to Armitron, and never heard back on if there’s a way to micro-adjust the hands to fix this. After realizing this misaligned second hand, things kinda came to a stop.
On The Wrist
It’s light, but that’s not necessarily bad. I think the pinging of the hollow links is really what got me. And glancing at that misaligned second hand killed me every time. However at a distance, it looks handsome enough on the wrist. So, it looks good enough to get you a date, but not good enough to turn that date into something more. 🙂
Standout Features
I love the solar quartz movements. In my mind, with solar tech far enough along nowadays, there’s really no reason to do a battery operated movement for quarts – go solar all the way and never change your battery. Unless of course you have some crazy dial.
Feedback
The Armitron Adventure line seems promising, and I certainly appreciate the brand heritage. But the sample I received had a few quality issues that prevent me from recommending it, especially at a $150 price point.
Here’s a video of that misaligned second hand. You can see the ticks go from accurate to inaccurate at various points.
Specs
Case Diameter: 46mm
Case Material: Ionic plated stainless steel case and bezel
Dial: matte black dial with Arabic numerals
Stainless Steel Bracelet
Black ionic plated stainless steel adjustable bracelet with a one-touch, one button fold-over buckle
Movement: Solar Quartz
Features a calendar window, luminous hands and a solar cell to convert light into electrical energy
Since we’ve headed towards the general world of “cool stuff that we like” here on WWR I present some cool stuff that I like: the Hari Mari x Nokona flip flops. These handmade summer striders are made in conjunction with the fabled Nokona baseball glove factory and feature soft and supple glove leather on the sole.
Hari Mari is a labor of love and was created by a husband and wife team who came back to the US after living in Indonesia for a number of years. Realizing that all of the flip flops they loved in Asia were unavailable in the US they decided to create a new model with a Memory Foam sole and fun styling. The Nokona partnership ads a beautiful hint of history and quality to an already impressive package.
How do they feel? Well I’ve been wearing a pair for a few weeks now and I’ve come away impressed. The leather is soft and cool on the feet and they fit just fine. They’re a little pricey – $110 – but it’s clear that his leather won’t get stinky and sloppy the way other models do if you wear them to effusively. I’ve thrown out more flip flops than I can count and I honestly think it would be a shame to get rid of these beautifully made shoes.
So if you like flip flops, comfort, baseball, or smooth, supple leather products then Hari Mari has something for you.
