Vaer D5 Arctic: A Microbrand Diver Review

This is the first mechanical watch I ever bought. I was enamored with the likes of the Submariner and the Seamaster, and after some research determined that I shouldn't have to spend more than $500 to get all the watch I wanted. It was between this, the Tissot Seastar, and the Orient Kamasu. Everyone agreed the Vaer looked better. So what did 500 bucks get me? A misaligned bezel, off-center lume plots on the indices, and a wobbly crown that pulls out too far to feel totally secure. Also a very good looking watch. Behold, my douchiest "lifestyle" shot:

Now I brought up those negative points when I initially posted a review on Vaer's website, and I suggested that they seemed to be the result of rushed and consequently sloppy assembly by underpaid workers. This watch has become $50 more expensive since I posted that review, so I'd like to believe they gave their assemblers a raise or more time per watch or preferably both, but it's probably just because of COVID related material scarcity. For what it's worth, I hear the Swiss made D7 version of this watch is better. But what I'm reviewing right now is my old D5, which I got for the old price.

So what's good about the watch? Just about everything else. The lightly textured dial just looks deep black most of the time, accented by blue highlight reflections in its domed sapphire crystal. The doming of the sapphire aligns perfectly with the slope of the bezel as well, creating a super satisfying profile. The hour markers and sword hands appear to be cut from the same brushed metal, while the white of the second hand provides a stylish accent. The lume has a fake patina coloration that I think makes it look better, although you can get it in white if you so desire. It is kind of ironic that the watch boasts of its "American Assembly" in writing surrounding a 6:00 marker that has its lume accidentally slid way over to the right, though.

The gorgeously shiny black ceramic bezel features embedded lume markers and painted recessed numbers, the downside of which is that their white paint shows off all the dirt and gunk that those recesses can accumulate. The bezel's diagonally scalloped, sort-of coin edged sort-of gear edged grip makes ratcheting easy for timing how long my p̶i̶z̶z̶a̶ ̶r̶o̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶n̶ old timey oxygen tank will last me when I scuba dive bare-chested in Jamaica.

The case is a real treat, featuring multiple finishes of the brushed and polished variety, and twisted lugs which look really good paired with straps and bracelets that have open end links, even though the case side inside the lugs is unpolished (as per the Rolex "tradition"). The signed screw-down crown is easy to use despite the stem feeling fragile and wobbly, and while I was worried that its simple word mark signature would look cheap, its laser cutting is deep enough that it looks and feels premium. The outside of the crown has deep and grippy ridges which make screwing and unscrewing a breeze, but they also accumulate gunk that's difficult to clean out.

Turn the watch over and you'll find a sapphire window displaying a Miyota 9039 movement, and is it just me or is this Japanese movement better looking than its Swiss equivalent from Selita? The regulator lever looks more solid and less cheap, and the bridge plates or whatever you call them have Geneva stripes. How does the Japanese movement have a Swiss-named Swiss design feature that the Swiss competition doesn't have? All right I've rambled on long enough about the movement. 

And now, in my career as a watch collector, I can finally earn my merit badge for using the phrase "strap monster". This watch is one. I haven't found a single strap of the literally several that I've tried that didn't look great on this bad boy. Now, Vaer has this thing where they won't sell you a watch with just one strap, they always include two and you get to pick the second one. That's not much of a deal when half the extra straps they offer put a $50 upcharge on your purchase though, especially when one of those $50 upcharge straps is the default choice, thereby hiding the watch's lowest possible price from you when you go to buy it. I watched some YouTube reviews that showed that the default bracelet option, although it had solid end links, did not match the lugs in either shape or finish, so I opted for their single pass NATO strap instead. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten their fake two-piece NATO lookalike strap, because the single pass hides that display back. But it still looks cool. I also went ahead and got a $20 steel bracelet on Amazon that came with optional folded and open end links, and I found that the open end links looked better to my eye thanks to those twisted lugs.

Then there's the default black rubber strap that the watch always comes with, and when I say default I mean default. Every single microbrand seems to be under some kind of blood curse where they can't release a watch without this exact strap. It looks good from far away, it has enough texture to be interesting, it's a nice thick black rubber, but I've always thought it looked cheap. I've never liked material dishonesty, and this black rubber is molded to look like a stitched woven material. I've definitely seen watch straps that look like what this strap is imitating, and if I'm going to wear a black rubber strap, I'd rather it not remind me of something cooler that I'm not wearing. Still, this is the band that this watch spends the most time on. I will say though, it pulls hairs. It's sticky. Thick, sticky rubber. After you wear it long enough it stops being so bothersome, but I've definitely had more comfortable rubber straps elsewhere.

All right, so this is a dive watch, surely I've taken it diving right? No. Never been scuba diving in my life. Probably never will. I might wear this watch skydiving though, skydiving's on the bucket list. I have worn it while jumping off cliffs! 10-25 foot cliffs, into deep water. So, decent shock resistance. This is my favorite watch to wear swimming. I've worn it in salt and fresh water, and even jumped into a pond having forgotten to screw down the crown. I was quite worried when I realized what I had done, but as I let it dry out with the crown unscrewed, I couldn't find a single droplet of water nor even a trace of moist fog underneath the front or back crystals. I guess I got lucky, and this watch has one hell of a moisture seal. Speaking of swimming and bodies of water, sometimes I like to go swimming at night. Keeping track of the time can be useful when night swimming as it's typically done in a venue without any clocks or supervision or really not in a place that could be described as a venue so much as a lake. So how does our lume fare when it comes to night swimming? Decently. It's not bright, but it fades real slow and I've never been unable to tell the time after swimming for a few hours.

Conclusion time: This is a fine watch. It's damn good looking, especially for the money, and if the pieces of it that are misaligned don't trigger your anxiety too bad then they're easily overlooked. Don't expect the world if you're getting this watch, but do expect a great looking beater that punches above its weight.