New HTD Spaceboy Skin Diver. My first opinions of it 24hrs on the wrist
Picked up only yesterday I was intrigued by the dial design being reminiscent of earlier skin dive watches of the 60's and 70's. It has traits similar to the Longines and Oris divers, but obviously not the price tag.
This is not a review, just my first impressions of the watch as I've only had it for one day so far.
Build quality seems good for the cost of the piece, and the dimensions great.
Spec's from their website.
Diameter: 39 mm
Lug to Lug: 47 mm
Height: 10 mm (without glass)
12 mm (with glass)
Lug width: 20 mm
U-Box Ultradome sapphire crystal. Double inner anti-reflective coating.
Solid sapphire with internal and external heavy curve. Thickness 2.5 mm.
6 mm diameter screw-down crown and with double O-ring.
Miyota 9039. Miyota's premium movement.
28'800 Vibrations per Hour.
42 hours of power reserve, stop seconds and declared deviation between + - 10 sec / day
Mine is currently running at +1 second in the 24hrs it's been with me, which is great for a Miyota.
I would have liked the whole case to be a brushed finish, but the side profile of the watch is rather thin, so not very noticeable, it will scratch easily though no doubt.
The lume is amazing, BGW9 gives it that nice aqua blue glow, which I do prefer as apposed to C3 and it's green, which is okay on my Seiko's, I think it suits their style but wouldn't work on the this watch, in my opinion.
The boxed crystal offers a lot of distortion at certain angles which I'm neither here nor there on, it's probably a better and more interesting look than a piece of flat sapphire.
The bezel lines up, which is always a bonus. It's action is very smooth and easy to operate, it reminds me of some of my earlier Seiko's as in it's somewhat muted and not crisp. It's neither a negative nor a positive, personal preference perhaps, I like it.
The bracelet is all solid apart from the clasp which is stamped and friction closed, which reminded me of the older bracelets before all the double pushers and locking mechanisms came to be the norm, again just a personal preference but I like this one and with 7 holes of micro adjustment, it was easy to get a perfect fit.
Why did I take off the bracelet you may very well be asking yourself. Well that's what we do when we get new watches, don't we. We adjust the bracelet, wear it for about an hour or so then want to see what it would look like on some alternative straps you have laying around. So I settled on this StrapsCo curved end hybrid rubber strap with the metal deployment clasp, which personally suits the watch.
Is the watch worth the asking price from a fairly new Italian Micro brand, who hand assembles everyone of their watches in Italy ?
Only time will tell (Pun intended) 🤣
Just a family guy who works on the railway and enjoys everything about watch collecting including the people you meet and the friends you make along the way. Plus a little bit of banter to spice thing...
I know you meant "deployant" clasp 😆🤣😂 I wouldn't be a good watch nerd if I didn't atleast bring it to your attention. 😆🤣😂
Very nice! I like the 3, 6, 9.
I know you meant "deployant" clasp 😆🤣😂 I wouldn't be a good watch nerd if I didn't atleast bring it to your attention. 😆🤣😂
At least you read the post to even notice 🤣
At least you read the post to even notice 🤣
I'm only here to learn why I'm wasting my time, wasting my life on the most beautiful way to read time. Why am I letting these little shining clocks take up all of my time and attention?
Nice pick up!! Looks great on the rubber strap too!! At a 39 mm it’s a perfect size watch for me that is…Good review even though you said it isn’t 😉
It gives off a very late 60's French skin diver vibe, one that I am coming more and more to appreciate.
Looks like you have recovered from the 1WC and Covid. Wear it in good health.
That is some fantastic lume, my friend!!!
Does the bezel not have a lume pip?
What a beauty.
Does the bezel not have a lume pip?
No, there's no lume on the bezel at all. I think they were trying to stay faithful to the old skindiver vibe, which I believe didn't have a lume pip on most variants. It didn't concern me as I'm not a diver and the watch will probably be lucky to get wet, except for washing the dishes or the car, so no biggy. Form some it may be a downfall, but not in my opinion.
Each to their own as they say 👍
That is some fantastic lume, my friend!!!
I was very surprised by the lume. I only saw a review of the watch first and with all reviews you take their opinion with a grain of salt and their video's aren't always a great indication of how the watch actually is. But given what I paid for the watch, I thought it worth the punt and snapped it up.
So far so good, I'll just see if it last in the collection before the novelty wears off 😉
I was very surprised by the lume. I only saw a review of the watch first and with all reviews you take their opinion with a grain of salt and their video's aren't always a great indication of how the watch actually is. But given what I paid for the watch, I thought it worth the punt and snapped it up.
So far so good, I'll just see if it last in the collection before the novelty wears off 😉
I truly dig the domed sapphire. Everyone hates the fact that sapphire has that milky white coloration where it curves - that’s why everyone gets the hesalite speedy, right? But I love it! With the domed crystal, at certain angles of lighting, the entire crystal becomes smoky and opaque. Love it!
It gives off a very late 60's French skin diver vibe, one that I am coming more and more to appreciate.
Looks like you have recovered from the 1WC and Covid. Wear it in good health.
Thank you my friend. Unfortunately I'm still struggling with Covid, headaches, aching all over, coughing constantly, but I'm slowly getting there.
In a way I miss the 1WC and all the different challenges that were being thrown up daily, it kept the old grey matter going and I enjoyed the interactions between the community, but all good things must come to an end sadly. I think we all need another one soon to keep the community involved 💯
The HTD was somewhat of an impulse buy, a friend reviewed the watch here in Australia and he can't keep every watch he reviews so he was generous enough to pass it onto me rather than sit in the cupboard being neglected for a good price.
The dial caught my eye straight away with it's 60's dial and as I don't currently own a dedicated diver any longer, I thought it was a good watch, with a different look to fill that gap in the collection. Whether it stays there, we shall have to wait and see.
I hope your doing well to Greg and enjoying that beautiful vintage collection of your's, something I'm debating with myself about, do I want to go down that rabbit hole once again. I had quite a few vintage pieces in the past but found I wasn't always the best judge of what was the best ones to buy. I can be a bit impulsive with some of my purchases and with vintage watches I've learnt that can be the wrong way to go about it, the look of the watches can be deceiving. Nice listing photo's and promises of a watch running great for a vintage piece can be very misleading to the unweary buyer 😉
Nice pick up!! Looks great on the rubber strap too!! At a 39 mm it’s a perfect size watch for me that is…Good review even though you said it isn’t 😉
Yeah I started out saying, I'm only going to give my first impressions of the watch, but once I started writing I found it hard to stop and so the post just grew and grew.
If you are interested in the watch, keep your eye out, I may let it go. It was an impulse buy and I could get bored of it relatively quickly or another may come along that I really want that's been on my radar for a while and so last in first to go.
I'm trying to keep the collection down to under 10 main watches and so far I'm doing well and sticking to that game plan.
I truly dig the domed sapphire. Everyone hates the fact that sapphire has that milky white coloration where it curves - that’s why everyone gets the hesalite speedy, right? But I love it! With the domed crystal, at certain angles of lighting, the entire crystal becomes smoky and opaque. Love it!
I think that's one of the watches most redeeming features and one of the reasons why the watch appealed to me at first glance, I don't see why people dislike that aspect of boxed sapphire crystals, it makes the watch more interesting.
Congrats, mate! You finally found one that fits most, if not all, of the criteria you set for a diver. Enjoy! 🍻
Congrats, mate! You finally found one that fits most, if not all, of the criteria you set for a diver. Enjoy! 🍻
We shall see brother, it’s only been a day or so and I’ve already got that feeling it’s a flipper 🤣
We shall see brother, it’s only been a day or so and I’ve already got that feeling it’s a flipper 🤣
Hehehe... I spoke too soon! 😜
Yeah I started out saying, I'm only going to give my first impressions of the watch, but once I started writing I found it hard to stop and so the post just grew and grew.
If you are interested in the watch, keep your eye out, I may let it go. It was an impulse buy and I could get bored of it relatively quickly or another may come along that I really want that's been on my radar for a while and so last in first to go.
I'm trying to keep the collection down to under 10 main watches and so far I'm doing well and sticking to that game plan.
Oh yeah!! So it’s a catch and release I gotcha you. 😁
Cool looking watch!
Nice - never heard of that brand before but it’s got nice classic diver look that I like. Besides that Oris, it’s dial reminds me of some zodiac divers as well.
And like hot omeganut 69, totally dig the dome and distortion. Mo dome mo betta.
1953 ad for the first zodiac diving watch
Nice - never heard of that brand before but it’s got nice classic diver look that I like. Besides that Oris, it’s dial reminds me of some zodiac divers as well.
And like hot omeganut 69, totally dig the dome and distortion. Mo dome mo betta.
1953 ad for the first zodiac diving watch
It's for sale if you know anyone, it was only ever a catch and release watch 😉