Cronos L6009 James Cameron Homage Review

Welshman

1 year ago

Decided to take the plunge and try a watch from the Chinese brand Cronos. As comparison reference points, I have a Steinhart Ocean One premium and Omega Planet Ocean Chronograph to hand .

Initial impression :

Well made bracelet. I had the upgraded clasp supplied , which appears to be milled, with 6 points of micro adjust and both pushers and safety catch. The 3 link bracelet is brushed and appears refined. Screw links rather than push pins are a nice addition
Specifications are excellent for the price point . Ceramic bezel - unidirectional 120 click, with lumed indices (BGW9 if i recall correctly) No back play. Sapphire domed crystal with AR coating on underside. Screw down crown. Automatic Helium escape valve. 2000M water resitance.
The biggest suprise to me is the NH35 movement. Compared to the SW200 elabore premium in the Steinhart and the Omega 9900 Calibre, it is a much cheaper workhorse movement. However, Its currently running out of the box at +2 seconds per day. The SW200 in my steinhart runs at about +6 seconds per day, and Omega is bang on at +/- 0 seconds per day. Although is has a less smooth sweep, unless you have the watches side by side, it's not that noticable at all. Big thumbs up.
Back story. This watch was reviewed by Gary at I like watches in its version 1, 1000m water resistant spec. He sent it to the guys at the hydraulic press channel, who tested it just below 3000m before it stopped working. But then, one removal from the pressure chamber, and given a bit of moment to allow the rotor to spin, it fired back up. The can be watched on Youtube. As a result, the version 2 of the watch has a special caseback to refer back to the test.

So if you are after a large DeepSea homage, I would not hesitate to recommend. Just remember, just as the watch it is inspired by, it is a hefty beast, so those who like smaller watches may not be interested in this.