Atlantic Monza Review

After all the talk of Tissot PRXes, Citizen Tsuyosas, and even Accurist Origins, I'm not going to mention the R-word which they all homage. Instead, here's my vintage version from the same time period as the watch which started it all.

I've had this watch from new, as in NOS, but having said that, I got it in 2003 from an eBay seller for no other reasons than I liked how it looked, needed it for a "mod revival" event in Brighton, and the colour matched my Piaggio scooter. Since I would be its first real owner, it wasn't a "dead people watch" with hidden problems and ghosties.

At the time, it cost me around £35, and I really don't think it should cost any more than that. However, even though they were still as cheap as chips a couple of years ago, they now sell for between £450-550 if and when they come up for sale. I think that's absolutely insane because there's no way this watch is worth that kind of money. There are some very greedy sellers out there, of course, but why this watch is so expensive baffles me, especially as YouTubers have never once mentioned it.

Specs-wise, this "luxury timepiece" has a 38mm square (with rounded corners) stainless steel case, and a very retro original folded links bracelet which has the same shape and taper as the PRX bracelet without being anything like it otherwise.

Yes, it really does taper down to 16mm which is the ultimate comfort zone for a bracelet, and with lots of adjustment holes on the clasp, it'll fit up to a 10 inch wrist if I ever added the links back in which I took out. As it stands, it would probably still fit a 9 inch wrist because the final links are impossible to remove.

To fit my 7.25 inch wrist, the remaining links have to be adjusted within the quite long clasp making it feel like it's going to open like a seesaw. It won't accidentally open because it's quite firm, but anyone with a vintage watch with this kind of bracelet knows the score, as do Datejust owners, I should imagine.

Water resistance is 50m, or at least it was when this watch was made in 1969 (the range ran from 1968 through to the early 1970s with different coloured dials, bracelet variations, and even a gold-plated version), and inside is an automatic ETA 2780 apparently. It has "antimagnetic" and "incabloc" and all those other retro buzzwords engraved on the back. It also has 25 tiny magical elves inside because more elves make the watch better.

I've never opened the caseback to find out what's inside for sure, as some websites claim different ETA movements, but to be fair, I wouldn't know one ETA from another either, nor do I actually care. I'm not into watches for what's inside, I only want them to look nice and work.

This watch has never been serviced in its life and never will be. It keeps time as perfectly as any other watch I have, although manually winding it has become a little bit rougher over the years. That's my fault for leaving it sitting in the box and letting the oils dry up or congeal, I expect, so I need to wear it more and get its juices flowing. It's automatic anyway, so I don't need to wind it.

As you can see, it's all about the "integrated bracelet" with this watch. It's not really an integrated bracelet though and is much like the new Accurist Origins for being a lot more versatile.

For the longest time, I've been wearing it on 20mm faux-leather straps so the bracelet still looks "as new". The only problem with putting it on a strap is the corners are a little bit sharp underneath, but now that I've put the bracelet back on using Seiko-style single-shouldered "fat boy" abominations, I won't be taking it off very easily ever again, if you know what I'm saying.

I wish I could tell you more about Atlantic and their Monza range, but all I know for sure is that Atlantic were one of the few Swiss companies who were allowed to sell in Eastern Europe, and many people considered them to be the Rolex of that time and place, since they couldn't actually get a Rolex. Nothing has really changed with that situation, has it?

If you search deeply enough on the internet, you will probably find the various newspaper advertisements for Atlantic featuring racing cars in the background. I used to have the specific one for this watch downloaded, but that was many computers ago, and as most people know, I don't actually care about history.

The red dial looks darker in these pictures than in reality, but it is still quite dark and fades into even darker black at the edges. I suppose you'd call it a fumé dial if you wanted to be all technical about it.

The hands and 4 indices were lumed once, and they still are but it doesn't last more than a few seconds now because of the age. The lume paint has started to erode and spread across the hands too. Nothing I can do about it, and it doesn't bother me except that 22 years ago, it looked like a new watch, and now it looks like a crappy old one.

The crystal is plexiglass (or clear plastic, to be real about it) and quite thick. There are no scratches on it because I'm careful with my things, and I don't really understand how some people get their watches in the terrible state they do other than through horrific accidents.

There are some very minor scratches through use on the case itself which were caused by sleeves etc., but as this watch has an all stainless steel case, they can be polished out. I'm not selling my Monza anyway, and I'll probably end up buried with it, so it doesn't matter what I do to it or how I treat it.

Do I recommend this watch? Oh, hell, no. I don't want other people having the same watch as me, plus you probably won't be able to get one anyway.

If I were to have a "signature watch", my Atlantic Monza is probably the one. This is "Dean's watch", and I think it's the one most people would associate with me in real life, if I actually still knew anyone in real life other than my dentist, the curry delivery guy, and the owner of my favourite convenience store. Yeah, I truly have no life.