Kxaito (Smael) 8600 Review

So, another cheap watch... I came across the watch while browsing through Amazon's watch offerings. I was taken by the colors of this particular colorway, labeled as "volcano." As for the manufacturer, well that's an interesting story. The Amazon listing has the manufacturer as "Kxaito," a brand I've never heard of. Interestingly, a Google search revealed very little about this company, with most hits being links to vendors selling watches. It is a registered Chinese company, though, and they are in the business of watches. It is unclear to me, though, if they actually manufacture watches under their own name. This particular watch carries the "Smael" brand, however the listing on Amazon showed photos of the watch both with the Smael brand, and without.

For review purposes, I will use Casio as a comparison reference, as they have a well established reputation as manufacturers of cheap, quartz watches featuring resin cases/bands. How does this watch stack up? While it does not slavishly copy an existing Casio product, it does have a similar look to some of Casio's G-Shock models. Too, it has a quartz movement, resin case, and band, and stainless steel case back, as do many Casio's in this price range (I paid $20 for the watch).

The watch features both an analog, and digital display, and watch functions include: Alarm, Chronograph, Time and Date. There is also a backlight. The digital display is quite small, and with a negative display, it is not so easy to read. The analog display, though, is nice, with the hour/minute hands being white (lume) outlined in orange. The second hand is orange, with a black tail. The dial has orange indices, outlined with silver at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions. The remaining indices are smaller, and are black, outlined with silver. The bezel ring is orange.

The resin case is a translucent red, and the pushers are orange. The resin band is translucent black in color. The general fit and finish is good, and compares favorably with Casio products in this price range. The movement is a Japanese quartz movement, and I do not know enough about it to say whether or not it is comparable to quartz movements found in similarly priced Casio watches. I expect it will provide fairly accurate time keeping.

This watch is not suitable for small wrists, as it is large. It doesn't sit so well on my wrist, as the case back juts out quite a bit, and the lug to lug measure is pretty wide. Well, you know what... I've gone on too long. We're talking about a cheap watch here. I was going to say "cheap Chinese watch," but while that is in fact a true statement, it can be taken as a derogatory comment. I have nothing but respect for Chinese watchmaking, for the most part anyway. A watch such as this in comparison to similarly priced Casio? Yeah, for $20, I don't have any real complaints.