[REVIEW] The watch that is ALMOST PERFECT to me - California Watch Co. Lost Coast Solar Field Watch

I have been loving watches ever since I was little and aspired to collect luxury watches. In the beginning I looked down on quartz and only mechanical is the way to true watch collecting.

But as I started looking into watches I saw the value in every watch, in every price point and started to build my own standard.

I realizes that I didn't want a mechanical watch below 1~2 thousand dollars. Thesedays watches are considered just an accessory, but to me, they are tool first so need to keep accurate time.

If I bought a mechanical watch below that price point, I won't get it serviced since servicing would cost just as much as the watch itself. Overtime, the watch won't be able to serve its primary purpose; keeping time

So I went on a quest to find an affordable everyday field watch, and these were my check boxes

1. Solar quartz, so no need for any sort of maintenance

2. Between 38mm~36mm (I have 16.4cm wrist size)

3. Titanium for light weight.

4. Box or highly domed crystal for a vintage look(I'm just a sucker for it!)

To tell you the conclusion up front, I failed.

This watch didn't meet 3rd and 4th criteria. But when I came across this watch from watch.com and saw that they had this one on sale for $150, I had to get it.

It was a leap of faith for me since I couldn't find a single proper review on the internet. But it was soooo worth it.

The box it came in was very cheaply made but given the price point, I didn't really care.

However, I love the design, the size and thickness.

38mm dial, 10mm thickness 43.7mm lug to lug and 20mm lug for easy strap changes. Simply perfect.

For the price point, this case has an exceptional finishing and detail. They just didn't cut it, but shaped the corners and polished it. Even the bezel has both brushing and polishing, if you look closely.

Starting from bezel to caseback, it's has

• Brushing

• Polishing

• Brushing

• Polishing

• Brushing

• Polishing

• Brushing

• Engraved caseback

It has 8 different areas and finishes throughout the case! Has anyone seen this much detail for $150?! Probably not even on aliexpress.

They designed the midcase slim so that watch looks even thinner in person than the already thin 10mm thickness suggests.

The dial is simply designed but those looking for more traditional field watch layout might prefer timex expedition north. It's got hour marker in Arabic numeral at the outer circle that is textured and 24 hour markers in smaller numbers at the inner circle which seems to be the solar panel. This gives extra texture/design element to the watch.

And all of these markers, hour, and minute hands are LUMED.

In the inner circle, you can see company logo (which is also lumed!) At 12 o'clock position and the model name and solar logo at 6 o'clock.

The biggest let down is the included rubber strap. The nylon lining is a very nice design but only pretty to look at. It got lint and fuzzes from the beginning and gets worse over time (hasn't even been 2 days) Not a good QC at all. But the worst part is that it's the stiffest thing I have ever worn! It presses sides of my wrist that it hurts and leaves marks on my flesh. I'm gonna try it for about a week to see if it gets any better but changing it to nato strap if it's still this stiff. Thankfully lug width of 20mm makes it simple.

But at this end, I still love this watch for everyday wearability, no maintenance worries due to solar movement and awesome design and quality of the watch itself!

Thanks for reading! I will write some of the other contenders in point form why I didn't pick but you might be interested!

Seiko SSC813 - I wanted thinner and more affordable watch. Looking for field, everyday watch then a chronograph with bracelet

Citizen PMD56 green - almost got this one but wanted something smaller than 39mm and did more research + I don't like it's second had design... wanted something thinner too.

Knot titanium solar - guys, CHECK THIS WATCH OUT!!!! it's an amazing watch at its price point. Not a lot of people know it but it's from Japan and you can customize it. I debated a lot but in the end I really liked Lost Coast's case finishing and thought 38mm would wear better on my wrist than 36mm.