Q Timex: Vicarious Horology

Two and a half years ago, Timex was on top of the world. With their release of the Q Timex TW2T80700ZV, a reissue of a quartz dive-style watch from the late 70s, every watch collector worth their salt wanted to get their hands on it; a relatively cheap watch made by the same people who sell the $30 Weekender at Target ended up going for $400 on the secondhand market. The Q Timex ended up being the company’s second big hit, after they reissued the Marlin in 2017, which, like its ancestors from the 50s and 60s, came with a cheap hand wound mechanical movement, something that Timex hadn’t released for several years at that point. It basically cemented Timex as a brand that simultaneously makes watches for people who just want an watch and enthusiasts who are willing to fork over some extra dough for something a bit more special.

But now, the hype around the Q has long since died out. The price of it is now reasonable instead of absurd due to scalpers, and Timex now has dozens upon dozens of variations on the original style of the Q, along with reissues of other old Q Timex models, like the Falcon Eye, the gold 1975 reissue (ref. TW2U87800ZV) and the 1978 reissue (TW2U91200ZV). They even have a mechanical version of the Q, the M79, which comes with a basic Miyota 8205 for a princely sum of $280. Unlike most other watch brands, Timex is very in touch with what their customers want, and the products they offer are still relatively reasonably priced, something that probably makes ballers and flexers white with rage. After all, what’s the point in enjoying a Seiko Captain Willard or Blancpain Fifty Fathoms if POOR people can afford it, not just you and your shitty trust fund-having, boy-toy using, Vineyard Vines-wearing dudebro friends? Watches are all about making you feel special, amirite?

I got my Q during the 2020 holiday season, for an unprecedented $53. I was Christmas shopping with my better half at a local mall, which had a Macy’s anchoring it. As I always do in department stores I made a beeline to the watch section. Amidst the Eco Drives, crappy Lacoste and Armani Exchange watches, vastly overpriced F-91Ws and the MVMTs (yes, Macy’s carries MVMT) I found the original Q in a display case marked SALE. I asked the old woman who was in charge of the jewelry section and she informed me of the sale they were having, and that the Q was a “woman’s watch”. I then realized two things: one, that whoever decided to sell a Q at 70% discount is either a genius or a moron, and should be rightly promoted or fired, and two, you shouldn’t hire someone who thinks anything under 45mm is a “woman’s watch” to be in charge of your watch and jewelry department. Regardless, I bought the Q immediately.

Up until that day, I didn’t really understand the appeal of the original Q. I did order a Falcon Eye, but I returned it for reasons I’ll explain later. I thought the dive-style Q looked too much like a Rolex Submariner, and although I do own an exceedingly rare Orient “Orilex”, I’m not really into Sub homages, mostly because they would only make me upset that I couldn’t actually get a Submariner.

But I was wrong…sort of. Yeah, the Q does look a little like a Rolex, but it’s a three-way hybrid between a Submariner, a GMT-Master, and an Oysterquartz. And after a while I felt that this was one of the Q’s greatest strengths. Like the Oyster sports watches, the Q has this uncanny ability to be worn with nearly anything; although I typically wear it casually, I nearly wore it to a wedding I went to recently, but I committed to my Orient Tristar instead.

The Q measures in at 38mm in diameter, 11.5mm deep, with a lug-to-lug of 43.3mm, making the Q a proportionate unisex watch. The Q doesn’t have traditional lugs per se; it has hooded 18mm lugs. The tapered, rolled-link steel bracelet is, of course, 18mm, but it’s stepped. This means that beyond the end links it immediately jumps up to about 20mm, then tapers back down. Consequently it’s difficult to find a bracelet or strap that mirrors the tapering of the stock one, although many owners have figured out that similar bracelets from Casio’s digital watches work well with the Q.

Like my beloved Vostok Komandirskie 030598, the Q has an acrylic crystal and a bidirectional friction bezel. I don’t think this ruffles the feathers of watch enthusiasts in the same way a Vostok would, mostly because trying to dive with a Q in the same way you would with an Amphibia would result in its inevitable destruction, considering that it’s only good for 50 meters of water resistance. The bezel itself is made out of aluminum, and is also a dual-time, meaning that it’s a solid choice for a versatile travel watch. As I mentioned in my last review, even though the acrylic crystal will scratch pretty easily, a bit of Polywatch (a tube costs about $7 on Amazon) or even some toothpaste will get most scratches out.

The dial layout is very reminiscent of the Submariner, with a triangle at 12, pencil-shaped indices at 9 and 6, and a day-date complication at 3. The text on the dial-Q TIMEX and QUARTZ- also mirrors the same basic layout of most Rolexes. The fake-aged lume is also pretty decent, which is an unremarkable yet adequate replacement for Timex’s famous Indiglo technology, which wouldn’t be possible in this watch given that its movement wasn’t made by Timex.

The angular, retro stainless steel case has a basic, but fitting finish. Most of the case is polished, although the flanks right above the lugs are horizontally brushed. Normally this would probably make watch enthusiasts pissy given the $180 MSRP, but since the Q is based on a watch from 1979, a time where people gave less of a shit about their watches’ finishing and their behavior at MLB-sponsored events where they’d commit disco record genocide, it makes sense. Like I mentioned, it's reminiscent of the Rolex Oysterquartz and its other contemporaries, albeit without a truly integrated bracelet.

The caseback for the Q is held into the case with screws, and comes with a battery hatch that can be opened with a coin. I think this is one of the Q's strongest features; given that watch batteries are dirt cheap, you don't have to waltz down to that sketchy watch kiosk at the mall-where the balding, greasy "watchmaker" who sells Invictas, Armitrons and lower-end G-Shocks/Casios who also passes the time in between mutilating watch cases by watching Tucker Carlson-in order to get a battery change. Instead, you can change the battery yourself using nothing but a good set of tweezers and a quarter.

The Q Timex is-wait for it-powered by a quartz movement, the Seiko SII Epson PC33. It comes with a day and date function, and like most quartz movements, hacks. Seiko claims an accuracy rating of less than +30 seconds a month, and from experience, that seems about right; my Q gains about a second a day. Unlike other quartz Timex watches, especially those with Timex-produced movements and brass cases, the Q ticks quietly. My only real caveat with it is that there's some slight play in the gear train for the minute hand. As a result if you wish to set your watch to the exact middle of the indicie, you have to gently but quickly press down the unsigned crown to the date setting, then into the default position, rather than doing it all in one go. On the original Q this isn't much of an issue, but on the Falcon Eye it's much more pronounced, resulting in the minute hand being behind or ahead of the actual set time from 15 seconds to two minutes. I've only watched one other review that caught onto this, so I'm not sure if it's a flaw in the movement or I've just gotten unlucky.

I also think that this watch is best bought on the gray market. I mean, $180 is a big ask for a Timex, especially one with a relatively basic, non-jeweled quartz movement and plastic crystal. For more than $100 less you can get a Vostok Amphibia, a capable if not idiosyncratic diver with an in-house automatic movement and tons of innovative engineering put into it. And although Timex does have a sizeable fanbase that they cater to, I also think the company is also trying to reel in people who are considering “retro-styled”/”minimalist” watches from dropshippers like MVMT and Daniel Wellington, which is probably why my Q was literally right across the aisle from those two companies’ watches at Macy’s; I also think it's why you see Timexes being sold by hip clothing stores like Huckberry and Todd Snyder.

And all these more traditional watch companies-Timex, Casio, Rolex, Citizen, Seiko, Vostok, and even MVMT and DW are all fighting against the behemoth that is Apple, so it stands to reason that Timex is-or was-taking a risk when they decided to release a more experimental product that wouldn’t print money like their Weekenders, Easy Readers or Ironmans do.

But if the Q was an experiment, then its results were definitely positive.