Can a Finnish watch be any good? - A Review of Leijona Järwi

When you think of Finland, what comes to your mind? Lakes? Mosquitoes? Cold winters? Santa?

My home country is known for many things, but watches aren't exactly high up on that list. If you have heard of a Finnish watch brand, it's fairly likely to be either Voutilainen or Leijona.

Voutilainen sells very expensive watches, but Leijona bases itself in the lower end of the market with the exception of their collaboration series with Voutilainen. 

Most of Leijona's watches don't really appeal to me at all as they are just genetic Chinese made watches as far as I can tell, but this one, the Järwi, is the exception for me as I actually like the design. I bought mine for 200€, but the watch usually sells for 300€. I have had it for a few months now.

The design

The watch uses a fairly standard dive watch design, but it's executed quite well in my opinion. The thin bezel brings focus to the dial and the dial is very legible thanks to the simple applied circular and rectangular indices. The alignment of the indices is not perfect, but it is good enough. 

As far as my opinion on it goes, I really like the dial and hands in particular. The dial is a subtle sunburst, so the effect doesn't grab attention or affect legibility, but it keeps the dial from being boring. In addition to the subtle black, there are other colourways, some of which are more unique. The dial also doesn't have too much text on it, which helps with legibility and keeps it looking clean.

 The hands are very basic, which fits the simple design language of the watch. I think they look good, have a good length and generally work well for the watch.

The sizing is also pretty good for a dive watch for my preference. The diameter is 40mm without the crown and the lug to lug is 46 mm as measured by me. The thickness is an advertised 12.7mm (which is at least close to my measurement), which is pretty good as well. 

The build quality and finishing

While a good design is great, it is also important to consider the actual quality of materials and their usage within the watch. The case is built from an unspecified type of stainless steel. The crystal is sapphire and the same is true for the caseback window. They don't specify having AR coating, but I would say it likely has some, albeit nothing particularly good, as the reflections are not too bad. 

The finishing is brushed on the top and glossy on the sides as well as the caseback. 

The quality of the finishing is pretty good. There are no visual defects that I can see and the transition between glossy and brushed is good. 

The crown is screw down and is perfectly fine. 

However, the bezel is a mixed bag. The amount of strength required to turn it is near perfect to me as it is easy to turn, but I can't imagine it ever turning unintentionally, which also hasn't happened in the few months of me owning it. The feel of turning it is also very good.

On the other hand, there is quite a bit of play and the alignment is slightly off. 

The water resistance is an advertised 200 m, which, according to Leijona, means that you can use it for snorkeling, but not scuba diving. This is covered by their warranty as well.

The movement

The watch uses a Miyota 8215, which is nothing spectacular. It is a basic automatic movement that is known to be reliable, but it is nothing fancy or expensive. I personally prefer it to Seiko's NH35 as I prefer the look of this one, but I am likely in the minority here. 

The watch ran at about +10 seconds per day when I got it. The daily deviation is pretty consistent regardless of what I do as well.

The lume

The lume is nothing remarkable. It's okay. The indices and hour as well as minute hands are lit up okay, but the seconds hand is way dimmer. The lume pip on the bezel is also relatively dim.

The bracelet

The bracelet is perfectly fine, but a little bit generic. The finishing is brushed on the sides and glossy in the middle, which fits the finishing of the watch very well. The finishing also matches the case quite well. 

It does pull a few hairs rarely as well, so it's not on par with my Casio bracelets in this regard, although it is not bad at all either. All of the links are solid as well. 

The clasp is very generic. I have seen a ton of these online. This one has a Leijona logo on it, though. As far as the quality goes, it's ok. It is pressed with a nice matte finish. It holds itself shut securely, but does not feel of high quality when opened or closed. There are 3 microadjustments and while a fourth one would be nice, 3 is sufficient to make the bracelet fit me.

Conclusion

As a whole, it is a nice watch. I really do like the design and the quality is pretty much where it should be at this price point with good finishing. 

However, there are some things that could be better. In particular, the bezel action has too much play and the bezel alignment isn't perfect.