9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Big Dollar Looks at a very reasonable price
Date of Review: Apr 26, 2007
The Bottom Line: Highly recommend. It looks much better than picutred on the Web. For less than $100 you get a watch that looks like it cost 4 times or more.
Invicta handcrafted their first watches in the 1830's. The goal at that time was to make a fine Swiss watch at modest prices. Move forward a hundred years and the company that made fine manual and auto-wind watches all but folded when quartz movements came on the seen. Around 1991 descendants of the original Invicta decided to re-take ground and now Invicta is one of the fastest growing watch companies in the world. While Invicta still makes and sells many auto-wind watches, they also manufacture watches with quartz movements. While those that are manufactured with Swiss quartz movements are a little more pricey, those made with Japanese quartz movements are very modest. And as far as Japanese movements, Seiko has proven the worth of Japanese quartz.
OK, quartz or auto, which one and why? Many of the watches Invicta makes are "divers" watches. If you are going to dive, or if you simply want a watch that will not be ruined by the quick dunk in the pool, you want to go auto-wind. The reason is when you crack the case on a watch to change the battery, there goes your water proof. If, you take your watch to a high in jeweler and if he puts in a new O-ring when he changes your battery you may, or may not be OK. The only way to know for sure is to test the watch and most jewelers, including the high in jewelers do not invest in the equipment. Even thought it is not all that expensive to do. With auto-wind wearing the watch and the natural movement of your arm winds the watch. It can also be hand wound. Thus, you can go years without going into the watch maintaining the water proof integrity, The down side is, you don't wear the watch for a couple days and it stops.
Quartz movement on the other hand is the simple way to go for great time keeping, no winding, and thus no hassle. With today's batteries you will go a year or more without having to change the battery. Water proof? It will come as good as it states for the model but when you change batteries you may as stated above lose that. However, a battery change done correctly should not be all that bad if you do not plan to submerge your watch. Rain, washing your hands, etc. is not going to be a problem. For the time keeping, low maintenance and ease of use, I chose the Invicta 8943 Ladies Quartz Diver watch for a gift for my wife. Suggested retail, $185.00 and can be found on the web for under $100. The one I ordered was $77.70.
Out of over a dozen watches I own no less than 4 Invicta's and dollar for dollar I put them up against all the other watches I own. Like all Invicta's the 8943 comes very nicely packaged in a sizable yellow watch box. It also comes with a cleaning cloth and instructions. The 8943 is the "little sister" to other ladies divers watches by Invicta and therefore a little more feminine looking. The crystal and face of the watch (black) is about the size of a dime and the full crown is about the size of a nickle. The watch and bracelet are 23k gold plate, highly polished and looks stunning. The bezel is uni directional (only turns in one direction) and this is not a problem.
The hands contrast nicely against the black face and they are coated with Invicta's tritnite for in the dark illumination. I must say here that tritnite is Invicta's one very big short fall. Tritnite just does not do a very good job. After exposure to a good light source it will glow alright, but not for long. If you have even exposed it to the bright sun for several hours and you go into a movie theatre, it is going to grow too dim to read long before the movie is over. But, back to the good. the crystal is sapphire crystal which is amazing for a watch this price. The 8943 has date only but the sapphire crystal is made with a magnifier and gives a very good view for such a small watch. The bracelet rivals anything you would find on a Sieko, Bulova, etc. It has a very secure clasp and good feel (according to my wife the wearer). The 8943 comes water resistant to an amazing 200 meters. However remember the above warnings about what can happen when you change out the battery. This watch like many divers watches has a screw down stem. Because of the small size of this model it is a little difficult to manipulate but not so much so that it is a burden.
The bottom line is this is a great looking, very functional watch that looks like it would cost way above the actual price. I gave my wife a very nice Sieko for a wedding gift. Her words to me were, "I honestly like the looks of the Invicta better. In fact I love the looks!"
I would give this watch 5 stars if it were not for the tritnite used by Invita but for all the other reasons listed it gets a solid 4.5 stars.
