2manywatches
Tyme Machine
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2019
- Messages
- 2,749
Hi again, you magnificent watch folk!
Still a backlog of posting to do from the spree a while back, so now late presenting my Invicta Excursion, which is a generation II model. I just loved the color combination and overall design, and it was being offered at price too good to pass up.
My early Excursion models were some of my first Invicta buys, some sixteen or so years ago now, and among the first of my "big" watches I bought.
The blue and gold Excursion, on the left, was, I think, my fourth or fifth Invicta buy, ever, and, since I'd gone all nuts with the big and then the blingy, the crazy shiny gold Excursion with "diamond" accents soon followed, and is still probably my most over the top watch, haha. This was back in Invicta's heyday of Swiss Makery, 18k gold plating and other attractive trends and I was in my prime of Invicta buying, haha.
The all gold one was also my first watch with a MOP dial, and it's still a feature that pleases me.
It occurs to me that I also have some other Excursion models, the ones with the overlapping ring elements on the dials (I think they may even have ETA movements) but didn't grab pics of them. So, perhaps this new one is beyond a Gen II? Hard to tell with Invicta branding sometimes, haha.
Anyway, this new one arrived in a less than impressive box, and I am wondering if this is a new direction in which they are going. Not that a box makes a big difference, although I do tend to use them for storage and display, so this little cardboard thing was a bit disappointing.
This is a 51.5mm watch, sporting the ever popular with Invicta Ronda Z60 quartz, providing day, date, and a 30 minute chronograph. WR is 100m, with a push/pull crown.
Where my earlier Excursion models did not have a rotating bezel, although designed to make one think they do, with this one, again the bezel might appear functional, but is not, yet what is offered here is a clever internal rotating bezel, operated by the circular crown guard piece, which freely rotates.
A noted element of the older Excursion line is the prominent design of the bracelet and there is a similar element here, with some effort at styling. I find it attractive.
There is a unique kind of scalloping texture on the dial and subdials, looking almost like, hmmm, fish scales? In any case, I think the overall combination of the white and blue and gold and silver is really what sold me on this, since, together, it made for an attractive design, for my taste. I think they also nailed a really beautiful shade of blue, and I like the satin matte kind of finish on the bezel.
The clasp is machined, and the crystal is Invicta's durable Flame Fusion. The bracelet is well made, it is a comfortable watch to wear, and the particular design of the case carries the size well, with that kind of bulge on the left nicely balancing out the crown and pushers on the right.
And, speaking of the pushers, the other draw here was the interesting and rather unusual design of the chronograph pushers as boat "levers" of a sort -- you push them like a door handle, downward instead of the usual inward motion, to engage and work the chronograph, which just added an interesting element I liked.
Lume is typical Invicta, but I like that the inner bezel has lume elements to it, although only partial.
Here it is, following the lume on my old Excursions, and one shot together:
As one pretty familiar with the brand, I agree with other views, based on my own experience that, since kind of refocusing itself some years ago in response to criticism, Invicta is not always what it used to be. Debates about marketing claims aside, earlier models often seem to hold a level of quality not seen in recent offerings, but this one surprised me, in that it really echoes the quality of older Reserve models.
It is solid, substantial, stylish (for my taste anyway) and offers some unique aspects, including the internal bezel and "boat lever" pushers and I have to say this one is a real win, and I'm very pleased. With a functional bezel, in fact, I think it excels over my older models, which always bugged me just a bit, having the appearance but not the function of a timing bezel.
So, it takes a happy place in the collection.
As always, thanks all for reading! A few more postings to go, and then, if I can stop buying watches in the meantime, haha, I'll be caught up with recent buys. Will likely start posting up the overall collection at some point, just because it's so much fun to be on here, haha. Also some discussion ideas are percolating around, so might have some other ideas to post as well.
Hope you all have a great week coming up!
Still a backlog of posting to do from the spree a while back, so now late presenting my Invicta Excursion, which is a generation II model. I just loved the color combination and overall design, and it was being offered at price too good to pass up.
My early Excursion models were some of my first Invicta buys, some sixteen or so years ago now, and among the first of my "big" watches I bought.
The blue and gold Excursion, on the left, was, I think, my fourth or fifth Invicta buy, ever, and, since I'd gone all nuts with the big and then the blingy, the crazy shiny gold Excursion with "diamond" accents soon followed, and is still probably my most over the top watch, haha. This was back in Invicta's heyday of Swiss Makery, 18k gold plating and other attractive trends and I was in my prime of Invicta buying, haha.
The all gold one was also my first watch with a MOP dial, and it's still a feature that pleases me.
It occurs to me that I also have some other Excursion models, the ones with the overlapping ring elements on the dials (I think they may even have ETA movements) but didn't grab pics of them. So, perhaps this new one is beyond a Gen II? Hard to tell with Invicta branding sometimes, haha.
Anyway, this new one arrived in a less than impressive box, and I am wondering if this is a new direction in which they are going. Not that a box makes a big difference, although I do tend to use them for storage and display, so this little cardboard thing was a bit disappointing.
This is a 51.5mm watch, sporting the ever popular with Invicta Ronda Z60 quartz, providing day, date, and a 30 minute chronograph. WR is 100m, with a push/pull crown.
Where my earlier Excursion models did not have a rotating bezel, although designed to make one think they do, with this one, again the bezel might appear functional, but is not, yet what is offered here is a clever internal rotating bezel, operated by the circular crown guard piece, which freely rotates.
A noted element of the older Excursion line is the prominent design of the bracelet and there is a similar element here, with some effort at styling. I find it attractive.
There is a unique kind of scalloping texture on the dial and subdials, looking almost like, hmmm, fish scales? In any case, I think the overall combination of the white and blue and gold and silver is really what sold me on this, since, together, it made for an attractive design, for my taste. I think they also nailed a really beautiful shade of blue, and I like the satin matte kind of finish on the bezel.
The clasp is machined, and the crystal is Invicta's durable Flame Fusion. The bracelet is well made, it is a comfortable watch to wear, and the particular design of the case carries the size well, with that kind of bulge on the left nicely balancing out the crown and pushers on the right.
And, speaking of the pushers, the other draw here was the interesting and rather unusual design of the chronograph pushers as boat "levers" of a sort -- you push them like a door handle, downward instead of the usual inward motion, to engage and work the chronograph, which just added an interesting element I liked.
Lume is typical Invicta, but I like that the inner bezel has lume elements to it, although only partial.
Here it is, following the lume on my old Excursions, and one shot together:
As one pretty familiar with the brand, I agree with other views, based on my own experience that, since kind of refocusing itself some years ago in response to criticism, Invicta is not always what it used to be. Debates about marketing claims aside, earlier models often seem to hold a level of quality not seen in recent offerings, but this one surprised me, in that it really echoes the quality of older Reserve models.
It is solid, substantial, stylish (for my taste anyway) and offers some unique aspects, including the internal bezel and "boat lever" pushers and I have to say this one is a real win, and I'm very pleased. With a functional bezel, in fact, I think it excels over my older models, which always bugged me just a bit, having the appearance but not the function of a timing bezel.
So, it takes a happy place in the collection.
As always, thanks all for reading! A few more postings to go, and then, if I can stop buying watches in the meantime, haha, I'll be caught up with recent buys. Will likely start posting up the overall collection at some point, just because it's so much fun to be on here, haha. Also some discussion ideas are percolating around, so might have some other ideas to post as well.
Hope you all have a great week coming up!