Attractively-Priced, Reliable Company: Fossil Blue Dial Sport Watch
Written: Mar 01 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Sturdy, attractive, comfortable
Cons: Easily-marred glass face?
The Bottom Line: The Fossil AM 3421 Blue Dial Sport looks nice, and it keeps accurate time. It’s pretty inexpensive for a good-looking piece of functional jewelry, and I like it.
|
|
|
| davepaine's Full Review: Fossil Blue Sport or Chronograph Watch |
The AM 3421 Fossil Blue Dial watch is a striking men’s watch that would be suitable in any social occasion, sports’ indulgence, or workshop. I’ve come to enjoy wearing mine despite initial reservations concerning the weight, the band, and the glass face.
The Look
Fossil markets this particular watch as part of their stainless steel sports watch series, and in that light, it performs admirably. For the very few actual divers out there, the AM 3421 is water-resistant up to 100 meters, and it has an engraved, rotating dial around the watch face for elapsed time. For everyone else, the Blue Dial is exactly what one would expect from its name: a dial watch with a blue face; however, that really does fail to encapsulate how attractive this watch really is. The blue face is bold while still managing to escape “gaudy.”
The AM 3421 features slim hands with a pronouncedly narrow second hand. The twelve is the only actual number on the face; all the other numbers are represented by proportioned tick marks—a nice design feature that prevents the watch from having too busy a face. There aren’t any of those horrid fat hands with arrows on the AM 3421. All of the tic marks are also luminescent in the dark for evening wear and blurry bedside tables. A date box is in the traditional position at three o’clock without a magnifier on the glass face.
The Weight
As mentioned, the watch is stainless steel, and as such, it does have some heft to it. I was a little surprised by how heavy it is, but after a few hours of wear, I didn’t notice any untoward weight any longer. This is an important facet for me since I have a little tendonitis in my wrists, but I don’t think that the Blue Dial has exacerbated my wrist problems any more than any other watch. Truly, having the watch properly sized eliminates any problems or distractions that could result from the weight.
Of course, being of stainless steel, the AM 3421 seems very sturdy. Fossil also backs up the AM 3421’s durability with an eleven-year warranty. I enjoy having a watch that will take a beating without having to worry about getting it scratched up or having to take it off anytime I’m doing anything messy or strenuous. Fossil’s AM 3421 meets those criteria very well.
The Band
The band features Fossil’s Smart Link system. Each pin may be removed from either direction without all the juggling—and swearing—normally associated with removing a link. There are, of course, also some potential negatives that I foresee with this system. Over time, it’s possible that the pins will become loose and arrange self-release, but for right now, I’m not too worried that the band will accidentally come apart.
The overall sturdiness of the watch is matched in the band and its formidable latching system. The Fossil Blue Sport watch has the lock-and-release clasping system typical of most metal watchbands, but what I like about the Fossil version is that it has two locks to keep the clasp from releasing: the standard fold-over hinge and a nifty dual-sided button release. My wrists are rather narrow, and I had no problem finding a good fit by removing links and then setting the the clasp to one of its three adjustment settings. Comfort first.
Where the links attach to the watch itself, the first link on each side is fixed in a curved position to insure comfort and to keep the watch from sliding around too much if the band is a little loose.
Cons?
The only thing that I’m concerned about is the glass face. I’ve had nice watches with thin recessed glass faces (as in the AM 3421 Blue Dial Sport) that were easily marred. Only time will now since I’m not going to intentionally try to scratch it up.
In Summary
I have a Rolex Submariner that I normally wear, but I was a little tired of its magnified date box and how flimsy the band always felt. With Fossil’s Blue Dial, wearing a watch has become somewhat novel. I don’t mean to compare apples and oranges, as the Fossil watch retails for $65 and we know what any Rolex will sell for, but to be honest, I enjoy using my Fossil more.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
davepaine
|
|
Member: David Paine
Location: Boone, NC, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 11 members
About Me:
Outdoor enthusiast who gets sucked into his computer quite often.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.