Decent Watch Bordering Knock-Off
Written: Feb 11 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent bracelet. Reliable Miyota 8215 movement. Inexpensive.
Cons: Looks like knock-off. Hard to remove clasp. Cheesy engraving on side.
The Bottom Line: There are better automatics for the same price. The watch has some nagging issues like a tight clasp, cyclops that does not magnify, and cheesy engraving.
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| mookiekong's Full Review: Invicta 2248 Wrist Watch for Men |
I was looking around at automatic watches, but did not want to spend a lot of money on one to try out. I ended up getting the Invicta 2248. What do I think about it?
Packaging
The 2248 arrived in a very nice bright yellow box. It opened up and the 2248 was wrapped around a cushion. The packaging of the watch is impressive.
Case
The case for the 2248 is a shiny stainless steel case. It has considerable weight, but is not overly heavy. The bezel on the 2248 is a deep blue that is very reminiscent of an Omega Seamaster (more on the Seamaster similarities later). The bezel rotates only one way -- but that is if you can rotate it at all. The bezel is very tight and very hard to rotate. The bezel is scalloped and has -- again -- very similar looks to an Omega Seamaster. The case has a crown protector. The crown is textured and is easy to screw down. The watch can be manually wound by the crown.
The 2248 has a display caseback -- meaning that the back of the watch is glass and you can see the inner workings of the watch. This is a very cool feature for such a low cost watch.
The one really cheesy and bad thing about the Invicta case is the fact that they found it necessary to carve their name into the left side of the case. I am not sure why Invicta decided to do that, but it does lessen the look of the watch by a huge magnitude.
Face and Crystal
The face of the watch is quite readable. There are no number markings on the face, but everything is quite decorative and readable. The hands are well done. The watch has a date window, complete with cyclops. Unfortunately, the cyclops does not magnify the date much -- it would have been better if Invicta had all together left the cyclops out since it does not add much readability to the date.
The crystal is hardend mineral. This is not as scratch resistant as a sapphire crystal, but I think for normal wear, it should be fine for most anyone. The crystal is flat (except for the cyclops) with the bezel. There is no anti-reflective coating on the crystal, but that is not really needed since it is quite readable for all angles.
The luminescence of the watch is not that great. Not only does it not glow bright after a charge, it does not retain the charge for long. Don’t expect to use the 2248 in the dark much.
Movement
Invicta does not make their own movement; they purchase other movements for their watches. For the 2248, Invicta is using a Miyota (Citizen) 8215 movement. By all my research, the Miyota 8215 is a real world tested and very reliable movement for a watch. My 2248 does gain and lose time over a long period -- but not overly so. Time gain and loss for an automatic watch is given, it is just part of the nature of automatic watches.
The power reserve for the watch is less than 36 hours. My guess is that it is really close to 20-24 hours. What that means is that if you don’t wind or wear the watch for a day, it will be dead the next time you pick it up. That is unless you want to spend $100 or so on a watch winder -- given that the 2248 can be picked up for a few dollars over the cost of a winder, I don’t think that is the most economic thing to do. So, winding the watch daily or just plain wearing it will keep it working. If not, you’ll have to set the time and date again when you next pick it up to wear.
Bracelet
The bracelet on the 2248 is excellent! It is very comfortable and its mix of brushed and polished stainless steel really gives it a nice look. The links are solid links and not folded links, this gives the bracelet a substantial feel and weight. Overall, the bracelet on the 2248 (along with all the different variations that Invicta sells) deserves all the raves that it gets on the internet.
The clasp on the other hand is a pain in the rear. The 2248 has a fold over buckle that is not very secure without the clasp that folds over. When I have the buckle folded down without the clasp folded over it, the buckle will come loose with a slight movement. I don’t know if Invicta knew this and overcompensated with the clasp or not, but the clasp is impossible to get open when it is set. The clasp is locked down so hard that I almost feel like I am pulling out a fingernail trying to pry it open. I can say without a doubt that I hate the clasp on the Invicta. It is too bad that Invicta did not put in a push button clasp for easy removal -- but, given the low price point of the 2248, that would be expecting a bit much from the company.
Invicta
So far, other than the clasp, cyclops, luminescence and case engraving, it sounds as if the 2248 is a decent watch. And yes, it is a decent watch, but I do not wear it much. Instead, I have bought a Seiko SKX779 “Black Monster” for daily wear. Why is this?
If you look at the line up of Invicta watches, you can see that a lot of them pay so much “homage” to other watches that they come off looking like cheap knock-offs. They have the 8926 which is a replica of a Rolex Submariner -- it even has the coin-edge bezel for looks and the cyclops for that Rolex-feel. The 2248 is a replica of the Omega Submariner, complete with the deep blue color scheme, wavy dial pattern, and scalloped bezel. There is another model that is a knock off -- err -- replica of the Seiko Orange Monster, which is surprising since getting real Seiko Orange Monster will only cost you a few dollars more!
I admit, when I got the 2248, I got it because it looked a lot like the Omega Seamaster. But, I quickly found that it is too shiny and formal for my daily wear -- I work at a dotcom, I wear a t-shirt and jeans to work every day, and the formal watch does not seem to fit. Also, after wearing it with some more decent clothes, I found that the nature of the watch -- its replica, bordering knock off looks -- really made me feel odd (or is it ashamed?). The cheesy engraving of the Invicta name on the side of the watch does not help the image either.
Then I found the ShopNBC broadcast that the CEO of Invicta does on late night TV. For curiosity sake, I set the DVR to record one of these. When I watched the recording, I was kind of horrified. The CEO was hocking Invicta watches on ShopNBC like a guy on the street corner wearing a black trench coat with watches hanging out of the inside. That really does not help the image of the company, nor the watch.
Conclusion
I still think the watch is a nice looking watch. I still think the Miyota 8215 movement inside is an awesome movement. I still think the bracelet on the 2248 is one of the best. But, the way that Invicta seems to be doing business, the cheesy engraving, and the knock off look of the watch make the 2248 a hard watch to wear in public -- and a hard watch to recommend. Those issues aside, the difficult clasp makes this watch impossible to take off once it is strapped onto my wrist. Would I recommend the watch? Only to those who are dipping their toes into automatic watches and can get over the image problem of the watch and company. It is a decent watch and seems very well built. For me, the watch will still get wrist time, but not as much as my other watches. I hope that Invicta changes their image and tidies up some of the issues with the watch. I cannot recommend the 2248, nor any of their other models (and they have hundreds of “models” which are only slight modifications on one or two base models). I would recommend looking at a more established watch maker like Seiko for an automatic. Seiko Monsters can be had for under $200. Seiko 5’s can be had for under $100.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
mookiekong
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Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 26 members
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Current Mookie Obsession: Apple iPhone 8GB and Fedora 8.
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