Four hundred bucks. Sapphire. Two hundred meters. Done.
By Dave Kowalski, Chicago ยท
If a buddy texted me tomorrow and said "I've got $400 and I want a dive watch," I'd send him a link to this before he finished typing.
Zelos is out of Singapore and they're known for messing around with fun materials, bronze and meteorite and whatever else. The Swordfish is the plain steel entry point, and plain is fine here. 40 mm by 12 mm on 20 mm lugs. That's a normal-human size. Slate grey dial, date, rotating bezel, steel bracelet, sapphire, 200 m.
The movement is a Seiko NH35, 41 hours. It's not a fancy movement. It's not a precise movement. It's the Toyota Camry of watch movements and it'll keep going long after you stop caring about it.
Things that bug me. The grey dial is a bit muted, so if you want something with pop, look at other colors. And it's a micro brand bracelet, which means it's good, not great. Clasp adjustment on the fly would've been nice.
Compare that to the Spinnaker Dumas, which is cheaper but 44 mm, 14 mm tall and stuck with mineral. The extra cash for the Zelos is the smartest $150 in this whole price range.