Customer Reviews

Chase-Durer Men's 246.4BB7-XL-BR Special Forces 1000XL Black Ionic-Plated Underwater Demolition Team Watch

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've actually wanted one of these watches for several years, but wasn't willing to cut loose with $800-$900 directly from Chase Durer. At $599, this watch is a bargain. It's easy to read above the surface and underwater and, if you dive, that's obviously a real plus. This watch is also very rugged without being too heavy. I highly recommend this product.

This is an amazing watch. I got this watch as a gift but never wore it until recently. I love the functionality of the watch and its features. It is dead accurate and for the most part dependable so far. This is my daily watch and I am very careful with this watch, just like many aspects in my life. I enjoy collecting watches and own some Tag Heuers, Omeaga's,Invicta's, and a Rolex. I wanted a watch that I could wear daily and not worry or gripe if I accidentally hit a corner on rare occasions. I wanted a quartz movement because automatic watches, no matter how expensive they may be, will loose time if they are not wound daily or worn. I know some people may have disagreed with that statement but that is one's opinion. I wanted a Swiss movement and company that was not just created yesterday. I wanted a watch that I could dive with but not to do the extreme depths of saturation diving. I like how versatile this watch can be with just about any attire. My biggest and only complaint is how the paint will wear and eventually show on the links and clasp area. All watches will scratch even my Rolex. It is my opinion that this watch will show more wear and scratches because of the black matte finish compared to a stainless steel bracelet. I just wish that it didn't because I love the all Black matte finish. I am confident that the watch will pass in a rugged and durability test but as a far as the finish, it would fail with how easy it is to scratch the clasp by simply typing on the keyboard. Overall this watch is great. I am seriously debating on buying another one to keep as a spare because I really really enjoy wearing every it day, minus that it is a scratch magnet.

Here are some keys notes that I would suggest to anyone who is interested in this watch:

Pros:
It is very stylish in a suit.
It is stylish in a casual attire.
It is built well and has a very nice sapphire crystal glass.
It is a heavy watch for thus who like watches with some weight.
It is a big face watch display for those who like them.
It is 300 meters water resist compared to watches that are more expensive or the same price.
It has a Swiss quarts movement.
It has a cool black matte finish.
It has lum that glows for more then 10 mins
It has a expanded divers clasp built into the bracelet.

Cons:
It maybe too heavy for some people.
It maybe too big for some people especially if they are use to watches with a case of 40-41mm. This Watch is 44mm on the Chase Durer website specs.
It does not glow as long as some of my other watches such as my Rolex submariner , Omega seamaster, Tag Heuer Aqua racer, and Invicta Subaqua III. The lum is average but not exceptional for the price.
Dull Matte Black Finish requires you have to be a careful if you would like this watch to be perfect. This is a scratch magnet if you are not careful. The Black ion plating paint will chip and show the steel underneath over time. Chase Durer does not sell a replacement bracelet for this watch so you will need to either replace it with an after market or purchase a new watch. Do not expect this watch to be black and perfect because all watches scratch on the clasp and bracelet.
It is not an automatic and requires a battery change every 2-4 years.

SF1000XL UDT

This is a review on the Chase-Durer Special Forces 1000XL Underwater Demolition Team Watch (or UDT for short).

Summary:
Pros:
Part of the primary function of this watch is how it looks. It's designed to look like a military application timepiece and this watch achieves that goal. The watch has a great black finish and there's TONS of information on the dial. It looks military, it feels military (the sucker is heavy), and it works military.
In terms of operational features, this watch is essentially a regular watch and a stopwatch. There is a tachymeter on the dial and a rotating compass bezel for those who think that it's needed. It's waterproof to 1000ft and according to information gathered on the internet the movement is truly rugged and can handle some significant beating.

Cons:
Battery replacement will require that you go to a Chase-Durer dealer or, mail the watch to Chase-Durer, or go to a jeweler that knows how to replace a battery in a dive watch. In addition, it's difficult to know what the service is like for Chase-Durer. There are many conflicting reports on the internet concerning this aspect of the company. In addition, the specific watch I received has issues (sticky button (almost doesn't work) and the 12 hour hand is slightly off a couple degrees). This watch is also quite heavy but this should be expected for such a "tough" watch.

Recommendation:
If you want a military looking timepiece, this is the watch for you. It keeps very good time and seems to be quite rugged (as designed). Be prepared to be spending significant bucks for a battery replacement (on the order of $50 to $60) and be ready to have something on your wrist which is a little heavier than the average watch.

Review:
The watch has seven hands. There is the standard hour and minute hands. Then there are three small hands which are on three small separate displays. The first display is a 12 hour dial and is used to show how many hours have passed since the stopwatch has been started. A second dial represents the 10th's of a second. When the stopwatch is stopped, the hand will rotate to show the resulting tenths of a second. The third dial has a half red and half yellow face. This dial is has the actual second hand used for the regular watch keeping function. The last two hands are a red second hand on the main dial and a white hand directly underneath the red second hand. The red second hand counts seconds when using the stopwatch feature and the white hand counts minutes.
I actually prefer a watch to have a full size rotating second hand for time keeping. This watch does not utilize the full size second hands for regular time keeping but rather uses them for the stopwatch feature. While this is very practical when using the watch in the stopwatch mode, it is a little weird to see the second hand sitting still during regular time keeping mode (which is what this watch does on my wrist 99.9% of the time).

It is possible to get the watch to show a second time zone using the stop watch feature but it's a little tricky to get it to work. In order for the watch to show the time in a second time zone, first you must pull out the primary button to the first position (unscrew it then pull it out one click). You can then set the 12 hour stopwatch hand to the desired time in the zone you want it to represent. For example, if you want it to show that it's 5:00 in another time zone, keep pushing the small top setting button until the 12 hour time keeping hand travels to the 5 position. Then, once that has been set, you have to wait for the regular time to reach the top of the hour and start the stop watch. The stopwatch is in essence keeping the time for the second time zone. This means that you have one chance every hour to get the watch to start tracking a second time zone. It's not too hard but it is a little bit of a pain. It also means that you need to remember to set the 12 hour hand to the correct time zone that is associated with the time when the watch reaches the top of the hour. It also means that the stop watch minute hand will be following along with the regular minute hand. It's a little weird but it works. I find it quite useful when I am traveling.

Another "military" aspect to the watch is that it's brutally simple. As an example, the minute hand is directly geared to the second hand and responds exactly as you set it. If you set the minute hand to be directly aligned with the minute markings when the second hand reaches zero seconds, the minute hand will then track minutes with the second hand correctly. However, if you have the minute hand pointing between the minute markings when the second hand reaches zero, the watch will continue to track that time delta. Therefore, if you want the minute hand and the second hand to be aligned, you must take care to set the watch appropriately.

This watch is heavy! It's really made of a metal case with a metal band and it's got a lot of real metal in it. I thought that my Oceanus was a heavy and large watch. After wearing the UDT for two weeks, I put on my Oceanus and I thought I had forgotten to put a watch on! I have gained a lot of respect for a watch which is light and thin. However, the UDT is supposed to be rugged and tough and the case is pretty dang beefy and that's what it's supposed to be. It may be a con so to speak but it is a feature of the watch that should be expected for something that's supposed to be super tough.

The specific watch that I received has three particular problems with it. First, the top button does not work very well. It sticks pretty badly and requires a lot of work to get it to do what it should. Second, the 12 hour hand is off by about 2 degrees. Now I realize this is a nitpick but dang it, I paid a lot of money for this watch and it should be better than this. Third, the band is hard to release when I want to take it off. It takes a little bit of wrenching to get the band to release. There are several other reviewers which discuss similar issues. Given that the difficulty with the customer service that is also on the internet, I am quite reluctant to send the watch in for work so I'm simply going to live with it.

The links in the watch band are all the same size. There are no "half links" in the band. The band is a little to big for my wrist and adjusting the band must be done in full link steps. I don't think I can take a full link removal and get it to still fit so that's a little bit of a problem.

According to the internet research I have done, Chase-Durer has a very strange track record for customer service. The information I have read from a wide variety of websites would indicate the customer service is VERY bad or VERY good. Almost everything I've read is very biased one way or the other. As a consumer, the bad is what sticks out. Issues range from poor customer service when on the phone with Chase-Durer to having the watch become damaged when sending Chase-Durer the watch for a battery replacement. Given this type of information, I'm reluctant to send the watch in for work to Chase-Durer. When the time comes for a battery replacement, I will have to do some searching to determine what the smartest course of action should be.

The watch is battery powered with an advertised life span of three years (although some people on the internet report five year life spans). This watch has many design characteristics of a diving watch which means that opening it is hard, if you open it, the seal will almost surely need replacing, and closing it will be hard. All of those things mean that the average dude should not open this watch. The general consensus when researching this watch is DO NOT OPEN it yourself.

The result is that if you want to have the battery replaced, you're going to have to take it somewhere. Also, depending on where you live, access to a Chase-Durer dealer might be a little difficult so you might need to send the watch to someone in the mail. For me, this is not a positive thing because I paid a lot of money for this watch and that means I want to retain control over it. When it's in the mail, it can get lost, and when it is being worked on by somebody I don't know in a place far far away, some potential fool can gouge the back of my watch with a case wrench, dork up the seal replacement, and return my watch in beat up condition without my ability to observe and manage the result. Reports on the internet have several of these kinds of stories. In addition, the cost for this service is expensive (more than $50 according to some websites). So, if you're comfy mailing your watch off once every three years and taking the risk the watch will get damaged for a $50+ pricetag, then you're going to be just fine. If you're not like that, be aware there is some liability associated with a battery replacement.

Objectively, there probably have been tons of people who have had 100% successful battery replacement with no problems at all but they don't complain so we don't know what the success to failure ratio is. Unfortunately, the number of issues that I have discovered surrounding battery replacement is somewhat of a concern for me personally.

Until I need a battery replacement though, the watch is performing very well and I'm enjoying it a lot. I think after I bought this watch that I would have really preferred seeing one in real life first and I also would have preferred talking to a dealer about it before I bought it. I don't have buyers remorse yet but there's still that daunting moment in the future when I have to have the battery replaced.

I got this watch as a gift for my husband. When he opened it he said it was one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen. The packaging is almost as slick as the watch. It is an incredibly comfortable fit, has all the bells and whistles, and is the best timepiece you'll ever own.

It is the same watch that Jeffrey Donovan wears in the show "Burn Notice" which is how we found it to begin with. The thing is near indestructible. In a word it is AWESOME.

I have had this watch for several years. I would have given 2 stars, but it keeps time flawlessly. I have had constant problems with the chrono functions. The "non time" hands will not function properly, no matter how many times I pay, or how much I pay to fix them. Also the black finish on the wrist band wore off in a few months and i have yet to find a way to repair it that works. These are not the kinds of issues I expect for my thousand dollars. Maybe this is why the price is dropping. It is massive and has the look I want, but the durability issues undermine the whole point of buying this watch. I wanted a rugged watch that was on par with a Rolex when I wasn't wearing a snorkel, and it was that for a little while until the shoddy craftsmanship made it clear that I overpaid. I still wear it, but I wouldn't buy another one.

THis watch is fantastic. I love the style and color. I do personal security and this watch is great for my work. It is rugged and tough. I have read some reviews saying the watch was too heavy, yeah right, try wearing a Breitling that weighs over 16oz. I am an avid watch collector, I have several Breitlings, a Hublot, and a Panerei, but the Chase-Durer is my newest and so far my favorite. I definitely recommend this watch. And yes, the PVD finish will come off with time and wear, but I have found that a little gun bluing does the trick and the color comes pretty close. I have not found any watch that is this versatile for under $1000, so if you're looking for something that will last and is perfect for any situation,, this is the watch for you!!!

This watch first came to my attention on the TV series Burn Notice because it is worn by the star, Jeffrey Donovan. I searched the web for it by entering "watch worn by Jeffrey Donovan on Burn Notice" and up it came, so I promptly ordered it - despite the rather hefty price tag of almost $1,000. I have a large collection of watches, but this one instantly became my favorite, a magnificent timepiece by any standard of measurement.

Great watch, though a bit over priced compared to the competition. Had mine now for about ten years-ish. After ten, the movement went kapoot, but a local jeweler said the movement was a standard, so he dropped in a replacement for $160. Called the manufacturer, and they wanted a good bit just to check it out! Anyways, love mine, and pleased to have it restored for such a reasonable amount. By the way, make sure you never tighten any of the stem locks too tight. You'll strip the threading easily.

This watch is solid and a must if your in an "Ops" type of job (law enforcement, fire, military etc). Mine took a beating and YES the pvd coating wears off eventually but why is that a bad thing? I like watches when I can look at them and recall what I was doing to cause the wear and tear.... Great catch!