Customer Reviews

Kenneth Cole New York Men's KC1514 Automatic Gunmetal Dial Leather Strap Watch

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As of May 2009, I've owned this watch for a month, and I'll be interested to see how well this watch holds up over the years. It cost me around 100 bucks, and at that price, I don't expect perfection, but I'm hoping if I take care of it that it might last a decade. It certainly looks like it is of solid construction.
I spent two weeks researching skeleton watches on Amazon and other sites, and this watch stood out as being stylish and refined without being too expensive or too large, as others can be. Some other models have 2 or 3 extra dials for date, hours and minutes, but I really focused on enjoying the cleanest display of the inner workings, and this watch rose above the rest.
The outer number face is a handsome, brushed ring that looks elegant and manly, and leaves lots of room to enjoy viewing of the inner works. Unclear in the pictures, the backside of this case is glass, so you can see all the way through, which really pleased me. The front viewable works is 31/32", and the back is 3/4". I was very pleased with it's size, very similar to digital watches, just shy of 1 5/8" diameter.
The band is a wonderfully soft leather padded affair, even though my experience with leather is that it doesn't age well and ends up odorous no matter how careful you are with it. Yet it really does fit the overall look and I may begin a new policy to replace it exactly when it does expire.
It seems that the automatic winding works very well if you wear it continually. If you take it off you have about 40 hours before the spring unwinds, but you can't expect any more from mechanical movements.
My only criticism is that the Kenneth Cole signature is printed on the glass front, slightly obscuring the spring winding. It just ever so slightly blemishes the perfection of the face.
For me it's the perfect watch, a wonderful fit for dressier occasions, without being overly precious. The gunmetal face is wonderfully masculine and understated, while the movement is shiny and captivating, with one gold wheel drawing your eye with its accelerated movement.
An exceptional watch that perfectly bridges the gap between casual and dressy. I look forward to re-reviewing this watch in a year to see if it holds up to my expectations. I sincerely hope that it does.

My wife got this watch for me for our anniversary and it is the most attractive watch that I have ever seen. You can see the inner workings from both sides. The coolest thing is that it is an automatic watch and it doesn't need batteries every year or so too. If you want something that stands out from the crowd, get this... even if you can afford something 5 times more expensive. It just looks like it was built in another time and has a great look to it.

Got one as a Christmas present. Fully wound it and wore it but it intermittently stopped & lost ~30 minutes a day. Took it back to the store for a replacement, ran fine at the store but then the second hand ran but the hour/minute hands didn't. Got my money back. I liked the looks of the watch.

I bought this for my boyfriend's birthday. He loves skeleton watches so I search every store and all over the internet, everytime I saw this watch I had to stare at it. Especially when it arived it took me forever to wrap it because I couldn't take my eyes off it! He loves it. He was really impressed with it and gushes over it everytime he shows his buddies. I highly recommend this watch, and for this price, its a steal.

I like the style of this "skeleton" watch quite a bit. It's simple and to the point functionally but getting to see the inner workings is definitely eye candy for a guy. Unfortunately, this watch has several severe faults that have made me question my purchase.

First, this is listed as an automatic movement watch, but that's being a bit generous. Though it does have a pendulum power generator mechanism in it, you cannot expect it to power the watch for very long. Essentially think of this watch as a mechanical watch. If you let it sit unworn for more than 24 hours, the power runs out and you have to set the watch again. This, thankfully, is a simple and quick process, but it's annoying to have taken it off the day before and find that 36 hours later the watch has completely stopped for lack of power. While you wear it, it will continue to work fine, though, so that aspect of automatic is acceptable. My Seiko, though, will run for months on stored power from a single day's wear, and it cost about as much as this watch. Fortunately, you can wind the stem (10-15 times) to get it going right away rather than having to shake the watch around for a while to generate power.

Next, as one other reviewer mentioned, "Kenneth Cole" is emblazoned in white script letters on the face of the watch. It is over the skeletal area, so it's not as obvious to a casual glance, but upon looking at the watch and admiring it, it's very poorly placed and way too large to the point of obstructing the view of the mechanicals. Somewhat defeats the purpose of having a skeletal watch.

Lastly, and this is the only one that can be fixed, the included black band is very short. My wrists are not particularly large, and most metal bands require 2-3 links to be removed for me to wear it. This band, though, requires me to wear it on the very last hole and even then it's a bit too tight/uncomfortable for me. Fortunately bands can be replaced. I just have to go through the trouble of finding one to replace this one with. I'm not sure why they put a ladies' length band on a men's watch (I'm guessing).

This is a light, inexpensive, and mostly functional watch that will go well with a lot of outfits, both dress and casual. I just wish they had put a little more effort into the execution.

The first one I received looked great and looked like it worked - with the huge exception that it lost about 8 minutes AN HOUR! So, of course, it was returned (which was really easy, thank you Amazon).

The 2nd one came in the mail and it has worked really well. It loses about a minute a week - which is really good for an all mechanical watch. Set it 2 or 3 minutes ahead and I don't have to set it more than once a month.

It's a good looking watch and is easily worth the money. (<$100) If you try to compare it to $1,000 watches, it'll fall flat... but, for it's price range - it's awesome. The entire movement is skeletonized and it's marvelous to watch it run. There's also a nice window on the back that allows you to see the automatic weight and some of the movement from manual winding.

It was annoying that the first one didn't work - but I don't know if that's a 1 in a 1,000 problem, or a 1 in 2 problem... but, now that I have a working one, it looks great with jeans or cufflinks and a suit.

I recommend this watch - but, hope you don't get a bad one... but, if you do get a bad one, Amazon makes it nearly painless to return.

Kenneth Cole New York Men's KC1514 Automatic Gunmetal Dial Leather Strap Watch:

I've had this watch for about a year, wearing it off and on, and it keeps very good time. It's a skeleton watch with a glass back so you can see through the watch movement. Every where I go with it, people want to see it, as they are fascinated with the watch movement.

It has a comfortable leather strap that is black, and the watch itself is gunmetal, with Roman Numerals around the outside of the face, and a sweeping second hand. The hour and minute hands do glow. It's not an expensive watch, but it looks nice on a mans wrist. The watch is not very heavy, nor is it a very large watch. It's a Goldie Locks... it feels just right.

I'm waiting to see how it holds up, as most watches I wear the crown falls off due to perspiration eating away at the watch. I clean the outside of the watch every day that I wear it, but it doesn't seen to make a difference. They all suffer the same problem, they fall apart due to metal fatigue or corrosion. I'm hoping the glass back will last longer than metal.

The watch says it's all stainless steel and is water resistant. All good, but nickel is the metal that turns green on me. No matter if it's mixed with gold, platinum, silver or what the metal... once I see green the watch is kaput. What I like about this watch is that it is an automatic... meaning no battery. A good option because batteries just hasten the watches demise.

For a watch that keeps time well, this one does. Easy to set and it attracts attention when seen. I gave it 5 stars because it has lasted for about a year and is still ticking, which is unusual. Just give it a few winds prior to taking it off at night and it keeps time over night.

Just got this watch and really enjoy it. I paid $100 at Macy's for it even at 25% off so the deal here is good. The skeleton workings are very neat to look at- there is a gold gear on the bottom that turns perpetually and the workings on the back are also visible. If I had to do it over again I may have opted for one of the identical models but with a larger face to make more of an impact, but that's probably personal preference. It should also be noted that the Kenneth Cole name and "New York" are printed on the glass face in black which is not directly in the way of anything on the watch but do distact the eye briefly. In response to the comment that said he had 2 that were broken out of the box even after he wound it: This is not a wind up watch but rather operates on movement therefore he either has a different watch or may have damaged in his attempt to wind it. Another customer noted the roman numeral IIII instead of IV. The "4" does appear as IIII, however this is common for watches and clocks. Arguments suggest that it gives the numerals greater balance,mirroring the VIII on the other side while some other's say it's a throwback to earlier Roman numbering, but you can look that up with a google search.

I was a bit hesitant to get this watch after reading some of the reviews about the watch not working but I haven't experienced any issues with it thus far. I was expecting more parts to move too so that would be the only let down I can think of.

There's a tiny gold wheel and a silver gear that move the second hand, otherwise not much else moves. Definitely worth getting the watch on sale but I wouldn't pay full price. The watch has a nice solid feel and looks very classy. One of the nicest looking ones I've seen anywhere for this price.

I've seen both versions of this watch, the darker peripheral face with stainless steal gears and the lighter face version with brown strap which makes the gears look lighter as well. Both are really amazing to look at from the top or underneath as there is a window there too, really a personal preference. I was pretty torn but bought the darker faceplate. I think the white faceplate may look a little bit classier if that is what you want.

Before buying this watch I had bought the Rougois XL Skeleton Automatic Dual Time Zone Watch RGSA47 which in all respects is a better skeleton watch on its own. The problem with that watch was its size, it was really a "just look at me" watch. This watch here has a great size and look.

Very pleased with its workings, keeps great time, have had it for six months now. Just have to set it if I haven't used it for a couple days as it is an automatic.