Customer Reviews

Luminox Men's A.1847 Field Chronograph Alarm Stainless Steel Watch

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

 

 

-My own measurements-

41.12mm - Bezel diameter

42.16mm - Case diameter

46.50mm - Case with crown

23.00mm - Lug/strap width

14.22mm - Case Thickness

2.05" - Case length w/lugs, tip to tip

-Backstory-

It's surprising how few (affordable) casual/dress styles tritium watches are available. Military and diving styles are abundant but just don't appeal to me for every day wear. Of the few tritium watch manufacturers out there - Marathon, Reactor, Smith & Wesson, Uzi, TAWATEC, Traser, Luminox, and Ball - only the latter three offer anything close to what I was looking for. Ball is out of my price range so it came down to Traser and Luminox's nearly identical cream-dial dress watches (Traser's Aviator Bucker Jungmesiter and Luminox's 1847), both with MB-Microtech vials and riveted, sewn brown leather straps. Though I liked the propeller inspired hands and exclusive white tritium vials of the Aviator better, the alarm, smaller case diameter, and better price of Luminox's 1847 finally won me over. And I couldn't be more satisfied!

PROS

TRITIUM ILLUMINATION

Tritium is, nearly by definition, the most consistent light source for watches on the market. I've heard people (read: Reactor) complain that tritium, without the aid of superluminova, is not bright enough to read with unadjusted eyes when going from full sunlight to complete darkness. From my own experience, this is simply not true. I've worn the 1847 almost daily for three months now and have ALWAYS been able to read the time with ease under all circumstances. Period.

NOTE: One reviewer of the Luminox 1842 (same watch but different color/strap) wrote "Beware: it's so luminescent, it will light up the bedroom at night." From my own experience, this is also not true. At most, in complete darkness, there's a feint green glow illuminating objects no further than two inches away from the source, and even then it's VERY subtle and certainly not enough to light up the room or bother anyone in a theater, etc.

FACE, CASE, BEZEL and STRAP

Luminox did an excellent job mixing classic with retro/military here. The face is a very light, desaturated cream, much lighter than the photos would have you believe (even mine - it's remarkably hard to capture the color). The strap is made of a beautiful, slightly reddish-brown, double-thick, stitched leather with brushed steel rivets that -absolutely- makes the look (a little stiff at first but wore in after a couple weeks). The complications, like the thin bezel, look clean and uncluttered, and while I don't generally like numbers on my watches, here the bold font fits the theme and aesthetic perfectly. The screw-down crown matches the upper and lower buttons, and as my friend points out, "synthetic sapphire is all the rage" - very resistant to scratches and shattering. It's perfect. I could go on, but pictures tell a thousand words, so I'll finish this section by updating the product gallery.

TRIPLE DATE APERTURE

Maybe you've seen this before, but it was new to me, and it's subtly awesome. At first I was wondering what aesthetic choice led to such a long date aperture, until I caught a glimpse of it 20 minutes past the hour. With analog watches, you kind of get used to not being able to check the date for a couple minutes every hour, depending on where your date aperture is. With a triple date aperture, you also see the dates adjacent to the current date, so even when the current date is obstructed by the hands, you can make out what day it is. Brilliant!

NOTE: Luminox's current version of the 1847 features a white-on-black date (as opposed to the black on white seen in old product shots). I was a little bumbed when I found out black on white wasn't available anymore, if only because that's how the picture was, but now that I own the white on black, I'm actually glad they made the change. Sitting in the 4 o'clock position, it matches the other numbers better, rather than introducing another color into the mix.

STOPWATCH

I've uploaded the included instruction manual, so that should take care of basic use questions. A couple things of note:

-The stopwatch hour and minute hands share a sub-dial, freeing up a sub-dial for the Alarm

-Once the stopwatch reaches it's limit of 12 hours, it doesn't stop - it keeps going. This is (obviously) useful for tracking more than 12 hours if you keep track of half-days passed, and for those who prefer a watch's main sub-dial always be running.

-The stopwatch minute hand revolves around its sub-dial TWICE in one hour, giving you higher resolution for reading minutes. Its hour hand works as you'd expect here, traveling half way between each hour tick for every one revolution of the minute hand.

-When the stopwatch is running, the lower button acts as lap/reset, blocking the ability to set/check the alarm until you reset the stopwatch.

ALARM (pros)

-Louder than any watch I've heard, even while on your wrist due to a sound box built into the back of the case!

-Usage: Hold the lower button (with the stopwatch reset) until the alarm hands move. hold or tap it until it reads the time you wish it to go off (within the next 12 hours) then wait 10 seconds. It'll beep twice to indicate it's on. Tap it during normal operation to turn the alarm on or off without changing the alarm time.

CONS

ALARM (cons)

-Alarm is non-repeating (you cannot "leave it on" to signal everyday)

-The alarm can only be set up to 12 hours before you want it to go off.

-The instructions mention the alarm won't work while the stopwatch is running, but that's not actually the case. The alarm will still sound if it was already set before starting the stopwatch, but you won't be able to set or change it while the stopwatch is running. This is because the alarm set/status button is temporarily a lap timer when the stopwatch is running. When it's stopped and reset, you can go back to using it to set the alarm or check its status.

RADIATION

Not a con because of potential leakage (none, and even during a catastrophe, the dose or radiation you would receive is nominal) but because it "only" lasts 10 usable years (or so reports indicate - I haven't owned it nearly long enough to tell). Sure, the vials can be replaced, but it's not cheap and 10 years is sooner than you think. :(

IMPRECISE MOVEMENT

The hands of two of the sub-dials on my watch do not line up perfectly with the tick-marks on their bezels. Unfortunately, this is common on most non fully mechanical watches, and will vary from watch to watch. Fortunately the chronograph second hand does match up well, and that may arguably be the most important hand ;)

First off the watch looks much better in person than it does in the few (lousy) photos online. It's pretty beefy at 42mm. There is also a 48mm version of the same watch which is simply gigantic, but that seems to be the trend these days. It keeps accurate time. I just bought mine a week ago so I haven't slammed it around much but it feels really strong so far. One great feature is the tritium (always on radioactive glowing material encased in small glass tubes) that you're able to see in the dark. They're placed at each hour and on the hands. Yes, it's radioactive material on your wrist! Amazingly the stuff always glows - never gets dim and is guaranteed to last 25 years. It also makes cheap replicas difficult to produce since this material has to be approved by the government before entering the usa. Very few companies have permission. The only downside is the manual. It's worthless and doesn't explain anything about this model watch or what the 2 buttons do. One seems to reset the chrono while the other starts it... but that's all I can figure out so far. I normally go for automatic movement (no batteries needed) but this watch was so cool looking I had to get it.

I gave this watch a four becuase the instruction guide that came with the watch is completely useless. They waste pages in the guide on how the Navy Seals love this watch. I would also like to love this watch if I knew how to use it! All I could figure out from the instructions is how to set the proper current date and time. I have no idea what the other three dials can do. I have heard it has an alarm, chronograph, etc. but I have no idea how to work the other features. Swiss made, but some marketing idiot in the US wrote the terrible instruction guide. The Swiss would never have left such a poor guide on such a great watch.

I have buyers remorse. I have owned the watch for less than two months now. While it is a profoundly attractive and masculine watch with a slight retro appeal, my troubles started as soon as I opened the box... When I set the time, the crown felt loose and wobbly like it had a cheap plastic stem and the metal clasp on the band popped right off as soon as I tried to fasten it to my wrist. I figured it was just a bad pin, so a local jeweler replaced it with a newer, better pin. Three weeks later I looked down at the chrono hand, and it was re-setting off center by 4 seconds to the 11 o'clock position. I called Mr. Watch, the fulfillment company through Amazon, and they said this was a recent common problem for a few of the Luminox Chrono units that may have faulty movements... since I wore it for two weeks, they would not exchange or RA the piece as per their terms, and I had to return it to luminox for repair under the factory warrantee. This was annoying and off putting considering the cost of the watch. I felt I had no support through this process. They did however offer to refund my shipping expenses, but I have declined.

I shipped the unit to the Luminox U.S. repair facility and they repaired the watch: fixed the hand, replaced the crown, pressure tested it, and returned it to me in a very favorable manner and fast time frame (under two weeks)... I really feel the service center did a better job and took more care repairing the watch than Luminox did at the factory building it... The alarm function is as confusing as others have indicated, and not addressed in the manual. All is well for now, but I was without the watch for a while... Will I buy another Luminox? I am not sure. I will wait to see how this one holds up.

Update 11/22/11: Almost six months in, I no longer have buyers remorse. This watch has only gotten better with time. I have had no quirky movement issues, and I did make one improvement, I swapped the factory band with a "Lone Star Strap" from Texas Strap Company. They made me one in 23mm for this model. It looks absolutely BOSS now... This is without a doubt the nicest looking Luminox offered, and a fair value for the price I paid from Amazon despite having to send it for repair... I am very happy.

This watch is much nicer than pictures suggest. Stainless steel case is high quality, and khaki face looks great. The leather watch band is thick, sturdy and very comfortable. However, mine came with the wrong manual. I received the manual for the chronograph, not the alarm chronograph. I could not for the life of me figure out how to make it work, and was prepared to send it back as malfunctioning. Then I found a video on watchuseek.com that explained how it works and everything was fine. The company apologized for the error with the manual and sent a new one to me right away. Now that it works for me, I love it.

That's good stuff for vintage watch lovers and for life of course. I like the period of 50th and 60th and it looks like that. But never the less suitable as modern fashion things. I like that.

I received this watch a day earlier than expected and was very pleased with the quality of the product. The watch itself is very noticeable - it's quite thick yet very comfortable. The leather strap is of a very high quality and very thick - it takes some time for it to break in and soften, but that's to be expected with a leather band of this quality.

One slight difference in what I received is that the date wheel is black with the date in white, versus a white wheel with black dates as pictured. I don't mind the difference at all, as I think it creates a nice contrast with what is generally a light colored dial.

Luminosity is excellent, as is to be expected from Luminox, and during the day the face is very easy to read.

I know other reviewers did not receive the correct instruction manual, however I am happy to say that mine came with the correct manual - a good thing, as an alarm / chronograph watch is not always easy to figure out on your own!

While this won't replace the automatic Doxa diving watch I wear on a daily basis, this does allow for a different look when I'm in the mood. A very nice, well crafted and masculine watch for daily / casual wear. Highly recommended!

Bought this product as a gift for Dad. The picture shows a black leather band, but the watch that arrived has a brown leather band. Did I miss the section to change the band color? I wanted the black band...