Customer Reviews

Momentum Men's 1M-SP04B3 Chronologic F3 Titanium Ana-Digi Brown Hampton Leather Watch

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

 

 

I can't believe how much I like this watch! When I looked at the picture and read the description on the website, it didn't do much for me. But I like analog-digital watches, and they're not very popular these days. Then I went to the Momentum website, read the instructions for the watch, and read all the testimonials from happy consumers, and thought, well maybe I'll try the Amazon 30 day return policy on this one and look at in reality instead of virtual. I'm really glad I did.

It's not fancy or dressy, but it can be worn in most settings. It is really well made and unlike a lot of watches these days it's very understated. For example, there's no Momentum logo on the watch face, just the word "Momentum®" in tiny letters on the edge of the face. . Momentum's a Canadian company, but the watch movement is Swiss. The leather band is thick yet supple and seems extremely durable. It's labeled "Genuine Leather Italian" - that's another thing Amazon didn't mention in the description. The case is kind of gun metal color and fairly thick, but since it's titanium it's noticeably lighter than a steel case. The case is really precisely machined and subtly elegant. The crystal is sapphire so it's extremely scratch resistant. There's no second hand, but instead there's a digital second indicator: one dot added every second around the rim, until there are 60, then they blank out and it starts again. I have the dial set to just show this seconds display, so there's no indication of the digital functions at all showing on the face of the watch unless I touch the digital control to display them

But the digital functions are there when you want them. And the controls are logical and intuitive. I especially like the countdown timer - I use that a lot for timing my stretches and exercises. And you can set the timer in hours, minutes, and seconds. The other watches I looked at only allowed you to set hours and minutes. You can set three time zones. And once you set the digital time, the analog hands rotate to match the digital time you set. I think that's a pretty cool feature. There's also a chrono and an alarm. Also a backlight for the digital functions. I looked at some analog-digital watches that didn't have a light, and that makes no sense.

Complaints? Although it's really well constructed, it's not the most stylish watch, closer to an old Timex Expedition watch I had. I don't really like the style of the numbers on the dial and the lines for each second around the rim. It also has a quirky minute hand. Instead of moving continuously and imperceptibly, it moves every 20 seconds, and you can actually see it move a small amount. I quickly got used to that, but it might annoy some people. The hands glow in the dark, but not for a really long time. If you're in a movie theater, they won't be visible by the end of the movie.

Amazon offers the watch with the manufacturer's warranty, so you don't have to depend on a third party servicer like some other watches from Amazon. The warranty is for 2 years, but can be extended to 6 years if you have it serviced by Momentum every 2 years (they charge for the servicing).

The instruction book is very clear. I found it useful to read it before buying - it helped me decide to order this watch. I wish Amazon gave the manual on the website, but here's the URL of the manual on the Momentum website, if you want to look at it: http://www.momentumwatch.com/media/instructions/Chronologic_F3_Instructions.pdf

I don't like spending money on watches, and I spent more on this one than any watch I've ever had, but I'm really glad I did. I'm very pleased with this watch.

Thanks for reading!

The Chronologic F3 is a well built watch featuring a titanium case and scratch resistant sapphire crystal. Here is what I like and dislike about this watch:

PROS:

- Numbers on the analog face are big and easy to read during the day.

- Digital display offers calendar, stopwatch, countdown timer, alarm and 3 time zones.

- Analog hands sync to the selected timezone so you don't have to worry about setting them separately.

CONS:

- I have a hard to seeing the analog hands at night. Not sure what kind of luminous material they use, but it doesn't really work well.

- Even though the digital display has a light, it is very subtle and I often find it hard to read the digital display at night.

Overall this is a great looking watch and you will definitely not be disappointed. I only wish they had a solar powered version so I wouldn't have to worry about sending it back every two years to have the battery replaced.

I bought this watch during a recent watch buying spree. I had been wearing my Rolex for 25 years and it was coming due for another overhaul, which is not cheap. So, I decided to buy a number of less expensive watches. I looked at a large number of designs and manufacturers and decided to buy three- a Traser titanium, a Citizen ecodrive titanium AT, and this one. Dual time zone was a must requirement and I don't like overly complicated looking time pieces. I prefer analog faces that are easy to read at a glance. I was not sure how I would like this hybrid look. It was not love at first sight, but like Cleopatra to Caesar, it seduced me to the point that I needed to experience it. Like Cleopatra, it has it's warts, but it's charms tend to mask the imperfections. Unfortunately, this watch's warts versus it's charms are accentuated by night .
The face and hands are easily read within the first hour of dark after light exposure. After that, it begins to deteriorate rapidly. By hour six, it is pretty much done. However, all is not lost as there is a auxiliary background light source that allows you highlight the hand position and allows the digital time to appear if you have it selected. The problem is it is not easily read unless you have "young eyes". In the day time, the digital read is adequate for most lighting conditions.
So you might ask why is this my go to watch? Well here goes. It is lightweight, big, easy to read during the day, and tough. It is comfortable to the point that I don't even notice I am wearing it, despite it's large size. People notice it and the comments have been universally positive. The leather brown band and the green bordered analog face harken back to an earlier era, yet blend well with the gold accentuated digital movement. The unique digital hash mark second "hand" count up mode counter points the rather pedestrian looking hour and minute hands. The different digital modes include three time zones, date and week, alarm, timer, and chrono. The time modes utilize 24 format. Overall, it has a very understated look, while providing superb performance. Did I mention? It keeps great time!