Customer Reviews

Swatch Men's STYRG400 SS2008 Black Dial Watch

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

 

 

This superlative Swatch, part of the new "Retrograde" series, is a watch that easily compares with others many times its price. (Although the retail price of this watch is $250, note that there are many Amazon resellers that will offer extremely deep discounts on this price.) Being a part of the "Retrograde" line, a style occupying a place in the Swatch universe that breaks from the often playful, fun and sometimes radical designs Swatch has come to master, the "Serious Affair" watch looks, feels, and operates like a high-end luxury watch. And although you can find some high quality and high resolution images of this watch online, one must really see this watch in person to truly appreciate it. It's a watch that appears, even under close inspection, to be much more expensive than it is.

The watch presents a muted rose gold color, with a highly supple and fine grain black leather band, and is completed with the standard Swatch style chronograph functions. As with all the Swatch Retrograde models, the watch has a thick and somewhat heavy case with a flat glass crystal, mimicking the style of older watch designs. The watch face is expertly cut with rose gold highlights, highly precision cut hands, and a glossy embossed black background to complete the design. It's a visual stunner by any measure.

If you are looking for a high end watch at a good price relative to other brands, the Serious Affair Retrograde (YRG400) is a great choice.

I love how this watch looks. It reminds me of the time-travel device on the old TV show "Voyagers!" (as seen here [])

For some reason, I thought that this timepiece would attract a lot more attention than it has, but in 6 months I've only gotten 1 or 2 lukewarm compliments- however, I LOVE how this thing looks. I can't stop admiring it when I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror and it perfectly captures my own quirky style. Love it.

However there are some drawbacks.

-The rose-gold finish is wearing off. I still think it looks cool, but be aware- that shiny coppery surface is going to get mottled and spotty (this is similar to the Ikea wood effect)

-There is no illumination at night (I really miss this feature). There is no alarm

-Currently there are no replacement straps shown on the swatch online store, but there is one available here on amazon if you search for straps that fit a "swatch irony retrograde" watch.

-Oddly, the stopwatch seems to have a long-first second- so it's not really accurate unless you "start" at the second second.

But, the watch is super cool and the various timer hands all work great and come in handy, but let's face it, in this day of cellphones, we are wearing these things for style and this one suits mine just fine.

I bought this watch for my husband for his birthday. He is a watch fanatic (has many) and LOVES it!

I`ll be honest... i saw and tried the watch @ a Swatch Store first. It was just love at first sight. The price/design/quality ratio is just amazing. I would dare anybody out there to try find a Brushed pink-gold case watch... from an above average manufacturer and IF u find any... compare the prices. It is a big dress retro watch, so don`t assume it gonna be anything else but that.

Well, I wanted to order from an authorized Swatch dealer. Amazon wouldn't give me a straight answer about whether or not their third-party-seller watches are authentic (after four talks to customer service trying to get the answer), so I ordered from Squiggly. It got here in the expected time frame.

This watch is BIG and HEAVY. I am a big girl, and I wanted to wear it with my everyday steampunk outfits, and it is quite appropriate for steampunk - but not appropriate for a woman, for every day. I will have to find a less expensive one for that (and daintier). I didn't really expect this to be "dainty" per se - I DID look at the case diameter before ordering - but the reality is much more substantial than I had imagined. It's quite a bit thicker than any Swatch I've owned, for one thing. It is a gorgeous watch, though. The number fonts are appropriate for a retro look, not too modern looking, and even the gold bits on the face look vaguely steampunk. Overall it really does have the perfect look for that.

But I did not know what "Irony Retrograde" was before I ordered. I thought it just referred to a line of Irony watches that were more retro or old-fashioned in appearance. Unfortunately that is not what it means - it's much more specific. The hand that we normally think of as a "second hand" - the long thin one - is actually used for chrono purposes only. It doesn't move during the regular timekeeping, which irritates me no end, because it appears as if the watch is dysfunctional. There are other strange features of the chrono parts of the Retrograde watches - instead of full-circle dials they are smaller wedges, so the hands on the chrono dials have to quickly go back to the 0 mark to continue timing, instead of continuing around in a smooth circle - but I don't use the chrono features much so this doesn't bother me a lot. The real "second hand" is in the small chrono dial at 6:00.

The fact of the long thin "second hand" not doing what I had expected is almost - ALMOST - enough to make me send it back to Squiggly. Of course, that means international shipping and a 20% restocking fee...so I won't. I'm going to wear it for a few days and see if I can deal with that annoying hand not moving, and if I can, well, that's fine. If not, I might try selling it on Amazon or elsewhere.