TAWATEC

TAWATEC E.O.Diver TWT.43.B1.11B

• Swiss Movement
• watch
• military
• T25

Product Description

TAWATEC, Tactical Watch Technology, tactical equipment Switzerland- is wellknown in the last 12 years for high-quality tactical equipment. Our products are well-known and estimated in many national and international special forces. From the everyday field of a rescue medic in a helicopter, up to official operations in critical areas tactical equipment from SMW products is a reliable partner.

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B002SPOWGS
• Item model number: TWT.43.B1.11B
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,699 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TAWATEC - O.E. Diver, December 12, 2010

By 

J. R. Slowinski "quikshift" (Phx, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TAWATEC E.O.Diver TWT.43.B1.11B (Watch)

The O.E. Diver is a serious looking piece of hardware with the H3 tritium illumination system. This means that the watch stays legible even in complete darkness without having to "charge" the illumination. You can see that this isn't just a pretty desk diver, it's a tool meant to be used and abused.


General observations:

This is a BIG watch! With a diameter of 46mm, there's no denying the fact that it's bigger than most normal sized sport watches. That said, it wears small. Huh? Right, here's the deal; most watches have lugs that extend significantly beyond the case. Thus a 42mm diver might actually be closer to 51mm lug-to-lug. The O.E. Diver has lugs which come right off the case, having a lug-to-lug size of 51mm making it wear like a mid-sized watch. The ultra-light case material also makes the watch feel smaller than the dimensions first suggest even though the face is quite large. In addition, by placing the crown at 4 o'clock TAWATEC has eliminated the dreaded "crown into the back of the wrist torture" that we run into on certain watches.

The watch is available with either a bund leather strap, rubber strap or NATO strap. All of these straps are both wide (22mm) and large enough to fit any wrist. When I spoke to a rep they informed me that the straps are designed fit on the wrist directly or over a diving suit. This makes sense considering the watch is designed as a diver.


Features:

Hours, minutes, seconds and date and uni-directional graduated divers' bezel. WR 200m with a double o-ring sealed crown. In addition, the Rhonda 715 movement has a power saving feature by which it will use only 30% juice if the crown is pulled out. I'm not really sure what this is for as this is a hacking movement and the second had will stop when the crown is pulled out.

Band / Strap:

Both the NATO or rubber strap are large 22mm pieces but very comfortable. On my 6.75" wrist I was actually using the second to last hole on the rubber strap. It was solid but flexible and didn't have a "rubbery" smell to it. I also really liked the engraved logo. The NATO strap was very comfortable but the nylon material wasn't particularly thick. I have a Maratec strap which looks like a dead ringer (though smaller) for this strap and that seems to be the industry standard so I can't really complain. I thought that the black buckles on both straps were a nice touch.

I ended up sourcing a K-Style red stitched silicone band on-line for the watch and think it really brings out the red accents in the face, very sharp. The additional "stretch" in the silicone makes this supremely comfortable.

Rating:
NATO Strap - Good.
Rubber Strap - Very good.
Silicone Strap - Awesome!


Case:

Though large (at 46mm dia.), the uni-directional bezel fits neatly into the profile, overhanging the top edge of the case by about 1mm. Having lugs which come right off the case has the effect of making the case appear slightly smaller than it actually is. Curved lugs also help here.

The carbon reinforced poly resin construction of the case makes it considerably lighter than if it was manufactured from steel or even titanium. Supposedly this material is stronger and more impact resistant than the fiberglass resin used in other watches but I haven't tried putting a hammer to both and testing that out so I'll just take it on faith. I have banged the watch on a few desks and walls thus far and it shows only minimal wear marks, less than I would expect from a steel watch. Again, unlike a other tritium watches the case back is satin finished steel so it should hold up pretty much forever without risk of breakage. It's held on by four screws at the corners.

The case is fitted with a massive flat anti-reflective K1 mineral crystal (same as that used on more expensive watches). Normally, I prefer sapphire and given a choice this is still the way I would go, but after a month of wearing the watch, there is not a single scratch on the crystal even though I've banged it a few times. Supposedly a sapphire crystal version of the O.E. Diver is in the works but still somewhere down the road. Given the price-point this isn't a deal breaker for me.

Note: If you must have a sapphire crystal the TAWATEC Titan Titanium is their higher end watch made out of, you guessed it, titanium and does have a sapphire crystal.

The divers' bezel fits nicely into the rest of the watch and is very easily legible. The paint in the lettering is slightly recessed which looks like it might help make the bezel a bit more resistant to small impacts which would normally scratch the lettering. The profile of the crystal flows smoothly onto the bezel - that is, there is no gap or step between the bezel & the crystal and the tolerances are excellent. I suppose that even a relatively inexpensive Swiss watch is still a Swiss watch for a reason. They definitely make them well over there because you can see the build quality immediately in the tight tolerances.

Rating - Very Good.


Legibility:

Given this is a bona-fide dive watch, excellent legibility is expected. The tritium filled hands, hour markers & locator dot on bezel are easily read in low/no light situations, and underwater. The addition of military time in smaller red numbers on the inside of the larger numbers is a great addition. The red accents are subtle but very nice.

The date window is located between the 4 and 5 o'clock and is also functional.

Rating - Excellent.


Movement:

TAWATEC uses the work-horse Swiss Rhonda 515 movement. It's the equivalent of a 4x4 Tundra of movements. The Rhonda is a solid, repairable movement which fits nicely into the case. I've actually had a watchmaker take the thing apart and tell me what he thought, he seemed impressed and said that the watch was very well made but used a few custom components in order to space the hands properly for the tritium vials and the crown in the 46mm case.

One other advantage of this movement is it can be easily serviced, repaired & have the battery replaced by any competent watchmaker with a minimum of fuss and easy availability of spare parts. Some watches with the Rhonda 715 movement have been notoriously prone to becoming leaky once the case is cracked for service but the 515 in the TAWATEC doesn't seem to have this problem. Another known issue with watches using the 715 movement is that according to Rhonda it wasn't designed for the added load of hands with tritium vials so battery life and reliability may suffer. Again, the more rugged 515 is built for sport watches from the get-go so there should be no issue. They seem to have picked the right tool for the job.

TAWATEC does have automatic versions available with the Sellita SW200 movement but those are not available right now in the United States. I'm not really sure that this watch calls for that as it would change the price point quite a bit. This watch is designed to be beat on and the Rhonda movement fits the bill for a utilitarian watch with minimal maintenance required.

Rating - Good.


Accuracy:

This watch averaged a +2 seconds per week gain over a test period of one month, with regular daily use. Being a Swiss Quartz movement, I wouldn't expect much different.

Rating - Excellent.


Comfort:

Even though the size of the case substantial, the light weight and lug placing make this an easy watch to wear on a daily basis. In fact, it's taken over as a daily wear watch for me recently. The crown placement means it doesn't dig into your wrist and the low overall weight mean no "watch fatigue", I don't feel myself having to take the watch off during the day to let my wrist breathe. In addition, the tritium lighting, while not so bright as to be annoying, is an excellent feature when things get dark. In low-light the effect is subtle and the indicators look more orange than red, but as darkness falls the red tritium illumination is always legible and constant no matter how long the watch was under a sleeve or in the dark. It seems like a small thing but I find it comforting to wake up and immediately be able to see the time when the watch is on my nightstand. When in doubt this just seems to be the watch I reach for.

Rating - Excellent.


Drawbacks:

* Crystal - the K1 mineral crystal holds up well but it's still not sapphire.
* Crown - rated to 200m means it solid but a screw down crown would have been nice.
* Tritium - having to choose between the colors is torture, both the blue and red just look amazing.


Value for money:

At an MSRP of $300 and quite comparable to other tritium watches this is a lot of watch for the money, not just due to its size. The build quality and tolerances are excellent and it seems to have been designed from the ground up to take a beating. The 2 year warranty with 10 years on optical readability is excellent and they now have a service center in the United States.

Another nice thing is that since the brand is new to the states, odds are you're not going to run into many people with the same watch. In fact, a lot of people who wear this style of watches have come up to me and asked about the watch. Your mileage may vary but I like something different.

Rating - Excellent

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice watch, February 16, 2010

By 

Captain G. (Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TAWATEC E.O.Diver TWT.43.B1.11B (Watch)

Nice 46mm watch. I was looking for a Tritium glow watch, but larger than the similar looking one by Luminox (44mm). Nice glow of Tritium markers in the dark. Good "military" look. Does not have a screw-in crown (it's a push/pull), so a little worried about this thing being water-resistant to 660 foot (I don't think it would be), but who's going that deep anyway. I'd like to see the actual pressure test specs. I got the nylon NATO type band. It's cheap, cheap, cheap. Probably cost about 50 cents to make. Replaced it with a heavy $24 nylon military bund type band from Ebay. Now it's a nice total package. For $240+ I expected a watch with a much better quality band. Don't know the quality of the rubber band since I didn't order that one.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Watch, January 12, 2012

By 

D. Foster (East Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TAWATEC E.O.Diver TWT.43.B1.11B (Watch)

This watch is just as I expected. No problems. I would buy it again. Very light on the wrist. Looks good. Gas tube install looks great. Finish seems very durable. Nylon band works fine. One thing, the second hand is just a little misaligned at the top but not really noticeable.