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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Invicta 6067 -- Reasonable Alternative to the Seiko Orange Monster, September 22, 2009
THE GOOD-
+ The Invicta 6067 is a big, nice looking watch meant to imitate the famous Seiko Orange Monster at half the price. It's even powered by a Seiko-designed NH25A automatic movement, (but the movement is not made by Seiko, it's a clone made by a Chinese company called TMI.) It has a nice reflective, brushed-metallic orange face that is very noticeable. The face absolutely radiates in full sun. The case is 43mm (1.69", excluding the crown)
+ A sapphire-coated mineral crystal Invicta calls "Flame Fusion" that's on both the front and back of the watch. Some claim that solid sapphire is susceptible to shattering with hard impacts. Mineral crystal can withstand impacts, but it scratches easily. The "Flame Fusion" sapphire coating claims to have both strength and scratch resistance. If flame fusion is hype, I suspect the the protruding "cyclops" date magnifier will be the first to be scratched. Incidentally, the scratch resistance of sapphire is NOT hype. I've tested the scratch resistance on another solid sapphire Invicta I own by touching the rear crystal with a 30,000 RPM carbide cutting tool. The crystal did not scratch-- Amazing! If you are rough on watches, a sapphire crystal is the way to go.
+ The power reserve is 41 hours, according to the TMI technical data sheet I found online, so it should still be on time if you skip wearing it a day.
+ If it runs down, adjusting both the date and time is really fast. Pull the crown to the first position and the numbers quickly click to the correct date. (You can go through all 31 days in 10 seconds). The 2nd crown position adjusts the time.
+ I almost returned it when I discovered that it can't be hand-wound. The claim is that when it stops running it will start again as soon as you pick it up. And, well... it DOESN'T. Yes, it WILL start ticking a little, but it looses lots of time until it is sufficiently wound, so shaking for about 15 seconds is recommended before wearing. It is difficult to get the bi-directional winding balance to spin freely, but it seems to stay wound.
Invicta's other automatic movement is a Citizen-made Miyota uni-directional winding movement that CAN be hand-wound if needed. This TMI made NH25A movement cannot be hand-wound, but winds bi-directionally meaning that the oscillating weight wheel will wind the watch with any slight movement of your arm. I own both movements and I prefer the Miyota, because the oscillating wheel spins more freely, and hand winding is faster than shaking like a epileptic. This NH25A is hard to get spinning, which makes a difference when you have to shake it to get it wound sufficiently. The TMI technical specs state the NH25A accuracy is between -25 and +35 seconds a DAY @ normal temperatures, (not too impressive) and runs for 41 hours on a full wind.
THE QUESTIONABLE-
? The model 6067 is rated to 200 meters water resistance, but it doesn't have a screw-down crown. Hmmmmm.
? The movement manufacturer, TMI is the company affiliated with several "high-priced" shady internet brands you've never heard of like Louis Bolle, Wohler, Balmer, Eberle, Stuhrling, etc. These Chinese watches have MSRPs of thousands of dollars, but always sell at 90% discounts online. I just hope this clone movement is as high quality as the Seiko manufactured 'real" one.
THE BAD-
- Invicta's generic instruction manual is a joke. Only 2 of the 49 pages deal with this particular model, and those 2 pages say very, VERY little. Disappointing for a good watch.
- Also, it's not hard to find people who are unhappy with Invicta's customer service on the internet. Customer service is obviously not a priority on their flashy website either. It's full of sights and sounds, and offers nothing other than slick marketing. Don't even try to find a phone number to customer service... it doesn't exist. All they offer is snail mail, no chat, email, or anything. (They play nice music on the site to reduce your anger, though!)
- Invicta is known to inflate their MSRP values, and this watch is no exception. The box came labeled with a 395.00 MSRP, but since it's not worth that, it sells for for 80.00-100.00 The inflated MSRP makes Invicta look like one of those shady Chinese companies selling thousand dollar watches for eighty bucks on Evilbay.
IN SUMMARY,
This is a nice looking watch that's worth it's 80-100.00 price range. With it's sapphire coated crystal, the rubber strap, and surgical grade 316L stainless steel, it should be able to take a beating without showing wear.
Many Invicta Pro Diver watches have a ridiculously large, tacky engraving of the company name on the left side of the case. (about a 13 font size in bold) Thankfully, they've gotten over their pretentiousness and didn't put that butt-ugly engraving on this model. It has a bold, clean look.
If this is your first automatic watch, don't expect quartz-like accuracy. Automatics are complicated time pieces with more than a hundred moving parts vs. a few electronic parts in their quartz cousins. Not even the most expensive automatic is as accurate as the average quartz. (My new 6067 gains 25 seconds a day, but automatics tend to get more accurate as they break-in.) So, if you appreciate the craftsmanship and the "cool factor" of an automatic watch, then it's worth correcting the time occasionally. Also be aware that automatics need to be cleaned and lubricated every few years by an expert. Invicta charges 35.00 to clean & lubricate automatics, and the service takes more than a month.
I hope this is helpful.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Looking, Super Legible, Odd 25mm strap and no screw down crown, September 17, 2009
I'm a big fan of the classic Invicta Pro-Diver 8926, mine has been running great for 5 years now and still looks great. It's way overdo for a service, but since it keeps running I haven't taken it in.
Watches have grown larger in the past years, and the 8926 was looking kind of puny, so I was happy to see this larger Invicta Pro-Diver. I'll start with the good points:
It's super legible. I'm getting close to 50, and this is about the only watch I own where I can clearly read the date without reading glasses. The bezel is equally legible, and works great for keeping track of how much time you have left on your parking meter.
It's an attractive watch, and it has a display back, a feature I always enjoyed on the 8926.
There are two significant downsides:
It's got a very odd strap size. I've never come across another watch that used a 25mm strap. It's probably odd for Invicta as well, since my watch arrived with one side of the strap detached from the watch. I've replaced a lot of straps, but I couldn't get the darn spring bar to click into place. I ended up taking it to a jeweler who told me that the spring bar that came with the watch was too short for this size strap.
The crown doesn't screw down. While I'm certainly aware that real "professional divers" probably don't use Invictas, I still want my professional diver watch to have professional diver features. I've had several watches without screw down crowns, where the crown somehow comes out while I'm wearing it and the time is completely off.
So I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. Minus one for no screw down crown and minus 1/2 for the odd strap size.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Invicta Pro-Diver, December 23, 2009
Basically a good watch, looks great, wears great, good time piece, get a lot of compliments, but doubt its utility as a dive watch, based on some other reviews I have read. I havent dived since last year, so havent water tested it as of yet. It does not stay 'wound' for 24 hours as claimed..maybe 12-14 hours..so in other words, you take it off at 1700 hrs, it will be good to go if you strap it back on by 0700..otherwise, you'll have to re-adjust the time. [...]Dont think I didnt consider just sending it back, and getting back on line and re-ordering, but didnt have the 'time'...I needed a watch, my 10 year old Casio Dive Watch took a dirt nap..
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