Its recessed 3 o’clock crown has deep, broadly spaced grooves, and a beveled head signed with Aquatico’s dolphin logo. You wouldn’t mistake it for a dress watch, but it manages to cut the right athletic, tool watch figure without going overboard. It measures a prodigious 44mm wide but only 49mm long, and 13.5mm thick, making it very a wearable weekend companion. The brushed stainless steel case is a 1970’s style tonneau with integrated lugs and polished chamfers along the upper and lower edges that break up the heavy slab and slim its profile. At $329 it is more expensive than the Bronze Blue Angels but still quite inexpensive. Turning my attention to the Oyster, I found more of what I was hoping for. The 24-hour display in the upper left quadrant is a distinctive touch that pushes the handsome Aquatico name to the bottom of the dial.Īll in all, the Bronze Blue Angels’ style and layout works well, but the execution leaves something to be desired, even at its very affordable $279 price point. Vintage C3 SuperLuminova provides a fine nighttime glow. More concerning is the presence of what appears to be white paint in the crooks of some of the numbers. īrushed gold hands and an orange-tipped second hand acquit themselves much better. While the minute track and all markers are raised, I was disappointed to see that they are not applied, but molded and printed in gold, resulting in a softer, less defined effect than I would have preferred. The rich and mossy matte green dial bears the rough sand texture now commonly found on several vintage-style watches. The Bronze Blue Angel’s fluted, flattened onion shape offers visual interest and more than adequate grip without appearing bulbous or awkward. In this case, the big boy has been done right. On the other hand, I hate the way a large crown can spoil the lines of a case, especially when the designer opts for a dull, chunky cylinder. I have a love/hate relationship with large crowns in that I love their ease of use and the fact that they offer so much area in which a designer can do something cool. That screw-down crown at 3 o’clock pulled me right in. While the leather appeared to be of only average grade, I loved the style and finish buckle.
In keeping with its pilot theme, the watch is fitted with a straight cut 22mm leather strap and a broad, signed, flat-tang bronze buckle. It is the kind of overkill I am happy to accept. It is rated for 300m water resistance, which is a good 250m better than most pilot’s watches and 299.9m more than you would ever want to use in an aircraft. The stainless steel case back carries a simple image of four fighter jets in formation.įor an aviator’s piece, the Bronze Blue Angels is remarkably watertight. This puts on the large side, but not at all out of line for a pilot’s watch, and even on my 6.75” wrist, it is entirely appropriate for weekend wear. The Bronze Blue Angels’ brushed case is 43mm wide, 51.5mm long, and 12.5mm thick from the case back to its flat sapphire crystal. Still, I was excited to put it through its paces. That said, the Bronze Blue Angels is a very different watch from the steel, really sharing no more than the name. Also, having read Joshua Clare-Flagg’s review of the lovely stainless steel Blue Angels, I had high hopes for this one. I was most interested in the Bronze Blue Angels as it wasn’t all that long ago that bronze cases were a novelty, and precious few were made in anything other than a dive style. The Bronze Blue Angel uses the NH35’s cousin, the NH37A, a nearly identical variant that adds a 24-hour display. It hacks, hand winds, and has a date complication, Diashock protection, and a 41-hour power reserve. The Oyster packs the popular 24 jewel, 21.6k bph NH35. Sadly, they were not.īoth watches run on reliable Seiko automatic movements.
With the 43mm diameter the watch has a great wrist presence without being too cumbersome.Aquatico is a Hong Kong-based watchmaker that has a growing variety of aggressively priced tool watches in its collection. The brand gave me two watches in exchange for this review: a black dial Oyster diver and a green dial Bronze Blue Angels aviator. With Seiko automatic movements, quality materials, and attractive dive and pilot designs, they seemed to be exactly what The Bum was looking for. One major benefit is that you can largely bring back your watch in the original condition by using a Cape Cod cloth.Īll the specifications are just right: a mechanical Made in Japan SII NH37 movement with a 24 hour hand, durable sapphire glass with an anti reflective coating, 300m water resistance and a crazy horse leather strap. Discolouration is normal with this material.
This is an ongoing process which makes every watch unique. Bronze has the great attribute that it builds up a layer of patina. The Aquatico Big Pilot Blue is a is a very comfortable and beautiful vintage style Aviation-style watch with a lovely satinated CuSn8 bronze case.
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