Reply With QuoteNice piece, thanks for posting. Always good to see that there are "other " brands out there.
Well, after a few years her on tz-uk (by the way, thank you Eddie for a great community!) I think it’s time to post my first review. Being Swedish and all I also thought it could be interesting to post a review of a Swedish watch that you don't see here very often, the Sjöö Sandström UTC Skydiver….
Sjöö Sandström is a Swedish brand that have been producing watches since the mid 80’s. I’ve always had a soft spot for their watches due to the design and the scandinavian heritage. The movements are swiss but the watches are assembled in Stockholm, Sweden.
Anyway, the UTC Skydiver is a quartz watch that was primarly produced for the Swedish Airforce, beside being the official watch for the Swedish Airforce there were, of course, released a civilian version wich is the one I’m reviewing here.
Enough talking and on to some pics (not a photographer, but anyway, you can see what it’s about…)
A nice black outer box…
Another nice inner box….
Some nice manuals and paper work…
And here it is, the Sjöö Sandström UTC Skydiver....
This is a pretty chunky watch, the case is measured to 44mm with 15mm thickness and 22mm between the lugs. The large case in combination with large crowns and pushers makes this a watch with wrist presence, it do wears big. Whether it’s too big or not is always a thing between the watch and the wearer but it works for me. I also believe it to fit good on the wrist, especially on the original rubber band or on the custiom made ammo strap I bought for it. The watch is also available with a bracelet, but I prefer watches of this size on rubber or leather. For me, there’s too much metal with bracelet…
Even if it wears big it’s not too big, I believe the design to be in harmony with its size and it’s not very heavy. For example I think that the PAM000 of similar size feels a lot bigger.
The crown and pushers also feels nice. Especially the pushers looks smooth with their oval shape and hatched surface. The crown is also easy to operate. However, on the downside it should be mentioned that the crown tend to scratch the upper side of the hand if the watch is weared closed to the hand. Not a big issue, but I’ve noticed it. ☺
The overall quality of the case feels good, the case and the bezel runs smoothly and distinct. Very well assembled in my opinion.
The casebook is mounted with screws and looks great with nice inscriptions. It’s on the caseback we’ll find the only difference between the civilian version and the version issued for the Swedish Airforce.
Caseback on the civilian version:
Issued version:
The WR is set to be 100m which should be enough, at least for me. I’m not much of a swimmer but 100m are good enough for a rainy day, in the shower or even if someone push me into a pool…
Well, how about the movement? The movement in the Skydiver is the Sjöö Sandström caliber SS G5 which is basically a slightly modified ETA quartz. The functions are in general the analog presentation of time and the functions that is digitally displayed (alarm, date/week, different timezones, timer and chronograph). I’ve always preferred mechanical movements but after wearing this watch for almost a year now I have to say that quartz can actually work out for me. It has is own kind of charm and it’s pretty fun and sometimes even practical to play with all the functions that a quartz movement can offer.
The features on the digital displays are mainly operated from the crown, by turning it you can show the different functions. Very easy to operate and handle!
To light up the display you simply push the crown. A nice feature doing this is that the second hand stops. The purpose of this is to not disturb the reading of the digital displays. After six seconds or so the second hand catches up. The luminova on the analog hands and on the index is a bit weak IMO. Maybe this is not a big issue as you always can use the digital display, but I had prefer to have a bit stronger lume.
When it comes to the digital features I guess there’s not much to say. The functions are the expected ones and can be found in many other watches. However there’s one function that I really like, the display of week number. Not a big thing, but for me is very useful (here in Sweden everything is specified in week numbers, for example the kids semesters, tentative bookings of holidays etc etc). To always have the number of week at hand is a really nice function and a great example of something I did’nt knew I needed as much as I actually do. ☺
In Sweden the list price is something around £1800 which is not cheap for a quartz watch, but it’s cheaper than similiar watches from Breitling and others. And in my opinion the watch is well worth the money. The quality is on par with the price level and even if it has a quartz movement it’s a movement that is there for a purpose. It’s a watch developed and issued for fighter pilots, and the movement and its features are customized to fit the bill.
All in all the Skydivern feels well assembled and for me it’s one of the watches that gets most wristtime. Not a watch I would wear with a business suite. But in the forest with the kids or working in the garden it’s perfect. If I was about to become a OWG it wouldn’t be my first choice in my watchbox but as a complement to my other, mechanical, watches it’s a great alternative I would’nt like to be without. If you’re looking for casual watch with some flair and coolness the Skydiver is a great choice.
Thanks for looking!
Last edited by Denke; 22nd March 2015 at 16:43.
Nice piece, thanks for posting. Always good to see that there are "other " brands out there.
Great review and nice watch
Good write up and a nice looking watch, saw the brand in Stockholm a couple of years ago, I like them.
Admittedly i was unaware of the brand until reading this! However it is quite an interesting looking watch. Not something i'll look further into personally but appreciated the writeup, thanks!
Never heard of the brand either but a great writeup.
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