Mildly to my surprise, it's arrived - despite a complete lack of acknowledgement of my order from Timex...
Rest assured my crappy snapshot below does this watch little justice. I own a fair few of watches in the £150 - £350 region in which Timex's M79 resides, plus a smaller number from £350 to north of £2K, and I would say this is a cut above most of the cheaper categories. Were it a trendier marque, it could command double the price and be considered value-for-money. Compared with Timex's own output (e.g. the Allied 3 GMT I have), it's in a different league - as it should be of course at double the price.
On the dial, indices are applied, not printed, and line-up of hands, day-date wheels and bezel are clean and accurate. The bezel itself comprises an aluminium alloy insert in a stainless steel wheel; it's par-for-the-course pricewise, being 60-click and not super-tightly engineered, but it otherwise feels robust. Quite why it's a GMT-esque night/day - black/blue colour scheme is a question whose answer is lost in the mists of time, but it looks attractive and without garishness.
The matt-black dial's furnishings are very nicely proportioned and laid-out, and the three hands are neat, somewhat sculpted and in-scale with the indices. I'm not a fan of date windows on divers (much less day/date at 3 o'clock!) yet it works, probably because of the overall vintage vibe. I'll report back on the lume in due course, but somewhat doubt it'll be a strong-point...
The crystal and caseback are both acrylic, so will be easily scratched, but easily polished-out too. The lens shape is correspondingly perfect for a vintage-style watch.
The movement within is very smooth and quiet, and manual adjustments made to it are crisp, precise and without ambiguity. Time will tell (NPI) how accurate this unregulated Miyota will be. Pot luck, of course, but not a matter I'll lose much sleep over at this price point.
Facetting and polishing of the somewhat minimalist, sub-hexagonal case is crisp and clean, brushed surfaces are exceptionally delicate in finish; overall, fine detail is very good. The 18mm lug width will slightly limit strap choices, and although only held in place with captive spring bars - due to the recessed design and unique bracelet, only bespoke straps will merge seamlessly. For me, this is a non-issue as mundane straps would do an interesting watch no favours - the supplied bracelet is important to the overall impact. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into this design.
The bracelet is lovely - slinky, smooth, and surprisingly not at-all the hair-puller I'd anticipated (tho' I'm not overly hirsute, so the more simian among you may well differ...); I find it very comfortable, and adjustments are a breeze. It is not the chunky heavyweight so beloved of modern designs, but this is after-all a tribute to a vintage watch, and relatively-light though it is, it feels robust enough to stand-up to sports activities etc.
The watch wears quite small - especially for a diver - having a lower profile than my similarly-dimensioned Scurfa which has a potentially-slimmer quartz movement within. The M79's effectively-lugless design adds to its sense of compactness, as do the various undercuts inherent in this execution. All this adds to a very comfortable and easy wearer, that should work even on slimmer wrists that might normally fight-shy of 40mm divers.
Design is so subjective that it hardly bears comment, but for me it achieves its remit of bringing a classic design language into the present day, and plays well to the fancy for obsolete technology encapsulated in more-precisely engineered modern surroundings. To state the obvious, this is not going to replace any prestige offerings, it isn't supposed to - if it's bragging-rights at the golf club that matter: why are you even reading this? Go away! Timex's M79 is a unique and well-executed take on a classic formula, with a genuine sense of style.