Liking this, 40mm, miyota movement. If it's priced sensibly, I'll be getting one
50m of water resistance on a "diver" isn't quite par for the course these days and that red hand sticks out like a sore thumb. What'll they try to flog these at, 300 quid? And they'll get it too, the Q set the precedent for speculative flippers to hoover these up and spit them out onto eBay for an obscene amount.
Timex cannot do wrong at the moment. I love seeing the way they go. And I am looking forward to their journey in the future. They are not for me, they have never been for me but so what? I love all watches, especially the ones with the history and ethos of Timex.
I really like that Timex has upped their game a bit the last few years - moving on from just knocking out cheap & cheerful Quartz’s and instead mining their rich history to bring us some interesting pieces - and going back to making automatic watches too. It started with the Timex Marlin 34mm mechanical in 2017, which was a hit, and they’ve kept in going from there. I really liked the NaviHarbour and had the quartz one for a while (they’ve now made an auto).
Only thing is they do tend to overprice their watches when you look at what you’re getting; the Marlin automatic line for example are very similar to the Orient Bambino but twice the price.
I’m on the fence with the Timex Q - on the one hand I think I like it, reminds me of the kind of thing my dad and uncles would all wear in the 80’s, on the other hand I question whether it’s an overpriced gimmicky watch. Is likely the new auto will have 50m WR, mineral crystal and a miyota movement - if they price it round the £300 mark you’d have to question that, bearing in mind you can get a rock solid Steinhart with 300m WR, sapphire crystal, Swiss ETA and a good quality bracelet for £330.
As mentioned already they’ll no doubt be hoovered up and re-listed on eBay in a nanosecond!
It's not a diver's watch in the same way the Captain Cook reissue is not a diver's watch (except for one specific model released this year) - the target audience is desk-divers.Originally Posted by Papa Hotel
Last edited by Alansmithee; 5th February 2020 at 17:38.
What’s the betting that they sell out of the first batch in half-an-hour, then they’ll start appearing on eBay for mega-inflated prices only for Timex to re-stock them indefinitely, thus making complete chumps out of those who paid over-the-odds because they couldn’t wait.
Quite like how it looks, BUT, would 100m's wr have killed them at least then it would been viable for regular swimming.
Love it, the whole deal. Name on the list, tho' I'm bound to blink and miss it!
£249! Ordered! Get-in!
Congrats
Massively on the fence about this one.
Do I order as a beater.. this one is 40mm case with a 14.5mm height.
The original Q is 38mm and 11.5mm I think?
Plus quartz vs a mechanical for a beater, which do you guys thinks better?
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At this price point it's quartz all the way for me. Cheap mechanical movements such as these Miyotas are terrible timekeepers and I just can't live with that. Someone will be along to say that a Miyota can be regulated to close to or within COSC but that's not how they are out of the box and I for one can't be arsed to go to the hassle and expense of getting a cheap movement regulated.
Still better than Panerai's Luminor Due with locking crown and 30m water resistance for £5.5k.
Was looking at having one of these but thought I’d be able to use the 15% off code, code doesn’t work on this watch so I’ll give it a miss for now...
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. . . . . aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's sold out.
M
No doubt coming soon to eBay lol...
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Well at the prices of the Q resale value should go down a little now I imagine.. still hovering around retail at the minute.Sent from my SM-N976B using TZ-UK mobile app
The Miyota in my Everest has been pretty reliable.
My Miyota powered watch was too. Reliably well over 30 seconds out per day ;-)
Tbh if it had a decent strap with a proper clasp I'd probably have one. Having got the other quartz Q with a similar strap it's a bit of a put off.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Haven't had a problem with that on my Q, but yes, I was half expecting it to be from appearance alone.
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Timex have debited my Paypal account but I've had no order confirmation of any kind, so am starting to expect this will fall-through. Daresay ebay will be rife with them at inflated prices in a week or so... Love the look, but not *that* much.
By the looks of it, this carries an 8XXX series rather than a 9XXX. Makes it a less desirable proposition for me at that price.
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.
^Nice write up and I'm glad you are enjoying it. I have the quartz Q reissue and if your auto has the same bracelet I have to disagree - it's a total hair puller and any movement of the head results in a painful jolt. Even so I'm prepared to put up with it. I am pretty hairy though to be fair.
Pah! Man-up and you'll have a nice smooth, bald wrist and a comfy watch in no time!
the bracelet on the timex q is an abomination !! way overpriced
Nice little review.
Not sure if you have a Q to compare it with, but what's the height on this watch like, it was one of the things that made me hesitate on this watch, really liked the fact the Q was slim.
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Don't own the quartz version, but it's a larger watch overall: 40mm x 14.5mm versus 38mm x 11.5 mm for the quartz. It carries it well - certainly sleeker than almost all the other ~40mm divers I own.
Looking at pictures I've noticed it says "m79 automatic collection" on the caseback, so maybe it's the first of a number of models?
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Good write up by the way, thank you.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.
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