DELTAt NBS |Video Review

DELTAt NBS Video Review

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Straton Vintage Driver | Watch Review

Straton Vintage Driver

Straton Vintage Driver Specifications:

Case Material – 316L  Stainless Steel
Case Size – 44mm
Lug To Lug – 50mm
Case Thickness – 12mm Lug Width – 22mm
Movement – Seiko VK63 meca-quartz hybrid
Crystal – Sapphire Crystal
Hands – SuperLuminova Hour/Minute/Second Hands
Strap – 22mm NATO Stainless Steel Buckle (1 Plain and 2 Racing inspired NATO straps, Genuine Leather Rally straps purchased separately
Water Resistance – 10ATM/100m
Warranty – 24 Months

Price $369 USD Free Worldwide Shipping 

https://www.stratonwc.com/

Lets face it, guys love their toys. Its just in our nature. And two of the “toys” many guys love are cars and watches. Yes, there are other things guys are into, but when it comes to luxury items these are the big two. So it makes sense that watch companies would make automotive or racing inspired watches, in fact, watch companies have been doing this for many years. The design inspiration behind the Straton Vintage Driver? A tachometer of a 1977 Alfa Romeo. While I can talk about design inspiration all day, lets get to build, looks and quality.

The Straton Vintage Driver comes in a few color options, including the case. The version I am reviewing is a brushed steel with a gunmetal PVD coating. Also available are standard brushed steel and a black PVD. Dial colors available are black, blue, white, orange and grey. I chose the grey with gunmetal case because I am a sucker for a grey dial and the gunmetal case is not one you see often. The yellow markers and numbers  along with the orange second hand give a nice contrast of color, and really do play into the racing/car theme. The yellow is more of a muted yellow, not a lemon or taxicab yellow, which I feel was a good choice .A great choice was the white stick hands with vintage lume, which give great contrast against they grey dial, making it super easy to tell the time, which is one of the main reasons we wear a watch. The dial colors compliment all work well together and do not clash. When it comes to the dial, it is a pretty standard 60 minute timer and while chronographs usually are busy or cluttered, I feel the date wheel is in the worst spot. It is just crammed between the 4 and 5 o’clock position. If a 6 o’clock date was not an option, no date would have been the better choice to me.

While many watch companies are going down in size as is the current trend, Straton chose to make the Vintage Driver 44mm. While 44mm can be considered large (note I said large, not over sized or massive), the 12mm in thickness keeps it low profile. Because of the thin bezel, it might appear or “play” a touch larger but I do not consider this to really wear bigger than most 44mm dive watches. Speaking of the bezel, the diamond texture gives the case an added flair, setting it apart from other chronograph pilot or racing watches that use a plain brushed bezel.

Quite a few micro brand watch companies have been utilizing the mecha-quartz movement as of late, and a few of them have been reviewed here on Watchreport. What is the big deal with this movement? Well, I don’t know if it is necessarily a big dial, but rather than go with a standard quartz chrono movement, which is much cheaper than an auto variation, the Seiko VK63 gives you quartz time keeping with a mechanical chronograph module added to the movement. When you depress the start button, it has a firm “click” and also acts as a mechanical movement would, with an instant reset, as opposed to slowly circling the dial. It also works as a flyback chronograph, as you can reset it using the bottom pusher without having to stop the chrono hand first, like you would on most chronographs.

While I am not sure exactly what car is etched on the case back, I am sure it is vintage. Its a great looking etching and another highlight of the Straton Vintage Driver. So many watches at this price point have very plain case backs with no artwork, Kyle, owner of Straton Watches, wanted to something not only nice looking and well finished, but of course tying in with the theme of the watch.

I have never been a Nato strap type of guy, which is why I asked Kyle to send along one of the Leather Rally straps for the review. These straps are not included and can be purchased separately. It is a nice enough strap, but I am not a big fan of the rally straps either (holes), but wanted a different option than the Nato. Turns out though, when I finally did put the Straton Vintage Driver on the Nato’s for pictures, I really liked how it looked, and proceeded to wear it for a few days on my 7 1/2 inch wrist.  The one I wore it on was the light blue/orange version, as it just really gave it that racing appearance.  The quality is pretty good as far as Nato straps go, clean stitching a nice tight webbing. If I was to single out a color that I dont feel matches the grey dial, it would be the dark blue/red strap. The colors are not present in the dial at all, and it just clashes. I assume the 2 racing straps are included with every watch, as well as a solid color that matches the dial, just to give options. It would definitely work better on the blue model.

Is the Straton Vintage Driver a good value? I would say so. At $369 with free shipping, it includes 3 straps, a faux leather travel case and tool, Seiko Mecha-quartz movement, and a sapphire crystal, all in a that sporty/racing look that seems to be popular these days. Because of the price and how well finished the watch is, I can not really say anything negative. My only real gripe I guess would be the lume is on the weak side, but this was a watch I wasn’t expecting great lume to begin with.

 Overall, Kyle and Straton Watches have put together a very nice racing chrono that wont break the bank and the 3 Nato straps offer many different looks. Add in a leather strap and you can really change it up when the mood strikes. The Straton Vintage Driver was their first model, that was successfully funded on Kickstarter. As of this writing, they just completed another successful KS campaign with their Curve-Chrono and are working on their third model, the Syncro-Chrono which will be a combination race inspired/dive watch.  I like what they are doing, and look forward to more of their pieces.

Thank you for reading, please leave your comments in the field below the picture gallery.

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DELTAt NBS | Watch Review

DELTAt NBS

DELTAt NBS Specifications:

• 49mm diameter excluding crown
• 66mm from lug to lug
• 20.2mm thick
• 316L Stainless Steel
• Satin and Sandblast finishing
• Automatic Helium Escape Valve
• Carbon Fiber Dial with Lumed index
• 7.7mm diameter with cross-diagonal pattern screw-in Crown
• Sapphire Crystal with anti-reflection coating
• Japan Miyota Automatic Movement Cal. 8N24
• Water Resistant – 1,000m/3,300ft (100ATM) Water Resistant
• Straps – 22mm width / 5mm thick
• One set of 90/130mm fine genuine leather straps
• One set of 90/130mm unique canvas straps
• 316L Buckle and Loop

PRICE $1100.00 USD 

Are you ready for something extreme? Like me, many of you probably enjoy extreme sports, extremely hot foods, etc. I truly enjoy spicy hot food. I might actually have to whip up some extremely spicy Thai Curry later this evening. However, in this particular instance I am referring to an extreme watch. When I first noticed DELTAt Watches I was impressed with wide range of styles but the NBS model stood out as an oddball to me as it appeared to be ridiculously enormous. Well, I had to see the watch for myself so the company was kind enough to send over a sample so that WatchReport could share this watch with our readers. If you would like to read more about DELTAt follow the this link:

http://www.deltatwatch.com/

Let’s get the pricing issue out of the way right up front. Is this watch truly worth $1100 USD? Quite frankly I think after you read my review and watch the video provided there will be no doubt about the price point being appropriate.

The NBS is not for the limp wrist-ed. The watch is extremely heavy duty and has quite the industrial build. The case is both satin and sandblasted throughout, which is quite refined for such an industrial watch. The first time I saw some images on smaller Asian wrists I thought it looked quite gaudy and out of place. I was thinking to myself, how are these individuals wearing such a huge watch and why? In the end to each their own but in my humble opinion the NBS is most appropriate for people with wrists at 7 ½ inches in diameter and larger. The overhang of the lugs due to the extreme length could be too much for smaller wrists.

7 3/4 inch wrist for reference

The massive NBS weighs a whopping 235 grams on the canvas strap so seriously think about carrying ½ a pound around on your wrist for 8 hours or so a day. Besides the overall massive size, the actual appearance of the watch is going to place the NBS in one of two categories, simply put, love it or hate it. I’m not knocking the watch at all I’m just wanting readers to be well prepared for what to expect out of the NBS. I can truly say when the watch arrived I was impressed and I found some of my presumptions unwarranted.

I have reviewed hundreds of watches over the years and I could probably count on one hand other watches that came close to the build quality provided by the NBS. Of course the first aspect of the NBS besides the overall size that catches the eye are the enormous (3) three hex bolts starring you right in the face. The hex bolts might be the single most factor causing some to fall into the hate it category, however, the bolts are a very unique way of securing the watch case components together. The three bolts pass along the sides of the central part of the case connecting to smaller hex screws on the case back which provide an extreme level of water resistance. I have to admit, at first I really thought the bolts looked odd until I understood the design the company owner followed in having the NBS constructed. The company owner designed the NBS to look something like a nuclear reactor. Actually, the first time myself and one of my colleagues saw the NBS, we thought it looked very similar to the Flux-capacitor seen in Back to the Future, for those of you that may be familiar with those outstanding old movies. So actually the case design, bolts and dial work well together in bringing the owners vision to life.

Besides the unique case design, one of the features I enjoy about the NBS most of all is the design of the carbon fiber dial. The design provides a great view of the movement balance wheel and pallet fork. Overall a very artistic design unlike many other open heart type dial configurations. The perimeter of the dial is marked with applied round hour markers as well as some large polygon markers that I can’t recall ever seeing on any watch before now. Each of the markers contain a fair amount of lume and while not superluminova it does glow quite well. I was unable to find the exact lume composition noted in the specifications, however, based on surfing the web the material could possibly be “superlite” (forgive me if I have spelled incorrectly) which provides similar luminescence to that of C1 superluminova in my book. Overall, I do believe most people will be satisfied with the luminous properties.

Now, while I have grown quite fond of the NBS, could there be improvements? Of course, starting with the movement. While the Miyota 8N24 is a solid movement, it presents certain characteristics that many people tend to view as problematic. First, the lack of a hacking feature with this movement can present some problems achieving precise time setting. I can live with that like many others, however, the other characteristic, typical of 8000 series Miyota automatics, can be a bit annoying. The movement doesn’t provide quite as smooth of a sweep second hand as with the newer 9000 series Miyota automatics. So with the current movement, be prepared for the stuttering and sometimes almost quartz like ticking. I’m certain the movement alone will have many questioning the price tag. Personally, I would love to see the NBS house a Miyota 9015. I know there have been issues recently sourcing the 9015 and the wait time can also be lengthy but nonetheless would love to see it in the DELTAt NBS.

The one other feature that I find slightly out of place is the crown. Functionality is perfect and on most normal sized watches an almost 8mm crown would be more than appropriate. Due to the massive construction of the NBS, a 10mm plus crown would make for a perfect compliment with the rest of the watch. Maybe a crown with a similar size and design of the bolts on the bezel for instance?

If the watch by itself isn’t enough, the NBS comes with a plethora of goodies as well. Besides the fantastic canvas strap that comes standard with every NBS, the watch comes packaged in a huge pelican dive case along with an extra leather strap, all the tools for swapping out the incredible industrial buckle and keeper, tools for cracking open the case if needed, extra small hex bolts for the lugs and a huge chunk of steel noting some of the watch details. In this instance, the DELTAt NBS MKI–SCS comes with a gorgeous dark blue 5mm leather strap but I can’t imagine this beast on anything other than canvas strap. The canvas compliments the NBS so perfectly. The only potential hang up with the straps might be the stainless steel strap keeper. As you will see in the photos and in the video, if the wearer is much further down in the sizing holes the strap may not slip under the keeper very well if at all. If you have a bigger wrist than I and have some sort of spare leather or canvas keeper, sliding that on in front of the stainless keeper will definitely fix any issue.

Is the NBS ridiculous or insane? I will leave the answer to that question up to you. At first I thought yes but now not so much. Hopefully, I have provided each of you with enough information to make an informed decision on that question. The NBS is unquestionably the most massive, industrial, well built watch that I have ever had the pleasure of reviewing. If there is such as thing as an overbuilt watch then it is the NBS. The watch is packed with tons of great specifications from the patent pending case design, sapphire crystal, carbon fiber dial, great straps and buckle, extreme water resistance, mostly reliable Miyota automatic movement and down to the limited production of only 300 pieces. The $1100 price tag is quite appropriate in my book. I would like to thank each of you for reading and please enjoy the photos below of the DELTAt NBS.

 

 

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