Alexandre Christie Night Vision
Alexandre Christie Night Vision Specifications:
- 48mm case width
- 15mm thick
- 55mm lug to lug
- 24mm lug width
- Miyota 8217 Automatic Movement
- Domed Mineral Crystal
- 50 meters water resistance
- Brown Leather Strap
Price $300 USD
Today I share with you a brand I was not familiar with at all beforehand, the Alexandre Christie Night Vision, model #9202. I found them by accident while scrolling through Instagram one day. After reaching out to the company to discuss a review, they sent along this model, but not really any information. This was actually a difficult review, because for a good couple of weeks, I did not know the price of it, which of course makes it hard to judge the watch for what it is. Eventually, the company got back to me with the pricing, ($300 USD), and I was able to move forward. Unfortunately I still do not know where it can be purchased. I was told Amazon in the US, but have not found this watch for sale there at the time of publishing, though a few models from Alexandre Christie can be found there.
With all of that said, I will give you my insight on this model as usual. One thing of note, Alexandre Christie is based in Hong Kong I believe and when looking at their website, there are actually two different branding for this company. This model, the Night Vision falls under the AC line, and there is another line that is branded the full Alexandre Christie. Between the two, you will find a myriad of styles and designs, from dress to casual to dive and sport, and anything in between, all at different price points as well. I can not really give you much info on the company itself as I have not been able to find much, and communication for the brand has been sparse. That said, if you can find it for sale on Amazon, if you like it after seeing this review, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase, as we all know, Amazon has some of the best return policy there is.
The Night Vision model at 48mm wide with basically no bezel is a large and imposing watch, though the curved down lugs help it to sit more comfortably on the wrist. To the best of my knowledge, it is a black PVD coated case, though it could be IP plated, but I have had it in hand well over a month and have worn it and have yet to encounter any issues with the plating itself, chipping, scratching etc. And with such a large watch, I have knocked it into quite a few things, mainly the doorknobs of the house. The crown is push/pull as it is only 50m water resistant, something that greatly disappointed me with a watch of this style. I think many will agree that with its design, you expect this to be a throw anything at it sport watch, and even though it is obviously not being touted as a dive watch, a screw down crown with a 100m water resistance would have been a great attribute.
I would say the biggest selling point of the Night Vision would be the large flat tritium tubes that are the markers for the dial. The dial markers and hands are adorned with encapsulated tritium tubes, in a similar fashion to some Deep Blue brand watches that have come out in recent years. Something bothered me a little when I first received the watch. When you look at some of the large tritium tubes, you can see the plastic that encases them is not exactly cut and trimmed perfectly with some jagged edges you can easily see. This got me looking around and talking to a few other watch enthusiasts about these type of tubes. I then saw a photo on a Facebook group of a BALL watch, which is easily 4 times the price of this watch, with the same issue. Honestly, at any price I find it inexcusable, and would hope that not every Night Vision is like this and that they tighten up on QC when it comes to this matter.
Powering this model is the Miyota 8217 automatic, which you can see through the exhibition case back. This movement has a date wheel, standard second hand, and a 24 hour time register. This is in the same class as the 8215, and is a non hacking movement. The case back is polished stainless steel, which is odd, considering the rest of the watch has that military theme going on, I guess I was expecting maybe a PVD or blasted back. The rotor has been skeletonized and there is etching on the glass as well.
Speaking of glass, yes the Night Vision is equipped with a domed mineral crystal that does have an internal AR coating. While I have not experienced any issues with it so far, man oh man would I have liked a sapphire crystal here, even if it added $50 to the price. With such a large watch, and some might disagree with me, this is going to be more prone to scratching because of the much bigger surface area. This can always be debated, but in my experience, any mineral crystal I have had over the past 20 years has always scratched, but I have never had a shattered sapphire. Your experience, of course, could be different.
The lume shot below might look a little disappointing, especially if you are not familiar with tritium tubes. Keep in mind, this photo has no filters or Photoshop done to it, like you might see in most marketing photos. Tritium lume, whether T-100 or T-25 is not known for super bright lume, like C3 superluminova normally is. Rather, it has a consistent glow that does not need to be charged, and is at its brightest when in complete darkness, which makes photographing it a little difficult.
The brown leather strap that is supplied is thick, supple and compliments the watch very nicely in my opinion. It is 24mm with no taper and has a large black buckle that is not your standard thumbnail buckle I encounter on many affordable watches, (and some not so affordable). It easily conformed to my 7 ½ wrist out of the box and has only become more comfortable over the past month. If I was to give the strap a 1-10 rating, I would probably give it a 9.
Despite the lack of communication from the company itself, I have not let that turn me off from the Night Vision. I hopefully conveyed to you my honest feelings on this model, and at a $300 price point there is nothing really out of sorts with it. Have I seen and reviewed $300 watches that have better specs and materials? Yes, but it is not like that is an everyday occurrence. Of course, as mentioned, a sapphire crystal and 100 atm would really bring this up few notches, and a cleaner look to those flat tubes. If you like the look and over-sized watches and have been wanting to try a tritium tube model, I would say this could be one to check out. It does look good on the wrist and the build quality is there, as far as the case construction and leather strap.
You can check out all of the AC collection at their website: http://www.alexandrechristie.com/collection/index.php
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