Jeep99dad
3T WIS
|
So I guess it is my turn to show the new Moray II, which arrived Friday afternoon and has been on my wrist since .
I picked the Brushed SS brown dart dial model with two leather straps, the distressed currently on the watch and the black leather; both are top notch quality, like something you would have someone make for you, step up from the prior Moray straps which were cool already and from the majority of stock straps you'll get with new watches... especially at this price point!
When I first opened the package, I was pleased to see the brown Canvas case, it just looks cool, and is not too bulky. I can see myself taking it to put an extra watch in when I go on short trips. I am actually going to NY for business soon so I'll use it to take a spare watch there and slip the flat case in my backpack.
Inside the case were the watch on the disatressed strap, the warranty card, Benarus cloth, extra pins/screws/tubes. Intructions were also included on a nice color one pager. The overall packaing and goodies are nice, pleasant to look at, and of great quality IMO.
The watch is definitely a step up from the Moray 1 which I thought was an awesome watch already, especially at about 450-500$. This one trumps it with the new Myota movement, yeah a hacking mvt, much quieter as well, so I am very pleased on that front. The second hand sweeps very smoothly and the crown operation is super smooth on all front. Easy to pull/push and find all positions. Smooth to wind and set time as well. Flawless really! It'll be interesting how accurate it is. I think it'll be a great alternative to the ETA workhorse 2824-2 most of us have.
The bezel seems to be better also, with a nice grip, perfect alignment too. It clicks with authority though mine is tad difficult to turn, nothing major though. I like that the minute markers stop at 15. The crown is nice and has the benarus logo engraved on it, a nice touch especially as I love their logo. However, is it just me or is the crown smaller on the Moray 2? It just seems a tad too small for the size of the watch Again this is not a major issue at all, I just want to mention all my observations and the Pros far outweight the few Cons I saw.
The dial is just AMAZING, the color is just perfect and being my first brown watch, I could not have asked for a better brown dial. The color, material, finish and dart indices just make the dial perfect overall! The minute marker are just right, there but small enough to not overpower the dial and hour markers. The lumed markers are applied perfectly, a pleasure to look at on this dial! They also shine fairly bright, though the hands shine brighter and don't disappoint in the lume department as expected from a Benarus diver.
The case is phenomenal, a little thicker with a deeper caseback it seems as the watch also improved in the WR department from 500 to 1000M, picking up an HRV on the left side at 9 o'clock as well. The case brushing is perfect, perhaps smoother and more plesant than on the Moray 1. The curves and angles before the lugs are smoothed out, not sharp at all. It all flows together very nicely. As usual with Benarus watches, the moray as a very cool caseback, their logo just rocks IMHO. The watch is on the bigger side for me, but not overpowering on my 7" wrist either. It looks great actually, superb wrist presence, and lug-to-lug is not exaggerated like on other watches these days.
Finally, another improvement is the quality, thickness,, looks of the straps... they just ROCK!!! and you get not one but 2 of them!!!! The distressed looks just awesome and is perfect for this watch... really looks like something you'd have ordered custom aftermarket! Props to Benarus on straps alone!!!
I am very happy with it and my first brown dial watch, though they all look great! I would not mind picking up a blue dial with orange hand at some point .
I want to thank Benarus watches, Steve and Ralf, for their dedication to designing and making the best products in the category/price range and providing the best CS among boutique watch companies! Steve is a great guys to deal with too!
Thank you all for reading! Cheers, Brice
here are the pics I took today with my cell:
Wrist shots:
Last edited on Sun Jan 2nd, 2011 01:06 am by Jeep99dad
|
