this a review of the newly released aqua terra with decorated miyota 8215 movement. after much debating with myself over the price, I gave in and bit the bullet. it arrived quickly from toro, and after almost 3 days with it, this is my review of the watch. its been on my wrist since arrival, and has some great wrist presence, i'll break the review up into parts (crystal, dial, movement etc) with pics to accompany. enjoy and hope you find it helpful!
crystal: this is the first thing I noticed-it is superb, ultra clear with an extremely gen like double AR coating. the AR has a grey/purplish tone and really makes the dial pop in all light conditions, it also looks properly applied too (by this i mean it looks one with the crystal as apposed to some overs which you can pretty much pick off with a finger nail...). the crystal is sapphire, is domed, and sits a fraction of a mm above the bezel edge, the whole look is 100% gen like-it really does impress when you first see it.
dial: this is the grey dial version, it looks great in any light and the finishing is top notch, the lines are sharp and clean, the printing is crisp in a gunmetal grey colour with no bleeding or fuzziness. it has applied markers and logos as per gen, and a great attention to detail is that the markers, logos and date window have the brushed and polished finish-not just that, but this finish gives off the "rainbow" effect when caught by light, this is trait most gen owners like and refer to so its great that the rep is just so the same. the omega logo and lettering are all well cut and sit straight, as do the markers and date window. the dials hours markers are lumed, its been done extremely neat with no overspill, and the lume lightly recesses at the rear curving inwards-check gen pics-this is how it should be so again another top attention to detail. the hands are finished to a gen like finish also, brushed and polished surfaces, and tie in lovely with the look of the watch.
finally, no dust specs anywhere to be seen...over all, this dial is nigh on perfect in every way. the grey is also spot on colour wise, as i believe the factory had the gen grey dial to replicate from.
the lume is an aqua blue colour-gen actually has a darker looking blue, but the rep is just fine. its not very long lasting but this is mostly due to the small application area. best part of the lume though is the daylight colour-the hands and markers lume is pure white in daylight and is very gen like, no creaminess here as found on other types of blue lume reps.
case and crown: the case is finished with both brushed and mirror polished surfaces, again the attention to detail is high and the look and feel is fantastic. the bezel is highly polished and this plays well with the dial framing it perfectly. the crown side is slightly recessed around the crown creating a kind of built in crown guard. on the back you'll find a serial number at 7 on the lugs, and a highly polished caseback with see-thru display. im pretty sure the caseback glass is just mineral crystal as apposed to sapphire from the look and feel. the model name and water resistance rating etc are all cleanly and deeply engraved and all looks spot on. the case sides have the brushed finish, they create a great contrast to the watch.
the crown itself has been finished to an exact gen look, utilising yet again both polished and brushed surfaces, it looks the part and fits in well with the overall look and feel. it screws/unscrews with a smooth and solid feel, threads are on the inside of the tube as per the gen. the crown action feels tight when time setting and hand winding and inspires confidence that it will last a good while.
crown detail
bracelet and clasp: the bracelet is simply OK. it feels abit light, but is in no way tinny. its all brushed and polished correctly, and the screws to adjust the links feel tight and solid when taking them out and putting them back, the links are held by a centre pin closed off by two screws each side. the setup is very easy to adjust by yourself as apposed to the older pin/collar type links. the links that join to the endlinks feel a little loose, you wont notice on the wrist, but will in the hand. the endlinks are again simply just ok, after finishing the watch with such great details its a shame the bracelet maker who supplied these couldn't get to the same standard of finishing. mine came with springbars not seated properly, when engaged everything looks fine, but the endlinks could definitely be a little bigger/tighter. don't get me wrong, the bracelet looks fine, works fine etc but the quality is touch below the rest of the watch. the clasp shuts and opens with a solid click and the button release is springy and tight feeling, the omega logo is deeply engraved and neatly done, the inside of the clasp can feel a little sharp against the wrist though at first, but after a few days this sensation seems to have gone. over all the bracelet does the job its ment to just fine, but at this price and considering the build quality of the rest of the watch its a little let down. i believe there is an updated version coming though, so we shall see if the bracelet has been addressed.
movement: the movement is the miyota 8215, this is a known workshorse movement. it hand winds but doesn't hack (however you can hover the seconds hand around twelve by lightly back winding the hands to set the time to within a few seconds of dead on-a trick known on seikos 7s26 movement), and runs at 6 beats per second. its a standard 21j movement often found in citizen watches. the movement has been decorated to mimic the omega calibre 8500 found in the aqua terra. from a quick inspection, these decorations look as if they just placed over the movement hiding the actual movement beneath (looks like you can just remove the decoration pieces and then access the movement below for future servicing/regulation/replacing etc. the decoration looks good and is pleasing to look at, all engraved properly and infilled with red, some the fake jewels aint placed correctly, but you cant really ask for more-it will never be a patch on an actual 8500 for looks, but aesthetically its much better than an unfinished movement. the beat of the gen 8500 is 7bps so to the naked, this movement actually makes sense as it looks closer to the 7bps than the higher beat options would be. however, the beat of the gen is constant which still creates a smooth sweep of the seconds hand, on the miyota, if you watch the seconds hand for a few minutes you will see some stutters/seconds skips-its not broken! just normal for this movement, and you wont notice it unless you look for it.
this movement autowinds in one direction, the winding rotor spins in a quiet fasion and mine wasn't loose etc. occasionaly, when its very quiet and you hold the watch close by you can hear the rotor spin, but in every day live you will never notice it. its a good, proven and well built movement, i have no complaints, however i must agree with others that at this price point you do expect better...
finally the datewheel is again spot on, the date font is as per the gen, silver raised numbers, and is well centered in the date window.
final thoughts: overall this is a very impressive rep, on the outside, its truly stunning-theres no getting away from that, the makers have really done a superb job on how it looks-there aint nobody gonna call you out wearing one of these. light plays off every surface, it morphs and changes colour and really puts a grin on your face, one word for it is sexy-this is a sexy looking watch...it oozes class, its sporty looking yet casual. you will feel good wearing it and at 41.5mm it has some great wrist presence. its got a solid movement, great attention to small details, and a great feel to it only slightly let down by the bracelet. the price? hmmmm yeah it is a little high and you expect a better calibre movement-but it is what is-the best aqua terra 8500 rep available.
heres a wristie to finish, thanks for reading!
crystal: this is the first thing I noticed-it is superb, ultra clear with an extremely gen like double AR coating. the AR has a grey/purplish tone and really makes the dial pop in all light conditions, it also looks properly applied too (by this i mean it looks one with the crystal as apposed to some overs which you can pretty much pick off with a finger nail...). the crystal is sapphire, is domed, and sits a fraction of a mm above the bezel edge, the whole look is 100% gen like-it really does impress when you first see it.
dial: this is the grey dial version, it looks great in any light and the finishing is top notch, the lines are sharp and clean, the printing is crisp in a gunmetal grey colour with no bleeding or fuzziness. it has applied markers and logos as per gen, and a great attention to detail is that the markers, logos and date window have the brushed and polished finish-not just that, but this finish gives off the "rainbow" effect when caught by light, this is trait most gen owners like and refer to so its great that the rep is just so the same. the omega logo and lettering are all well cut and sit straight, as do the markers and date window. the dials hours markers are lumed, its been done extremely neat with no overspill, and the lume lightly recesses at the rear curving inwards-check gen pics-this is how it should be so again another top attention to detail. the hands are finished to a gen like finish also, brushed and polished surfaces, and tie in lovely with the look of the watch.
finally, no dust specs anywhere to be seen...over all, this dial is nigh on perfect in every way. the grey is also spot on colour wise, as i believe the factory had the gen grey dial to replicate from.
the lume is an aqua blue colour-gen actually has a darker looking blue, but the rep is just fine. its not very long lasting but this is mostly due to the small application area. best part of the lume though is the daylight colour-the hands and markers lume is pure white in daylight and is very gen like, no creaminess here as found on other types of blue lume reps.
case and crown: the case is finished with both brushed and mirror polished surfaces, again the attention to detail is high and the look and feel is fantastic. the bezel is highly polished and this plays well with the dial framing it perfectly. the crown side is slightly recessed around the crown creating a kind of built in crown guard. on the back you'll find a serial number at 7 on the lugs, and a highly polished caseback with see-thru display. im pretty sure the caseback glass is just mineral crystal as apposed to sapphire from the look and feel. the model name and water resistance rating etc are all cleanly and deeply engraved and all looks spot on. the case sides have the brushed finish, they create a great contrast to the watch.
the crown itself has been finished to an exact gen look, utilising yet again both polished and brushed surfaces, it looks the part and fits in well with the overall look and feel. it screws/unscrews with a smooth and solid feel, threads are on the inside of the tube as per the gen. the crown action feels tight when time setting and hand winding and inspires confidence that it will last a good while.
crown detail
bracelet and clasp: the bracelet is simply OK. it feels abit light, but is in no way tinny. its all brushed and polished correctly, and the screws to adjust the links feel tight and solid when taking them out and putting them back, the links are held by a centre pin closed off by two screws each side. the setup is very easy to adjust by yourself as apposed to the older pin/collar type links. the links that join to the endlinks feel a little loose, you wont notice on the wrist, but will in the hand. the endlinks are again simply just ok, after finishing the watch with such great details its a shame the bracelet maker who supplied these couldn't get to the same standard of finishing. mine came with springbars not seated properly, when engaged everything looks fine, but the endlinks could definitely be a little bigger/tighter. don't get me wrong, the bracelet looks fine, works fine etc but the quality is touch below the rest of the watch. the clasp shuts and opens with a solid click and the button release is springy and tight feeling, the omega logo is deeply engraved and neatly done, the inside of the clasp can feel a little sharp against the wrist though at first, but after a few days this sensation seems to have gone. over all the bracelet does the job its ment to just fine, but at this price and considering the build quality of the rest of the watch its a little let down. i believe there is an updated version coming though, so we shall see if the bracelet has been addressed.
movement: the movement is the miyota 8215, this is a known workshorse movement. it hand winds but doesn't hack (however you can hover the seconds hand around twelve by lightly back winding the hands to set the time to within a few seconds of dead on-a trick known on seikos 7s26 movement), and runs at 6 beats per second. its a standard 21j movement often found in citizen watches. the movement has been decorated to mimic the omega calibre 8500 found in the aqua terra. from a quick inspection, these decorations look as if they just placed over the movement hiding the actual movement beneath (looks like you can just remove the decoration pieces and then access the movement below for future servicing/regulation/replacing etc. the decoration looks good and is pleasing to look at, all engraved properly and infilled with red, some the fake jewels aint placed correctly, but you cant really ask for more-it will never be a patch on an actual 8500 for looks, but aesthetically its much better than an unfinished movement. the beat of the gen 8500 is 7bps so to the naked, this movement actually makes sense as it looks closer to the 7bps than the higher beat options would be. however, the beat of the gen is constant which still creates a smooth sweep of the seconds hand, on the miyota, if you watch the seconds hand for a few minutes you will see some stutters/seconds skips-its not broken! just normal for this movement, and you wont notice it unless you look for it.
this movement autowinds in one direction, the winding rotor spins in a quiet fasion and mine wasn't loose etc. occasionaly, when its very quiet and you hold the watch close by you can hear the rotor spin, but in every day live you will never notice it. its a good, proven and well built movement, i have no complaints, however i must agree with others that at this price point you do expect better...
finally the datewheel is again spot on, the date font is as per the gen, silver raised numbers, and is well centered in the date window.
final thoughts: overall this is a very impressive rep, on the outside, its truly stunning-theres no getting away from that, the makers have really done a superb job on how it looks-there aint nobody gonna call you out wearing one of these. light plays off every surface, it morphs and changes colour and really puts a grin on your face, one word for it is sexy-this is a sexy looking watch...it oozes class, its sporty looking yet casual. you will feel good wearing it and at 41.5mm it has some great wrist presence. its got a solid movement, great attention to small details, and a great feel to it only slightly let down by the bracelet. the price? hmmmm yeah it is a little high and you expect a better calibre movement-but it is what is-the best aqua terra 8500 rep available.
heres a wristie to finish, thanks for reading!
