Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Micro-Brands discussed here
Post Reply
User avatar
jason_recliner
ASSHAT
Posts: 10950
Joined: September 17th 2011, 10:00pm
Contact:

Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by jason_recliner » February 24th 2023, 7:32pm

Image

This one didn't work out at first, hence the delay in reviewing. It didn't keep time at first (like, hours out), I contacted DH and asked to return it, they refused, said the battery might be flat, I had to take it to a watchmaker and they'd reimburse me if I sent them the bill. I was a bit disappointed in their approach to customer service. As I saw it, it's a brand new watch, there's almost zero chance the battery is flat, and so something is defective. If it was my company, I'd send a consignment note/courier satchel, take the heavily marked-up Chinese watch back, and send a new one. No harm done, avoid inconveniencing a customer, avoid potentially less than fully satisfied reviews. Luckily I live in Morley where it seems almost everybody is cool as fuck, including the local mall kiosk watch guy. He opened my watch, confirmed the battery is of course perfectly charged, sealed it back up and said don't worry about the money, he's just curious to hear how DH will respond.

After the battery had been reinstalled, the watch kept acceptably good time (by quartz standards). Don’t ask me the accuracy, I just know that if I look at it it’s going to be within a couple of minutes of my phone. I figure there was some issue where the contact was not touching the battery, and whatever the watch repair guy did fixed the issue. So I kept the watch, and here it is.

Putting aside my disagreement with how DH handles an obvious QC issue, I gotta say that I really like this watch. I bought it because I missed having a bright orange watch (yeah, I know) and figured it would be ‘fun’ (yeah, I know) for summer activities and fashion (yeah, I know) culminating in a holiday at a Fiji resort. Turns out I wear it as much or more than any of my others. Why?
It (now) always shows the correct time. No need to wind, set, or anything like that. It has no date, so it always doesn’t not show the correct day, negating any need to not set the day/date. It’s thin and light and on a strap so it is very comfortable. It’s rugged and waterproof so I don’t have to worry about changing it after work. I think it looks cool.

Image

Weird, but cool.

Image

Image

It’s weird because DH calls it the Skin Diver and it is meant to be inspired by the skin divers of the 70s (and 60s? I dunno). So it doesn’t have extreme water resistance or a screw-down crown, that makes sense. But it has a sapphire bezel overlaying black and silver and a bright orange dial (my version at least) and so the look in the metal, on the wrist, is maybe hinting at retro but much more fancy and modern and techy.

It’s a cheap watch and you can see that in places. All of the cost it seems has gone into the sapphire bezel and beautiful box sapphire crystal. A little was spent on the dial just to try and keep up. The case is very basic in it’s finish. In this respect, it reminds me a bit of an 80s/90s Tag. Oh, and they spent big on the caseback – my favourite feature along with the crystal and bezel. Check this out.

Image

Baby got back!

Image

Almost makes up for the god-awful buckle. Seriously? Even on a cheap watch, that’s a fucking disgrace.

Image

Anything else of note? The profile is indeed very retro and probably most reflects the skin diver inspiration. It came with one of those stupid blue plastic stickers on the crown and I when I took it off the DH engraving was full of stupid blue plastic and I was worried it wouldn’t come out. A summer of beach and resort and snorkeling activities seems to have removed it finally. The strap is weird to me. It’s FKM ‘rubber’, otherwise known as Viton. Unlike other rubber and rubber-type straps (e.g. silicone) it’s more or less frictionless, feels perfectly dry. It’s not unpleasant, it’s just weird if you’re used to rubber. The vintage tropic-style print is too cool. One good thing about the cheap basic case is I have no worries about getting scratches and dints, let alone hairline swirlies. I like how the bases of the hands are painted orange so they sort of look transparent/floating.

Image

In summary, the watch looks good (IMO), it’s taken a bit of a beating this summer and is still ticking (no thanks to DH) and it was really cheap (US$290 I think). I’m going to wear it again today (a Saturday). Says it all. Oh, and the mall kiosk watch guy is a legend. Dear Dan Henry, give him a call, learn something about how to look after a (potential) customer.
Copyright Reclinervision 2020 Productions. All rights reserved.

If it thinks, it stinks
User avatar
jason_recliner
ASSHAT
Posts: 10950
Joined: September 17th 2011, 10:00pm
Contact:

Re: Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by jason_recliner » February 25th 2023, 7:50pm

bbattle wrote:
February 25th 2023, 12:47pm
That was a very nice review. This isn't the first time I've read about DH's poor customer service.

The watch itself looks rather nice; I might spring for the automatic version at $430 USD.
Thanks. Hopefully you have better luck with DH than me. I feel this one works better as a quartz, not sure if want to spend another hundred bucks on it. But yeah the crystal and bezel are really nice. If you haven't tried a sapphire bezel yet it's worth a go.
Copyright Reclinervision 2020 Productions. All rights reserved.

If it thinks, it stinks
User avatar
DoctorIvey
Senior Member & WIS
Posts: 1633
Joined: May 19th 2011, 10:00pm
Contact:

Re: Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by DoctorIvey » February 26th 2023, 7:45am

Finally is right underscore, that was a coon’s age.
How’s the loom? And the bezel action? Does it grab you in the feels?
I read your review on the DH site so bit of a spoiler but great review. I honestly cannot believe they didn’t take it back. But then, it works out perfectly so it’s almost as if they’re smart. BTW when it does come time fat new battery I like Renata. Of course, if I had your mall kiosk guy I’d just take what he’s using. I’m afraid to go near my mall kiosk guy, he looks like he’d steal my watch then break into my house.
User avatar
jason_recliner
ASSHAT
Posts: 10950
Joined: September 17th 2011, 10:00pm
Contact:

Re: Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by jason_recliner » February 26th 2023, 9:30pm

DoctorIvey wrote:
February 26th 2023, 7:45am
Finally is right underscore, that was a coon’s age.
How’s the loom? And the bezel action? Does it grab you in the feels?
I read your review on the DH site so bit of a spoiler but great review. I honestly cannot believe they didn’t take it back. But then, it works out perfectly so it’s almost as if they’re smart. BTW when it does come time fat new battery I like Renata. Of course, if I had your mall kiosk guy I’d just take what he’s using. I’m afraid to go near my mall kiosk guy, he looks like he’d steal my watch then break into my house.
Thanks for the kind words and advice! I will contact Daniel "The Rat" Mink and ask to buy one of his batteries.
Copyright Reclinervision 2020 Productions. All rights reserved.

If it thinks, it stinks
User avatar
conjurer
Owner
Posts: 35856
Joined: July 13th 2010, 10:00pm
Contact:

Re: Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by conjurer » February 26th 2023, 11:30pm

Dare I say, it's shit like this that makes this the bestest wartch forum on the internets.

Dan Henry has had his balls washed by every jagoff on the web. It's important when a valued member like Toby gets his balls broken by said Mr. Henry and lets us all know that this isn't the fine company that everybody thinks it is.
User avatar
codguy
ASSHAT
Posts: 10134
Joined: June 9th 2011, 10:00pm
Contact:

Re: Dan Henry 1975: Retro-futurist dive watch

Post by codguy » February 27th 2023, 5:53am

conjurer wrote:
February 26th 2023, 11:30pm
Dare I say, it's shit like this that makes this the bestest wartch forum on the internets.
It's important when a valued member like Toby gets his balls broken by said Mr. Henry and lets us all know that this isn't the fine company that everybody thinks it is.
But ----- the damn watch is still soulless

Conj- please tell me we still have a zero quartz rule inside the asshat lounge.
.




Image



.
Post Reply

Return to “Micro-Brands”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 37 guests