Invicta's overlooked dive watch

Purchasing the #8932 Invicta dive watch for a family member Christmas present - I've come away very much impressed. The 8932 apparently shares the case crystal mineral glass watchface screwdown crown and elegent lightweight stainless steel bracelet with it's more expensive automatic movement 8926 sibling. Matter of factly - it is hard to tell the difference between this watch and Invicta's $300+ 9937 Swiss ETA powered automatic diver without close inspection.



It is my humble opinion that Invicta is the leader of the affordable price dive watch market - including such giants as Seiko and Citizen - OK maybe even Casio. Invicta does not have the brand name awareness of the public and large commercial outlets to display their wonderful dive watches. Once you've purchased an Invicta Pro-Diver series watch - you will be a fan. The fit finish overall quality and design make this watch a model you should consider as a price range leader.



Case: The 316L brushed stainless steel case at 40mm (43mm with crown) once considered a large watch - is now an "average" size for dive watches. The stainless steel watchback might be annoying for those with nickel metal skin allergies - the mineral glass display or "exhibition" watch backs of the 8926 and 9937 being preferred by many divers. Mineral glass is not as scratch resistant as sapphire crystal as found in the 9937 - which can only be imprinted by diamond - but is "good enough" for average wear and certainly keeps the watch very affordable. A date "cyclops" or window is found at the 3 o'clock position. The watch is rated and tested to 200m (660 ft) - that which qualifies it as a "Professional Diver".



Bezel: The black bezel is a very scratch resistant uni-directional (120 clicks to the hour) scalloped edge (like the Omega Seamaster) diving tool. A "coin edge" (like the Rolex Submariner) bezel is preferred by many divers - being less slippery to manipulate when wet.



Bracelet: Invicta's ss bracelet - with polished center links - is an industry standard - best compared to a Rolex Oyster bracelet for the Submariner series. It utilizes a foldover deployment clasp without a wetsuit deployment clasp as found on more expensive dive watch bracelets. Held together by pins - it is important to throughly rinse the bracelet after immersion in salt water.



Movement: The 8932 uses a quartz "asian" sourced movement. These will normally keep time +/- 15 second per week and are actually much more accurate than the more expensive Invicta 8926 Citizen/Miyota 8215 - 21 jewel automatic movements that can be a minute or more off each week. The 9937 uses a Swiss ETA 2824-2 25 jewel automatic movement reflected in it's $300+ price tag...Watch battery life varies as per movement source and battery quality. Most batteries should last 3-5 years according to Invicta users I know.



Conclusion: I am a big fan of Invicta dive watches. For the money Invicta Pro-Diver series watches are an industry leader. Sourced among many different asian assemblers - the fit finish and quality may vary somewhat from batch to batch - but the overall reputation among watch collectors of the Invicta Pro-Diver series is very high!



Why not 5 stars? My personal preferences are automatic movement watches - not quartz. The stainless steel back can irritate the skin of allergic individuals. Mineral glass crystal - used to hold the price - is prone to scuffing and minor scratching. Sapphire is too expensive for this category of watch. As a diver - I prefer a "sawtooth" or "coin" edged bezel to the scalloped bezel currently offered by Invicta. The bracelet offers no wetsuit deployment clasp - a feature absent in all Invicta divers thru the 9937 series. Some or none of these should prevent you from considering this watch or it's 8926 fraternal twin as your next dive watch.



Amazon and it's sellers do a good job to deliver the Invicta goods. All models come with a one year warranty - Invicta offering a 5 year warranty extension for a modest fee. I am the owner of 7 Invicta dive and chronometer watches. You can learn more about Invicta and other affordable watches sold by Amazon at InvictaTalk.com.More detail ...

Nice watch but it has an entirely inadequate product manual

This is my second Invicta watch and I think this one looks and feels very impressive. The bracelet has a very nice heft to it and the watch face is a beautiful dark blue color which is offset by the smooth stainless bezel. I think it looks and feels as if it should cost 2 to 3 times as much as I paid for it.



Now for the wretched manual. Invicta in an apparent cost-cutting move has decided to have a one-size-fits-all product manual. So everything from simple time-only watches to time and date to time and day and date to chronograph to moon-phase etc. watches all get the same manual. I suppose this might be forgiveable if the instructions were well-outlineddetailed and comprehensive. Regrettably this is not the case.



So how hard can it be to use a watch you ask? Well here's the thing... The 2876 has the main dial and three tiny dials on the lower part of the face. The time of day is obviously set by pulling on the crown and turning the hands - like normal. The top button on the right side depresses to advance the day of the month by one and the bottom button advances the 24 hour hand in the center position (there is no additional functionality beyond simple setting for either the top or bottom buttons). So how do you set the third dial on the left? The manual shows some watches in which the crown pulls out two "stops" - but that isn't the case with this one. The manual shows that the third tiny watch dial is often controlled by a third button on the left side of the watch. No such button on this watch.



I went to the Invicta watch site to try to find a specific manual for this watch. No such manual exists (nor do any manuals appear on the site from what I could tell). No e-mail address for customer support either (though there is an 800 number).



By sheer chance I advanced the watch using the center crown by twenty-four hours and it clicked to the next day of the week on the third crown. Nowhere in the manual was this mentioned at all. I suppose it might be common sense but I would think that the 24 hour dial might be a better candidate to coordiniate with the main clock hands than the day of the week (freeing up the bottom button to advance day of the week instead).



Now that I've figured out how to set it I'm quite happy with the watch. If they had included adequate instructions I would gladly have given it 5 of 5 for a watch in its price range.More detail ...