Zelos Eagle E-1D "Afterburner"
Quite a tall 'chunky' aspect to this watch case
When I first saw this watch it had an instant appeal until I saw the price that is! At a pre-order price of $460, which is a great saving over the full retail price of $760 it was way above the price I’d normally pay for a micro-brand watch, even when that brand is Zelos which has a great reputation.
The watch itself is going to polarise views as well given its unique design, which will certainly not appeal too many. For me though, it looked great, a different pilot(ish) style watch with some dive watch attributes so giving me everything I’d want from a watch, plus an unusual design, high specification, easy to read at a glance and water resistant, so the only thing that was a negative to me was the price. Don’t get me wrong, the price for anything is what people are willing to pay and certainly this watch has sold out – so whether it was at the $460 or the $760, it was obviously the right price for many.
Now looking at the watch the first and most obvious thing is its case finish in black, normally black cased watches are finished with a technique known as Physical vapour deposition (PVD) and I’ve always found this to give a rather plastic looking result and it has a bit of a reputation for not lasting that well unless you ‘baby’ the watch. However, here the finish is in Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) and this as the name would suggest is far harder than basic PVD (although this is probably still PVD applied?) and is used in many industries such as; automotive, aerospace & weapons manufacturing to name a few where hard wearing elements are DLC coated to enhance their lifespan.
The watch itself is going to polarise views as well given its unique design, which will certainly not appeal too many. For me though, it looked great, a different pilot(ish) style watch with some dive watch attributes so giving me everything I’d want from a watch, plus an unusual design, high specification, easy to read at a glance and water resistant, so the only thing that was a negative to me was the price. Don’t get me wrong, the price for anything is what people are willing to pay and certainly this watch has sold out – so whether it was at the $460 or the $760, it was obviously the right price for many.
Now looking at the watch the first and most obvious thing is its case finish in black, normally black cased watches are finished with a technique known as Physical vapour deposition (PVD) and I’ve always found this to give a rather plastic looking result and it has a bit of a reputation for not lasting that well unless you ‘baby’ the watch. However, here the finish is in Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) and this as the name would suggest is far harder than basic PVD (although this is probably still PVD applied?) and is used in many industries such as; automotive, aerospace & weapons manufacturing to name a few where hard wearing elements are DLC coated to enhance their lifespan.
The 'turbine' plate, under the display case back hiding the Miyota 9015
So what else can be found on this watch to justify the price? Well at the front there is a beautiful double domed Sapphire crystal which is 4mm thick and anti-reflective (AR) coated, this covers the sandwich dial and steeply angled chapter ring. The main watch body is machined with differing levels & grooves to give an engine like appearance; this main part of the watch body is ensconced within a skeletonised outer case allowing the machining to clearly be seen. The outer case lugs are steeply swept down with an angular aggressive look, again making the watch look machine like and purposeful. The crown is screw-down to help achieve the 200 metres of water resistance and also has a turbine machined appearance.
At the back of the watch although it has an exhibition case back, behind the glass is a metal ‘turbine’ plate to further promote the appearance of a jet engine. Now here I think Zelos missed a trick with the ‘turbine’ plate! As this is the highly regarded Miyota 9015 high beat movement (manufacturer’s claimed accuracy of -10 to +30 seconds a day, unlike most base movement which are -20 to +40) it will have unidirectional (anti-clockwise as you look at the case back) winding and will spin like a dervish when rotating in the opposite direction so they could have done like the AVI-8’s most recent release (Ace of Spades) and made the rotor to mimic the form of a turbine blade, which looks great spinning, shame the other side of the watch is dreadful – interesting, but dreadful, so check out that one on YouTube as it isn’t one I’ll be adding to my collection. Perhaps better still if there is a V2, then the rotor underneath the turbine plate could have had a boldly coloured radial band, say bright red then it would have looked great spinning with the flashes of red between the turbine cut-outs – all of which is of course quite academic as nobody sees the back of the watch when being worn, but it would add interest for the buyer.
Any downsides to the above description, well for me only one I can think of – that highly machined inner and skeletonised outer case has already trapped dust in the first few days of use, so just as well it has a reasonable level of water resistance as I can see this needing the occasional ‘wash’.
Dimensions wise it is quite a chunky beast at nearly 42mm in diameter (excluding the crown) and rather tall at 17mm (the website claims 16mm but with my calliper’s I get 17.2) but that is to the top of that wonderful domed sapphire and a shade over 52mm from the tips of the lugs (22mm strap width) so this is going to be noticed on your wrist, but in a good & not a ‘bling’ way!
At the back of the watch although it has an exhibition case back, behind the glass is a metal ‘turbine’ plate to further promote the appearance of a jet engine. Now here I think Zelos missed a trick with the ‘turbine’ plate! As this is the highly regarded Miyota 9015 high beat movement (manufacturer’s claimed accuracy of -10 to +30 seconds a day, unlike most base movement which are -20 to +40) it will have unidirectional (anti-clockwise as you look at the case back) winding and will spin like a dervish when rotating in the opposite direction so they could have done like the AVI-8’s most recent release (Ace of Spades) and made the rotor to mimic the form of a turbine blade, which looks great spinning, shame the other side of the watch is dreadful – interesting, but dreadful, so check out that one on YouTube as it isn’t one I’ll be adding to my collection. Perhaps better still if there is a V2, then the rotor underneath the turbine plate could have had a boldly coloured radial band, say bright red then it would have looked great spinning with the flashes of red between the turbine cut-outs – all of which is of course quite academic as nobody sees the back of the watch when being worn, but it would add interest for the buyer.
Any downsides to the above description, well for me only one I can think of – that highly machined inner and skeletonised outer case has already trapped dust in the first few days of use, so just as well it has a reasonable level of water resistance as I can see this needing the occasional ‘wash’.
Dimensions wise it is quite a chunky beast at nearly 42mm in diameter (excluding the crown) and rather tall at 17mm (the website claims 16mm but with my calliper’s I get 17.2) but that is to the top of that wonderful domed sapphire and a shade over 52mm from the tips of the lugs (22mm strap width) so this is going to be noticed on your wrist, but in a good & not a ‘bling’ way!
Never tire of looking through the domed sapphire at the multi-layered dial
Unlike many pilot watches, with traditionally a large dial face and small bezel, for instance the Laco Augsburg & Aachen I looked at earlier where of their 42mm diameter nearly 38mm is dial, only just over 33mm of the E-1D is taken up with dial, so from the top it actually looks small, this is further enhanced by the black case and steeply down swept lugs – but it does fill my 7¼ inch (18.5cm) wrist!
The hands and hour markers on this ‘Afterburner’ edition are orange (other editions had white) and this pigment perhaps reduces the efficiency of the lume and it is nowhere near as bright as say my Zelos Swordfish, which I’d rate as brilliant, it is just OK, it is very dull (especially so for the hand set, appearing less bright than the hour indices) and is the worst of all my lumed watches. But all that said, it does dimly glow long into the night but becomes quite difficult to see after 6 hours and unfortunately the hands are the first to give up completely. But it was this orange hand set and hour markers that was also very appealing, indeed I feel it actually makes the hand easier to read that the white, quite often dive watches have orange hour hands as this has been shown to be more legible in poor lighting conditions.
So with that entire preamble how did I end up with this watch? Well Zelos, had a sale of seconds and these were greatly reduced, so perhaps to good an opportunity to miss, maybe the only chance I’d get to own this watch at a more affordable (to me) price! But why is it a second – well it’s a cosmetic issue and I’ll not mention what exactly that issue is, so see if you can tell from the pictures in the gallery certainly I’m more than happy with my new purchase and look forward to wearing this for many years to come. This watch is beautifully made and finished and I’m really pleased with my purchase as I never thought I'd end up with one of these rare beasts in my collection.
On the wrist it is very comfortable and wears nicely given its quite chunky 42x52x17mm (dia x lug to lug x case thickness) from the top it look quite small in form, but from the side the height is emphasised by the domed sapphire. Now as a ‘second’ it didn’t come with the OEM strap and the very stylish buckle, so I’ve fitted what I had to hand, a nice black leather with orange stitching (to match the hands and hour markers). I will be trying a few others over the coming weeks, but given my comment about its potential ability to collect dust and grime in the sculpted & skeletonised case, it might end up on a dive strap, especially as I do have the Zelos one that came with my Sworcfish.
In conclusion, to me this is certainly a very different style of watch, but has the best attributes of a diver, field & pilot which is great for me and although I have quite a few dive watches, I never really use the bezels (or indeed use them in the water) and the thing that I always wanted improving on my pilot watches was a bit more water resistance – again not for diving, but I like to keep my watch on when doing activities and I use a motorcycle and won’t have to worry about this watch potentially getting a soaking.
More pictures can be found in my Watch Gallery page - for the Eagle, these are the results from a quick test as the thick domed crystal and black case will need some further work to try and show more of the wonderful design...
The hands and hour markers on this ‘Afterburner’ edition are orange (other editions had white) and this pigment perhaps reduces the efficiency of the lume and it is nowhere near as bright as say my Zelos Swordfish, which I’d rate as brilliant, it is just OK, it is very dull (especially so for the hand set, appearing less bright than the hour indices) and is the worst of all my lumed watches. But all that said, it does dimly glow long into the night but becomes quite difficult to see after 6 hours and unfortunately the hands are the first to give up completely. But it was this orange hand set and hour markers that was also very appealing, indeed I feel it actually makes the hand easier to read that the white, quite often dive watches have orange hour hands as this has been shown to be more legible in poor lighting conditions.
So with that entire preamble how did I end up with this watch? Well Zelos, had a sale of seconds and these were greatly reduced, so perhaps to good an opportunity to miss, maybe the only chance I’d get to own this watch at a more affordable (to me) price! But why is it a second – well it’s a cosmetic issue and I’ll not mention what exactly that issue is, so see if you can tell from the pictures in the gallery certainly I’m more than happy with my new purchase and look forward to wearing this for many years to come. This watch is beautifully made and finished and I’m really pleased with my purchase as I never thought I'd end up with one of these rare beasts in my collection.
On the wrist it is very comfortable and wears nicely given its quite chunky 42x52x17mm (dia x lug to lug x case thickness) from the top it look quite small in form, but from the side the height is emphasised by the domed sapphire. Now as a ‘second’ it didn’t come with the OEM strap and the very stylish buckle, so I’ve fitted what I had to hand, a nice black leather with orange stitching (to match the hands and hour markers). I will be trying a few others over the coming weeks, but given my comment about its potential ability to collect dust and grime in the sculpted & skeletonised case, it might end up on a dive strap, especially as I do have the Zelos one that came with my Sworcfish.
In conclusion, to me this is certainly a very different style of watch, but has the best attributes of a diver, field & pilot which is great for me and although I have quite a few dive watches, I never really use the bezels (or indeed use them in the water) and the thing that I always wanted improving on my pilot watches was a bit more water resistance – again not for diving, but I like to keep my watch on when doing activities and I use a motorcycle and won’t have to worry about this watch potentially getting a soaking.
More pictures can be found in my Watch Gallery page - for the Eagle, these are the results from a quick test as the thick domed crystal and black case will need some further work to try and show more of the wonderful design...
