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I was with my family at the local mall the other night looking for a watch for my five-year-old daughter. Her great-grandmother had just died a couple of weeks ago and it was decided that we would buy her (and her brother) a watch and inscribe the back with something in remembrance. My seven-year-old son was looking at the quartz chronographs and saw one with everything but the kitchen sink on it. "I want that one", he said. A little later on he was looking at my watch, comparing it to those in the display cases, and asked me if any of the stores had one like it. I told him no, he wouldn't be able to find one like mine in any of the stores in the mall. It then dawned on me how little the average person sees of most Swiss-made mechanical watches. Of the six or so stores we visited, just one had mechanical watches, produced by Omega, Tag, and Rolex. Thank goodness for the internet, especially in small towns. Now, on to the story of my Epos.
Narrowing the Field
In the quest to find the perfect watch that would satisfy all the desires of your average watch nut with limited resources, it is hard to pick one watch that you (and your wife) hope will be "the" watch - never again to be bothered by the "I-wish-I-had-a-..." syndrome. I know it's a lost cause, but one can hope. My latest quest was to find a triple-date chronograph on a stainless steel bracelet which would fill the void as "the" watch. I had to stick to a modest budget and the field was narrowed down to three brands - Sinn, Omega, and Epos. All three had the Valjoux 7751 movement with day-date-month calendar indications, 24-hour hand, and chronograph function. I loved the hands on the Sinn but it couldn't be had with a stainless steel bracelet. The Omega didn't have a moonphase dial or a display back, plus it was a little over my budget. I decided to make the plunge and I ordered an Epos model 3214. All the pictures I had seen of the Epos were with a leather strap but I was told that I could get a bracelet for an extra $50.
The Watch
I was a little nervous ordering a watch sight unseen over the internet but I was hooked on this particular watch and there was little chance of seeing one in person. The company I ordered the watch from apparently had a backlog and so it took six weeks after placing the order before I received it, with Customs having it for two of the six weeks (that is another story). On opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the case, the presence of eight blued steel hands, the pebbled silver dial, and the solid overall feel of the watch. It came on a leather strap but the stainless steel bracelet which I also ordered was not in the shipment. I have since found out that Epos does not make a bracelet to fit this model. Further down in this story I will cover the bracelet I eventually found.
The movement is the automatic Valjoux 7751 that sports 25 jewels, 28,800 bph, Nivarox hairspring, Glucydur balance (I think), and 44-46 hour power reserve. The finish on the movement appears to be straight from Valjoux - no extra embellishments applied by Epos but still a nice looking movement.
The crown has three positions. The innermost position is for winding, if needed. The first position out has two functions. Counterclockwise rotation sets the date pointer (and month window) while clockwise rotation sets the moonphase dial. A pushbutton at 10 o'clock on the case side sets the day of the week window. The second position out is for setting the time. This position also stops the second hand, also referred to as a "hack" function, for precise setting of the time. The weight-driven automatic wind system winds the watch in one direction only and, as such, has practically no resistance in the non- winding direction. If the watch is flipped just right, that little weight will spin freely for fifteen seconds or more. Sometimes while sitting with my hand resting on my desk I will glance down and notice the watch oscillating back and forth on my wrist because of the spinning weight.
The case is highly polished stainless steel, 39mm in diameter, 13mm thick, and 47mm from lug tip to tip with a 19mm strap width. Incidentally, the strap is held in place with screws instead of the more universal spring bars. The lugs have a slight step on the outer edge which adds to the overall quality appearance. The front and back crystals are flat and made from sapphire.
The screw back is engraved around the edge with the following: SWISS MADE, 5 ATM-SAPHIR, 3214, ALL STAINLESS STEEL, CHRONOGRAPHE, VJ 7751. The bezel has a nice serrated pattern just around the crystal which gives the watch a somewhat vintage look. The crown is a spherical shape and has a small guard on either side. The pushers are teardrop shaped and have a crisp feel when pushed. I noticed while researching for this purchase that the case, crown and pusher shapes can be found in many lesser-known watches that use the VJ7751 movement which makes me think Epos does not manufacture any of their own components for this watch but simply buys all the parts and assembles them. Whatever the case, the watch is very nicely made.
The dial is matte silver around the date ring and in the subdials. The remainder is a silver pebble texture with slightly raised polished silver hour markers. Also, the subdials have a polished silver ring around their outer edge. The moonphase disk is dark blue like the hands and the moon and stars are gold color. Something I was pleased to see was that the moon does not have the little man-in-the-moon happy face on it.
The date pointer end is crescent-shaped and painted red. The top subdial contains the day and month apertures plus the chronograph minutes counter. The leftmost subdial contains the constant running seconds hand plus the 24-hour hand, which cannot be set independently of the main hour hand. The bottom subdial contains the moonphase aperture plus a 12-hour chronograph counter. The center hub of the watch contains the hour hand, minute hand, date pointer, and chronograph seconds hand. It is quite impressive how much can be included in a mechanical watch of moderate dimensions and price. I have a renewed appreciation for watchmakers that routinely disassemble, clean, and repair these types of watches.
I retrieved the watch from the post office on June 16th and it has been accurate to within 5 seconds per day overall and has kept to within 2 seconds per day for the past week. I am very happy with this watch and can at least hope to be free of the watch-buying bug for a long, long time. ("Yahoo!" she says quietly in the background...)
The company I ordered the watch from was SKW (www.skw.net).
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