• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Luminox Field Day XL 1924.M Atacama Any Good ? (1 Viewer)

gcole

Well-known member
United States
Help everyone. This is my first interaction with the Watch discussions, but I have been occasionally reading here. My experience has been owning inexpensive watches over the years, with keeping my purchase prices under $150. Now I am thinking of one last purchase, more expensive ... a Luminox Field Day XL 1924.M Atacama Stainless or the model with the Leather strap. Prices range from the mid $400 to around $550 US. I would appreciate any opinions concerning the watch brand Luminox and this particular model. One last note , a past co-workers husband which was retired for many years and was a third generation master watch/clock repair(owned his own business) mentioned to me ..... One can not rely on price to judge a watches quality, many look nice. Most when opened up have junk for inside mechanisms, told me if I purchase an expensive watch to have it opened up and examined by a person that actually from day to day repairs/cleans watches usually not a fancy retail jewelers suit guy. This man who had almost 50 years in this profession said counterfeiting was rampant and you would be surprised, even shocked to find how many find their way to so-called reputable dealers. Sadly he is now deceased.
 
Help everyone. This is my first interaction with the Watch discussions, but I have been occasionally reading here. My experience has been owning inexpensive watches over the years, with keeping my purchase prices under $150. Now I am thinking of one last purchase, more expensive ... a Luminox Field Day XL 1924.M Atacama Stainless or the model with the Leather strap. Prices range from the mid $400 to around $550 US. I would appreciate any opinions concerning the watch brand Luminox and this particular model. One last note , a past co-workers husband which was retired for many years and was a third generation master watch/clock repair(owned his own business) mentioned to me ..... One can not rely on price to judge a watches quality, many look nice. Most when opened up have junk for inside mechanisms, told me if I purchase an expensive watch to have it opened up and examined by a person that actually from day to day repairs/cleans watches usually not a fancy retail jewelers suit guy. This man who had almost 50 years in this profession said counterfeiting was rampant and you would be surprised, even shocked to find how many find their way to so-called reputable dealers. Sadly he is now deceased.

Luminox is an established brand and makes some good tool watches. It doesn't get a lot of love from watch enthusiasts, if that is something you care about.

I have no direct experience w/this model and it's not quite a fit to my aesthetic (white borders around day and date are distracting; wish the minutes hand were longer), so I'll comment only on some key specs. Water resist of 200 m is practical, as is sapphire crystal. Case depth is OK for a field watch at around 12 mm, but ideally I'd prefer thinner. Case diameter of 45 mm is too big for me, but that's for you to consider. Tritium is good lume for a decade or so but practical performance declines more rapidly than what its half-life would suggest; it's not my choice for long-term (i.e. decades) use. Quartz movement is practical but will get no love from watch snobs. Price (a bit under $400 on eBay) seems reasonable but is a bit on the high side for a watch w/these specs; maybe the unusual use of tritium (i.e. with few competitors, for getting attention of those who want tritium) justifies it. Biggest question for me would be the quality of the bracelet. Check on-line reviews and consider your tastes. If the bracelet is really nice, $400 is a decent price. If not, I'd say the price is $100 or so too high, but still acceptable.

Don't be concerned about fakes of this watch. It is not a luxury watch. It is not an expensive watch. It is not a fashionable watch. It is not a mechanical watch, so it doesn't need servicing (except to replace the battery). Counterfeiting a quartz watch isn't generally worth doing, and there would rarely be a point to replacing one quartz movement for another. The tritium tubes can't be faked successfully so fakes would be discovered instantly.

--AP
 
Watches have become a case study in conspicuous consumption. While the actual watch mechanics have become mass produced commodity items largely sourced from Asia, ever more extreme prices are charged by the luxury brands. As with perfumes or handbags, the cost of the components is immaterial.
Of course this also means a fake may in fact be very close to the genuine article, as it uses the same components in the movement.
Fortunately, as Alexis has noted, there is no juice in faking a $500 quartz movement watch. Faking multi thousand dollar mechanical watches is so much more lucrative.
Tritium illumination is not a happy choice imho. The modest glow fades pretty badly after perhaps a decade and the willingness of the producers to renew the luminous paint on the face is uncertain. Given the watch has a battery, it seems willful not to use it for a light as well as for time keeping.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 4 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top