Manufacturer:- www.timefactors.com
Purchase Price :- $351 / £195 http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Size:- The bezel is 39mm ø, 47mm lug to lug and 11.45mm thick to the top of the crystal.
Lug spacing is 20 mm.
Weight :- Not Known
Movement:- ETA2824-2 with quickset date and hacking seconds
Case Material:- 316L Stainless Steel
Supplied Strap:- Heavy duty ballistic nylon Black Rhino with PVD stainless steel bars
Lens Material:- Flat Sapphire Crystal with anti reflective coating on the underside
Dial Markings :- Luminova
Depth Rating:- 300m
Anti Magnetic :- Not Known

I am a big fan of www.timefactors.com the owner Eddie really gives some great deals on many fine watches. He is also developing his own line of watches and this is the second of these that I have bought. The first one was the Dreadnought and you can read all about that here.

I have not bought a watch for a while and this looked like a good buy when you consider what you get for your money. As well as a striking looking watch you get all of the features that a far more expensive military issue watch would give.

These are things like the 300m depth rating and the well proven ETA 2824-2 automatic movement.

Top this off with a scratch proof flat sapphire crystal and the black PVD coating on the stainless steel case. Excellent start.

The watch was supplied in an tiny aluminium flight case similar to the type you normally carry expensive electronics in. All be it a lot smaller :-) There was also the warrantee card cleaning cloth, operating instructions and a small LED keychain torch. How did he know I also collect torches? Must be magic :-)

It all came Royal Mail special delivery and was with me the day after it was sent.

The watch came fitted with a black Rhino strap. These are made from ballistic nylon with black PVD coated stainless steel fittings.

I also ordered and additional strap for the watch and that it the one that you will see fitted for the majority of the photos on this page. This is a rubber Zuccolo Rochet "Formula Racing" Oyster on a deployment clasp. Most of my other watches are on deployment straps or bracelets so I thought this would work better for me on this watch.

I did try the Rhino strap but found that the watch sits quite high up on your wrist. I don't mind this but it does mean that it stops you shirt sleeve from fitting over it with ease.

I would like a black PVD metal strap for this and I do believe that you can them. I will have to look round.

As you can see the dial is simple and made up of markers with numerals at the 6 and 9 positions. The 12 marker is a large triangle and makes reading the dial in dark conditions a simple matter.

The outer bezel is marked in 10 minute intervals. In has a unidirectional ratchet mechanism. It turns with a nice positive click and it's not difficult to turn like the one on the Seiko black monster.

The Triangular marker on the bezel is marked with an luminous dot so you can still see the set time in the dark.

The hands are almost identical to the type that are fitted on my Dreadnought. I really like their design, with the large minute hand that protrudes into the scale markings on the edge of the dial. This makes it easy to read the exact time even with the dial tilted slightly.

The seconds hand contains a small rectangle near the tip which also has Luminova markings so you can also see it in the dark. The rest of the seconds hand is black so you get the floating round the dial look. I quite like the bright red pointers that my Seamaster uses but they would ruin the stealthy look of this watch.

The internal movement is an ETA 2824-2 mechanical self winding affair. It has a quick set date and hacking seconds.

This means that the second hand will stop when the crown is unscrewed and pulled out to the set position making it easy to synchronise the watch with a reference clock.

The date can be set in the second crown position, and the first position allows the watch to be manually wound. This is recommended if the watch has stopped because it has not been worn for a while. Once the watch has been fully wound it should never stop if worn every day by an reasonably active person. The power reserve is around 38 hours. I always think the rotor sounds a bit rough on these 2824 movements compared with the 7750 but it works fine and I think it's just me!

My first impressions on the accuracy of the movement are very encouraging. The watch seems to gain about 8 seconds a day. Far less than my very fast Seiko black monster. I need to wear it for a bit to truly judge the average weekly accuracy. It's plenty good enough for me as I normally change watches after a week or so anyway.

The case of the watch is proportioned extremely well and does not feel bulky or cumbersome. The lug spacing is 20mm and the watch is fitted with springbars so your choice of straps is huge.

The crown is recessed fully into the protruding case protection. It is a screw down crown and seals on to the watch case giving the water tight seal. The crown is knurled which allows a good grip even with the crown protection in place.

The back of the watch is marked PRS11 and 30Bars along with the Broadarrow Logo and name.

No serial number on these as they are not a limited production run like some of Timefactors other watches.

The dial markers and hands are coated with Luminova for night time illumination. This charges in normal daylight or by holding a strong light source over the dial for about a minute. As you will see in the pictures the hands glow with a slightly brighter illumination than the rest of the dial. But the overall illumination is excellent.

I really like the style of this watch. It a lot more understated than most of my other watches. It's not so expensive that I have to be ultra careful when and where I wear it. It should last me quite a few years.

I am looking forward to Eddies other watches, the vintage Seamaster 300 homage looks very interesting as does the CAF and various other things. I think this really has sparked my interest back into watches.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures? I am trying to slowly improve my watch pics. The flat glass causes all sorts of refection issues. This is the second lot of photos I took. The first lot were marred my a lot of reflections in the crystal. I found careful use of a black clothing placed in strategic places all round the watch helped a lot. I keep learning a little more on each new subject. At least the digital format does not cost you anything for your mistakes! All of these pics have been downsized for the web. The detail in the full resolution images has to be seen to be believed. The only downside is the amount of dust that starts to become visible.

I think I am getting hooked on the military and divers style watches. I would highly recommend this one to anyone who wants a fantastic looking great specification at a very reasonable cost and great service from one of the most genuine people I have encountered in the UK watch retailers.

OK, now hopefully your interested where can you get one?

UK Dealer

www.timefactors.com

Please also note that there is also an excellent UK watch forum here where you can communicate with Eddie and similar like minded people about all things watch related, (Plus a few that are not. Not that I mind semi naked pictures of Kylie)