The watch is an obvious homage to the Omega Speedmaster. I even have to laugh at the name, Alpha. Perfect.
But the watch is no joke. Inside is a seagull, hand wound, column wheel chronograph. It's a sight to behold, especially if you don't have north of $6000.00 to spend on a "sapphire sandwich".
Shipping to the US was reasonable, taking just under three weeks.
I did have to attach the bracelet on one side of the watch. This might have been intentional to allow the watch to lie flat in the pouch, but I would have preferred not to deal with having to connect the bracelet to the watch. It was a bit of a pain, even with the watch repair kit I have.
The bracelet uses push pins, so sizing was pretty straight forward and easy to resize. The bracelet, has no arrows on it to tell you which direction the pins go in and out. So you'll have to find that on your own, or take it to your nearest jeweler/watch repair shop to resize the bracelet, as there are no micro adjust holes.
I love the fact that it is a true mechanical chronograph, like the Speedmaster, and the Running seconds and elapsed minutes subdials are in the same location as the Speedy. The 24 hour register at 6 oclock, is a bit disappointing but an understandable compromise given the limitations of the movement inside. I prefer that the register be used to illustrate military time, instead of simply being a mirror of the hour hand like some other homage watches. It makes the six o'clock register actually useful.
Fit and finish are as expected for a watch at this price point, and although actual Sapphire would have been nice, Mineral Crystal is sufficient.
My only real concern is the crown. The watch uses a screw down crown which you have to unscrew to wind the watch. Once unscrewed in the "winding" position the crown extends pretty far out from the case and even further when setting the watch. The crown stem looks really thin.
It feels like you have to be REALLY careful when setting and winding this watch as it looks as if it would be easy to shear the stem. And remember, this is a manual wind watch, no automatic rotor, so you are going to be winding this watch, A LOT, as in once a day.
Also, having to unscrew the crown to wind the watch seems to only increase the chance of cross threading the crown.
At 50m rated WR (which I do question) the need for the screw down crown seems to be more aesthetic than useful. My Seiko 5 GMT achieves 100M WR without a screw down crown.
But these are minor criticisms. For the price, the watch is magnificent and if you pine for a Speedmaster but can't afford one, this is going to give you the closest feel to having one. Not only on wrist, but also in day to day operation.
Good job Alpha.
