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neoaeon
17
Oct 13, 2016
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Got mine today. Fantastic! Pretty large, very tall. 7" wrist. On a 23mm NATO.
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Edit: the first 48hrs with the VSA AIRBOSS mach 7 ---
Heft: Never having owned a "large" watch, it's size and weight were a surprise. It's noticeably heavy, and quite pronounced on the wrist. Not a con or anything. A few millimeters difference between bog standard 38-42mm and this 45 doesn't sound like a lot, but it's quite noticeable in reality.
Accuracy: +5s/d on the wrist
Alignment: I noticed a problem with minute alignment at first, this appears to be a problem with minute alignment when setting. If you roll forward to the time when setting the watch there appears to be some slack in the movement that takes around 30 seconds to pick up. I.e. The minute hand doesn't move at all for ~30 seconds after setting. Leaving the minute hand behind by roughly half at the top of the minute.
Thankfully there is an easy fix, simply roll back to the time you want and there is no slack to pick up. Go past the time by a minute or two, then roll back to the desired time and alignment. The minute hand will begin moving immediately when time keeping leaving no misalignment.
Sweep: The Valgranges A07.111 exhibits the same stuttering second hand sweep issue as the Valjoux calibre 7750 it's based on. It's minute, and only the most OCD of us will notice it. Once noticed though, you can't unsee it.
Internal bezel: The internal bezel has nearly no resistance, it's very easy to move. There are no clicks or stops. While this makes it easy to adjust, it also moves quite a bit throughout the day. It doesn't move on its own, no amount of movement or flinging of hands causes it to move. But simply putting on a jacket will typically cause it to move when the fabric of the sleeve runs along the bezel crown. If you're OCD you'll spend some time realigning it daily. Day 1 I fidgeted and fixed it when noticed. Day 2 I left it alone, full day of wear and sleeping with it, the alignment in the morning was 7 ticks off.
Date: Alignment and position thus far seems spot on. It appears to roll over around 2300-0100.
Dial: Hands and applied markers have the same brushed steel look as the case, but brighter. On the wrist these brushed elements play with the light quite a bit in a pleasing way. It's quite nice.
Lume is rather interesting. The hour arabics are subdued somehow compared to the marks and hands, being roughly half as bright. But they don't fade any earlier. 8hrs of darkness and all aspects are still legible with night adjusted vision while maintaining the subdued look of the arabics.
Overall the dial fit and finish is exquisite and very legible. It's a great EDC field watch.
--- Update: 3 months wrist time ---
Durability: No scratches on either crystal. One very small nearly unnoticeable scratch on the bezel from banging a wall. No other perceptible blemishes. It's tough.
Accuracy: Still +5s/d, though I don't wear it to bed anymore.
Heft: I'm a large man (6'5", 270lbs) with an average 7.25" wrist, I've had no problems tucking it under a shirt or jacket cuff. It doesn't get in the way, or bang walls any more or less prominently than other watches. After you get used to it, your other watches will feel noticeably small and light.
Lume:
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It's hard to tell due to the intense UV light blasting the white balance of the camera, but the applied arabics glow a distinct blue under UV light in contrast to the bright green indicators marks. This is comparable to the daylight observation that the applied arabic lume is a bright white and the indicator marks a light green.
In daily use the lume picks up enough light in a dim office environment to provide legible quick time reference in a dark car at night.
Legibility: I've not yet found a situation where the face isn't legible. This is due to the awesome anti-reflective crystal and the great contrast between the bright lume, brilliant applied arabics, and intense white printed indicator marks vs the matte black dial and bezel.
This is contrary to other watches (notably dress watches) where low light, reflections, and high contrast situations can render the dial indiscernible.
Overall, I've nothing to quibble about this watch. It's a truly fantastic field watch worthy of any collection.
Oct 13, 2016
WChris
2
May 18, 2017
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neoaeonIt's listed as an automatic. Does it also allow for hand winding?
May 18, 2017
neoaeon
17
May 18, 2017
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WChrisYes. In the default crown setting (all the way in) rolling the crown clockwise (forward) winds the watch. If it's been sitting and stopped, wind it about 30 times to get it going, then wear it. No need to "shake" it.
May 18, 2017
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