Alpina is a Swiss brand with many attractive designs in affordable price range. Especially Seastrong series divers and Startimer series pilot watches are well received by watch community.
Technical Specifications:
- AL-372 quartz movement
- 48 Months battery life
- 1/10th Chronograph with bigdate
- Stainless steel case
- Sapphire crystal with AR coating
- Matte navy blue dial
- 10ATM/100m/330ft water resistance
- 44m case
- 22mm lugs
This is a very handsome attractive watch and a real looker on your wrist. Watch has a 44mm case with a mostly brushed finish, bringing the focus on the beautiful dial. Classic diamond shaped crown and the aggressive pusher design contribute the beauty of the watch. You will love it. Alpina made right decision and omitted the “3” and “9” on the dial. It look ugly when the subdials cut the numbers on the dial. “7” and “5” are cut but more than %90 of them visible so it not sore to the eye like a more than half cut “9” or “3”.
The model I have has a matte blue dial. It is a very deep blue so it looks actually black most of the time. At 44mm it is large watch an it looks large on your wrist. However overall design is proportioned and it does not look out of place. All white hands and printed white marks on the dial and sub dials match in harmony. Alpnia comes with sapphire which has a blue AR coating as you may notice from the photos. AR coating is excellent and very clear, it feels like you can touch the dial. One downside of any Alpina, lume is almost non-existent. Lume issue applies for the Seastrong diver series too. I do not get the logic while 200$ Seiko can have excellent lume.
There are very little polished surfaces on the watch. Brushed case gives a great tool watch look to Alpina. Chrono pushers have a nice feel to operate and look excellent. Crown is screw-down and it feels safe & sturdy. It won’t likely to catch on something and fly away. Big date looks a bit different than conventional date design and it takes some time to get used to. Window on the right has a more recessed wheel in it so it looks a little bad. However there is no other way to mechanically make it work. I also do not like how it cuts the subdial.
Screw in caseback is deeply engraved with nice Alpina logo and other stuff. A little crowded but it looks cool. Caseback does not dig into your wrist and it sits comfortable overall. Watch has 100m water resistance so you can safely park your plane on the ocean and go diving anytime you want đŸ™‚
Watch comes with a beige thick suede leather strap. Strap is good quality and matches the watch very well both in terms of color and thickness. Strap does not have rivets like most of the pilot watches. I think rivets would look too much anyway. If you really like riveted straps you can check Stova, their strap is excellent and very affordable. Buckle is signed with Alpina logo and has nice brushed finish as the watch case.
Conclusion:
If you like pilot watches and chronographs, I would suggest you to give Apina a try. Big date requires some time to get used to but other than that this is a very well designed very handsome watch. It looks much more expensive than it is on your wrist and acceptable on every occasion.
