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But I’ve already reviewed it…
Or maybe not? I have already reviewed this watch some time ago. This one?
In fact, apart from the name and layout on the dial, this Zelos have not much common with the ones that my wife wears (yes, I clean it from patina from time to time and she doesn’t want to wear anything else anymore).
Knowing how Mako is made in bronze and seeing new versions of this watch in steel I didn’t have to think for a long time, I will say more – when I saw a photo of this model on the bracelet, I immediately thought of “this is it!”.
And there is – Zelos Mako Ocean Teal on the bracelet.
By the way, I will mention the great services of the Polish FedEx branch, the watch from Singapore to Poland arrived in 3 days and the journey from Warsaw to Leszno took it a week (tax formalities even before landing the watch in Poland) and that was in the express variant … fear to think how much it would take delivery of the ordinary parcel;)
Zelos – microbrand which has achieved success
I think it can be said openly – Elshan Tang managed … he managed to create a solid brand of watches with his own style, well-made and hence sells very good. Currently, buying some pre-sale models, we can be sure that their value as a used watch will not fall and sometimes even increase. Elshan Tang perfectly understood today’s market and customer requirements. Zelos is currently my favorite microbrand, I am waiting impatiently for each of their next projects, but what I value the most with the company I have not mentioned yet – so what makes me like them so much?
Constant development …
The Box
What’s in it and what’s not …
The wooden box is more solidly made than the one in which Mako in bronze came , in the middle there is a traveling case for 4 watches and in the case:
– Metal warranty card (the card is made of bronze, I don’t t know why I thought that if you buy a steel watch it will come with a steel card – but that’s a detail, it really don’t care what it’s made of.)
– leather belt – is much better than before, there is also the producer’s logo (Horween Leather) on it and for sure thats the source of the difference.
– Watch on a rubber strap – this time without a plastic protective cover
– bracelet – the bracelet is purchased separately, it is not a standard element of the set
Last time, with the set was also a tool for changing the straps, this time it is not there, it’s a pity that in this place there was not added a screwdriver to shorten the bracelet – it would be a nice addition to this set, and very useful. I have the equipment to shorten it myself, but someone else would have to go to watchmaker with the watch.
The Case
The dimensions of the case have not changed – they are still 40mm wide, 46mm lug to lug and 15mm high. What has changed is the size of the crown and the shape of the crown cover. Zelos took to heart comments of customers to a too small crown (I wrote about it also in Mako bronze review) and redesigned the case a bit. The crown is bigger by 1 mm – this is not much, but this small difference results in a significant improvement in the operation of this part. In short, it’s very good – the crown unscrews easily, works nicely and does not have the effect that I feel when screwing the crown in Mako v1 (feeling like under the crown was a rubber that resists and draws back a little crown after releasing it).
The case is almost completely brushed, which I personally like, I always wanted to have a whole brushed watch (I still regret that I didn’t ask Tourby to fully brush the case and bracelets – I had such a service there as standard), here the only transitions are polished . The curs are nice and regular – I already know that the beautiful appearance of the case in Mako Bronze was not only the merit of the material from which it was made but also the quality of the cuts.
For some reason, the height of the watch, which at other parameters should work against it, in this case, however, gives it a charm.
Looking from the front, not too much of this case can be seen, because only very short lugs protrude from it, but from the side perspective, this watch works like a magnet on me. I could stare at it for days . There is something with the connection of the bezel with this case which I really like in this watch, although I honestly admit that in bronze this effect is even better.
The crown at 4 is filled with luminescent mass – its shape and cuts fit perfectly into the bezel and the entire case. The watch has a water resistance of 500m, so it is slowly becoming a standard for divers, especially in the world of microbrands.
Movement
The movement of the watch is Sellita SW200, a proven Swiss mechanism with the possibility of hand winding from the crown, stop second and a 38-hour power reserve. The watch is doing + 5 seconds a day.
The Dial
The anthracite dial has a wavy, curling pattern. Watching the pictures of the watch I thought that the pattern is static, to be honest I never looked at them carefully to – just a wavy pattern … nothing more wrong, the pattern on the dial, depending on the angle of light, smoothes and highlights, once it looks like wires imposed on a white background and once as a flat surface in anthracite. You need to rotate it a bit while looking at it to realize that the pattern on the entire dial is identical and the dial is nowhere flat! Amazing … dial associates me with optical illusions that can be seen on the internet, you know… these images where you don’t know if the square is smaller or bigger than the other and at the end it turns out that how to measure them with a ruler – they are the same, well … in a similar way the brain goes crazy when we look at this dial.
The indices are steel round frames filled with luma, they are quite high and nicely finished, at 12, 3, and 9 hours there is an additional index in the shape of a shark tooth, at 6 o’clock is a date window – white numbers on a black background. The hands are simple and nicely polished, reflect the light in the same way as indices. The whole taste of the watch is accented by teal color, ie. the inscription on the dial defining the water resistance, the second hand and the inner ring with the seconds markings. I wouldn’t like the whole dial in this color, but these little touches work well with the rest. A portion of teal color is perfect in this watch – not too much, not too little.
The teal color of the minute ring ideally suits the blue antireflex that has a doomed sapphire glass. I can’t describe it – just when the light falls at such an angle that you can see the color of the antireflex with the ring happening something very interesting, changes color a little, white marking on it disappear and it becomes as if highlighted.
Of course, the watch luma shines very well and for a long time both on the dial and on the bezel.
Bezel
The bezel is steel, with a matt ceramic insert in black. Matt bezels I like a lot more than shiny (how many times in reviews I’ve said that I don’t like shiny watches …) I also have a problem with colored ceramic inserts – very often their shades seem artificial. Here everything is ok, but the most bezel I like from the profile where you can see the perfect incisions and where it has something …
The case back
The screwed case back is identical to the first version – steel with an embossed motif of the mako shark and engraved informations about the watch. No fireworks.
Bracelet
The bracelet itself is ok. It has cool short links, It’s polished in the same way as the case, ie. the front and sides are brushed and the transitions are polished.
It fits very tightly between the lugs, I had a small problem with putting it on, but thanks to it it adapts perfectly to the case – there are no, even the smallest clearances. With 20mm between the lugs it tapers to 18mm on clasp. The screws that connect the links are very small and it’s a real art to screw them out, even with a suitable screwdriver. Despite this, I generally like the bracelet.
The problem is the clasp … First of all it’s too big – it does not fit the proportion to the watch, in addition it largely shortens the bracelet itself and completely spoils the effect of tapering. The clasp, seen from below, occupies almost all of my wrist.
The second thing is that although it has micro-regulation, in practice it can not be used. After switching to the central or internal holes, the link entering the bracelet is blocked by a plaque inside the clasp and tilts inwards – it’s impossible to fasten the clasp, and even if it was possible the link would stuck in the wrist. The clasp is just designed bad. The clasp can be extended by more than a centimeter by pushing two buttons on the sides – if not for this option, I could not wear the watch on the bracelet at all, I just walk with a slightly extended clasp. I did manage it, but it doesn’t look nice, I would much prefer a clasp that would have a working micro-adjustment even without the extending option. It’s a pity … I already thought that this time I will not have anything to complain about 🙂
The watch on this bracelet looks great, I really like the combination of colors that creates a whole in this way and how it looks on the hands, if not the clasp which spoils the whole appearance of the inside of the wrist, I’d be delighted
Summary
No, my wife didn’t take my watch from me … she claims that this one is too masculine for her … phew.
It’s a great watch. Very well, that Zelos gave the opportunity to buy the bracelets because i don’t like this Mako on rubber strap so much like on bracelet. This bracelet also fits the earlier versions of this watch, i.e. if someone has mako v1 and would like to put it on bransa – it can safely buy it. It’s also extremely pleasing that they corrected the problems of the earlier version, i.e. poor quality leather strap and too small crown – this is evidence of the development I wrote about at the beginning.
Zelos has reduced the prices of watches that they have after the presale and now they are finally well balanced, $ 549 for the watch itself + $ 89 for the bracelet is in this case the fair price that should have Mako. $ 399 for a pre-sale watch its too cheap for what you get for that price, of course it’s better for us because we can enjoy great quality for disproportionately small money: D
Regarding the bracelet, looking at how much attention Zelos draws on the opinion of customers I am convinced that sooner or later it will be improved – I hope sooner.
Mako in this color is already sold out, but if someone likes this watch visually, when the second hand appears – I recommend it.
Meanwhile, I am waiting for some bronze versions to appear for me, because I still can’t get it off my head.
Konrad