Today I want to point you two watch offerings from Momentum Watch Company, the Torpedo and the Steelix, that are what you might consider budget buys. Momentum makes a number of watches, including some diver offerings, which is where the Torpedo sits, which the Steelix is more of a Field watch. Both watches have a 44mm diameter brushed stainless steel case with the crown at 4:00. The watches contain a Japanese quartz movement, have anti-glare coated mineral crystals and are depth rated to 200 feet.
The Torpedo is a familiar dive style, although the uni-directional bezel is unadorned, with no lume nor color markings. The 5-minute markings are cast in relief, so they look to be readable in the light, but they are going to be a fair bit less useful in the dark. As a pure dive watch, this would disqualify the Torpedo in my eyes, but as a fashion piece, a dive watch for when you are drowning in spreadsheets, the lack of lume is not as big a deal. The watches come in two flavors, a “luminous” white dial with very large numbers in black for the even hours and a black dial with lume indexes at the hours. Both watches have a date window, with the black dial’s window elongated to show the dates before and after. The watch comes on your choice of straps, a NATO nylon strap in one of four colors, or a rubber strap, or a stainless bracelet. I could not find the exact price, but I expect it to be the sub-$300 range.
The Steelix looks to be from the same mold as the Torpedo, although mixed up a bit. You get what looks to be the same case, and depth rating, but not the rotating bezel. The dial uses the same design as the Torpedo’s white version, except the colors are reversed and the indexes and numbers are luminous. Then, there is the 3-day date window from the black dial Torpedo. At under $100 on Amazon, it looks to be a good value, and (according to Momentum) it was included in Outside Magazine’s 2014 gear guide as a best value pick. For a field watch, it looks readable at a glance and well marked for day or night. momentumwatch.com
Watch Overview
- Brand & Model: Momentum Torpedo and Steelix
- Price: $95 and up
- Who we think it might be for: Someone in need of a rugged beater.
- Would I buy or recommend it just on the photos?: Yes.
- If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: Some lump on the Torpedo bezel.
- What spoke to me the most about this watch: I like the readability of the Torpedo’s white dial and the Steelix.
