The Stranger Watch Company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale Florida and up until 2016 has made mostly dressy style, minimalistic watches. Florida is not all night clubs and restaurants, it also has some of the best diving you can find. Having to satisfy both the diving and night life community, Stranger has come up with their own line of dive watches.
Their idea is that these can be worn out to the clubs as a nice fashion piece or go right into the ocean as a great diver. After a successful crowd funding campaign they were able to release the Ocean Predator series of dive watches. I was able to get my hands on their latest model, the Megalodon. Avid readers will note that this is not the SteVral Megalodon, although it’s named similarly. Let’s check it out.
The Dial
The dial on the Megalodon has a nice hammered texture which adds a lot of visual interest in contrast with the smooth case. This is a three hand watch with date window at the 4:30 position. The hands are attached to the reliable Seiko NH35 self winding movement. The entire hour and minute hands along with the heavy rounded indexes are filled with Super-Luminova. Although not as bright, the 12 o’clock marker and 3,6,9 o’clock markers are filled with an orange lume. At full charge, the orange and green lume look great. The green tends to outlast the orange but still gives plenty of glow needed for diving. The dial is covered with an anti-reflective treated sapphire crystal.
The Case
The case on this model is a brushed 316L stainless steel case with screw down case back. There are two crowns, one for setting the time and one for adjusting the internal bezel. When diving in nice clear tropical waters, one thing that is not good are shiny objects. Why? Barracudas love shiny. I have been followed many times by them and I always make sure nothing on me looks like food. Just a nibble on your wrist can send you to the hospital. Stranger addressed this issue by making all of their dive watches in a brushed matte finish. The heavy metal monster is 44m wide and is water resistant to 200 meters or 660 feet, which is fine for all recreational diving.
The Bezel
One feature I really love about this diver is its bezel. Most divers have uni-directional bezels. This one has a bi-directional internal locking bezel. By unscrewing the locking crown at the 2 o’clock position you can rotate the bezel either direction to mark your time, and then lock it into place by screwing down the crown. For most warm water diving, this is fine since you normally don’t need gloves. In cold water diving this could be a little more tricky to work with while wearing gloves. As a diver, I really don’t care anymore; I am done with cold water.
The Strap
All models come with this tough Kevlar strap. The strap starts out pretty stiff at first, but after several days of wear it softens up and conforms to the wrist well. The orange stitching pairs well with the orange markers on the dial. Also included with this watch is a more dressy leather strap. Personally, I would just keep the kevlar one on.
Overall impression
For the short time that I have had with this watch, I have really loved it. The case is well made and the hammered dial looks great. The kevlar strap is very durable and looks nice on this type of watch. The internal bezel is a cool feature which lets this watch work well both in the water and in the clubs. The best part about it right now is the price. The Stranger Megalodon is current on sale for only $275. Retail is $549. In my opinion this is a pretty good deal for all that you get. I could trust myself going out with this perfect Stranger. You can check them out at strangertime.com.
Review Summary
- Brand and model: Stranger Megalodon
- Price: $549 retail. On sale for $275
- Who’s it for: A real diver that likes to go out.
- Would I wear it: Absolutely
- What I’d change: nothing
- The best thing about it: The internal bezel.
Tech Specs from Stranger
- Materials: 316L Brushed stainless steel
- Movement: Seiko NH35 Self winding
- Crystal: Sapphire Crystal
- Strap: Kevlar with pin and buckle clasp
- Dial: Hammered texture, white dial
- Measurements: 44mm wide
- Water Resistance: 200 meters or 660 feet
