If you’ve been paying attention to some of the newer affordable fashion watches (and, indeed, our various reviews) you know that interchangeable quartz movements in colorful silicone bands have become a popular trend. So, what’s a maker to do to have their model stand out? Why, look to the ’80s, of course!
While there’s plenty from the 80s that need not resurface, Simpel grabbed an awesome idea – the slap bracelet – and adapted it to their watch. More on that in a bit, however. First, I’d like to quickly cover the color combinations that have on offer.
As you can see above, you ultimately end up with 36 different combinations to allow you to come up with just the watch you want. We were sent over two watches, one stone, one Maui. Since I generally only wear one watch at a time, I enlisted my wife to help out with the review as well. The swatches started off montone, but we did swap them around, as she ended up preferring the stone movement in the Maui case.
Swapping things around was just as simple as it was in the other makes I’ve reviewed, and you do get a feel that it’s locked into place. I suppose if you weren’t careful, it could fall out, but I didn’t find that to be a concern. And that stability is key, given how you put the watch on – you slap it on to your wrist, and the spring steel wraps around your wrist.
Thankfully, these aren’t the thin fabric-wrapped chunks of steel from a few decades ago, so you don’t have to worry about slicing yourself. Instead, the rubber coating is fully encasing the steel, which gains us two things. It makes the bracelet very comfortable, and keeps it from slipping around. The only issue that rubberized coating causes is when you slip a shirt cuff over the watch. It “grips” the watch, and it can make it a little difficult.
Past that, though, this is a fun watch I’d recommend without any reservations. Depending on how you want to spec yours out, you can get a monotone model for $30, or you can mix and match, with each case going for $20, and the straps for $13. At those prices, might as well mix and match a couple, right?
