Home, 2006-08-04
I bought this watch in '94 as a gift for myself when I finished high school. It was my first real watch.
It is a watch that was made for the danish watchmaker "Regent Watches" in Switzerland. They told me the watch was made after specifications from the danish navy's special force divers ("frømandskorpset"). It cost me about DKK 2000 (270 euro) with a bracelet. I do not think the watch has a name, but written on it is: REGENT 300M QUARTZ PROFESSIONAL.
The Regent is heavily inspired by the ubiquitous Rolex Submariner, including case, bezel, dial, and all the hands except the minute hand. The notable differences are the crown moved to 4 o'clock and the minute hand with an arrow head. Both ideas are good, the crown is less in the way and the minute hand easier to read, except it is not long enough, it should have been 2-3mm longer so it would reach the minute indices.
| Bezel | 37mm |
| Case | 37mm |
| Width incl. crown | 39.5mm |
| Lug tip to lug tip | 45mm |
| Lug spacing | 18mm |
| Height | 10mm |
| Weight | 44g |
Dimensions (measured).
The watch seems to be well build, but the finish is not impressive. The bezel is one-way and one of the best bezels I have used. The crown works well (it is a quartz so it is not operated often), but could have been bigger. The watch was bought with a flat sapphire crystal, but this is now replaced with a mineral crystal. The luminous material on the dial works ok, but the luminous paint on the hands does not work at all (and the watch got new hands in 2000).
The movement is a precision swiss quartz, with five years+ battery life and end-of-life indicator. The watch gains around two seconds a month.
I used the watch daily for nine years and I never took it off to spare it. This can be seen on the watch: it has numerous battle scars and have survived one broken crystal (including broken bracelet and hands), a number of bent spring bars, and great number of shocks and liquid hazards. I still use the watch during sports and other activities where my watch could easily be damaged.
Except for the luminosity of the hands I have been impressed with this watch and its performance.