G’Day everyone. You know, like everybody else I like to get a bargain and pay the lowest prices where I can. And during one of my AliExpress visits this field watch flashed before my eyes. And normally I wouldn’t be bothered with watches that cost less than a cup of coffee but when I saw a fully-lumed dial on one of these offerings I was sold. So lets get this show on the road and review the Soki field watch.
SPECIFICATIONS
So I’ll just bring up the specs. quick. Here you have the:
Case diameter (with crown): 41.4mm (43.4mm)
Lug to lug: 49.5mm
Case thickness: 9.4 mm
Lug width: 22mm
Weight: 31 grams (with strap)
Water resistance: 3ATM (30m)
Crystal: Mineral
Movement: Quartz
Price: $6AUD
PROS
Lets start with the most obvious pro. The price. Admittedly the specs. are anything but jaw-dropping but for only six dollars you are getting a functional watch with the added drawcard of a luminous dial. I’ll get to that later.
The dial itself is quite legible with Arabic numerals printed in black, and a minute track running just above them with a thicker marker at every 5-minute interval. Moving further into the dial you have 24-hour markings, with the exception of the number at the 3 o’clock position being replaced with a small date complication, and I do like how they included a thin, printed square around it, which helps it to blend in a bit with the markers. Further in you’ve got the SOKI logo at the 12 o’clock position, along with water resist, 3atm and quartz mentioned at 6 o’clock. The sizing of the markers, numerals and branding is fairly well-proportioned, with priority given to the 12-hour arabics and the thicker 5-minute markers, and while most of the dial is consumed by this content it doesn’t look overly cluttered.
The baton hands do a decent job of telling the time, and the silver edging help to make them legible in lower light conditions. The red seconds hand with lollipop weights on each end adds a nice pop of brightness to what is otherwise an almost monochrome colour scheme.
The case has a grey, brushed appearance, and given this has a field watch appearance this colour and finish is very appropriate, with no polished surfaces present.
The dimensions for the most part will suit most wearers. The case diameter is accessible at a bit over 41mm, the 22mm lug width means you won’t have to look hard to find straps to size for it and at less than 10mm thick it doesn’t ride too high on the wrist. Coupled with a total weight of 31 grams on its supplied strap you’ll barely notice any heft to it. The lugs themselves come out very straight from the case so you’ll never have to worry about them hitting your wrist.
The crystal is mineral but at least there’s no glare or reflection on the dial that affects legibility, and, again, its six bucks.
And finally, and maybe the moment everyone’s been waiting for, the glorious lume. Or glorious for the first 10 minutes at least. It starts off nice and bright but it fizzles out before long. It has very little in the way of staying power but given it’s a feature at this price point I’ll happily consider it a Pro.
MIXED BAG
The only thing I have mixed feelings about with the Soki is the supplied nylon strap. On the one hand its fairly thin and very flexible so there’s almost no break-in period when putting it on, and its shape and design suit this watch well, which I’ll mention again. Comfort-wise its light but this is negated by the coarse feel of the material, which is a bit chafing. And it also has a cardboard-like feel and consistency so I’m not very confident it’ll have a long lifespan.
CONS
And on that point, I’ll mention that there’s an old saying that “You get what you pay for”. And the SOKI is no exception to this. To begin, the date complication and its printed text are very small. Even with decent eyesight checking the date still takes a careful glance. The same can be said for the hour and minute hands. They’re too thin and while the hour hand is adequately sized, that minute hand falls a bit too short of the markers.
The ticking seconds hand is pretty loud as well, and I’d go as far to say that it’d rival Timex in decibel ratings.
The text near the bottom of the dial is too much, especially as the use of Water Resist and 3ATM underneath it seems redundant. I think they could have just left it at 3ATM to avoid clutter.
Speaking of water resistance, 3ATM will really restrict how wet you get this watch, so keep it away from the pool and the ocean deep. In fact, I’m not even keen to put this in a glass of water to test its resistance.
The crown is laughably tiny, and while some people might prefer it because you won’t risk hitting it against anything, operating it requires either a decent fingernail or lilliputian fingers. Given how small and flimsy the crown is, I sometimes worry about breaking it when I need to give it a firm yank to get it to its second position to set the time, and pull hard but not hard enough to set it in its first position for the date change. And thanks to some wobble on the minute hand when pushing it back, you’ll always struggle to set the time perfectly. On a quick plus, at least the date complication still sets with a satisfying click.
The only thing steel on this watch is the caseback, and funnily enough it boasts that feature proudly there too. This is probably one of very few times I’ll ever say that it would’ve been better if Soki just left the caseback blank, as its not that huge a deal. The plastic casing of this watch is very light but the tradeoff is that it also feels very toy-like and fragile, so I wouldn’t get too rough with it.
And this leads me to my biggest complaint. The lugs themselves. There’s almost no curvature at all so you’ll definitely be seeing the full 49.5mm lug to lug on your wrist, which I feel makes it wear a wee bit too big. And its hard to explain but while its easy enough to fit spring bars and straps into the lug holes, it just seems no matter which strap combination I use it always fits, sits and wears awkwardly. The sides just sit way too straight which makes the whole watch look rigid on a side view and also makes wearing it more of a chore with some strap options. I was able to throw this on an old bracelet and that improved its wearability a lot, but I was disappointed as this could have been a strap monster, but it’ll only wear well with either bracelets or very thin and loose straps.
VERDICT
Lets be honest. This isn’t a collectors watch nor is it one you’ll be handing to your kids as a sentimental piece, let alone an inheritance. But what you are getting is a functional watch with a lumed dial for less than the price of a takeaway meal. Would I recommend it? I think if you’re in the market for a lumed dial watch but are sitting on the fence about buying it because you’re worried about whether it’d suit you or not, this would be one of the cheapest ways to find out, like a try-before-you-buy scenario. But be aware about what I said regarding strap choices, as most aftermarket choices are going to wear terribly on it. If you’ve owned one of these watches I’d like to hear your thoughts and if you struggled with other straps on it.
Thanks for reading/watching.
