Has the Big and Bigger Watch Fad Finally Gotten Well and Truly Out of Hand?
Montres Charmex CX "Swiss Military" 20,000 ft diver side profile. €2,998.- (US$4300) will buy a big hunk of stupid.
You know how when you see pictures of ’70s fashions with 12-inch bellbottoms, enormous hairdos, platform shoes, and polyester leisure suits and all you can think (even if you lived through it) is, “Holy S#@t! What were they thinking!? Look at those pants for crying out loud!”
Take a good look here, because I’m betting we’ve now hit that point in the Big Watch™ fad that has been developing these past few years, in which watches containing the movements of the same size as previous years have been packaged in increasingly larger cases, with no clear practical benefit.
Vintage Rolex "Deep Sea Special", one of only 6 believed made for a special depth experiment. Photo: R-L-X.de
The CX “Swiss Military” 20,000ft diver is rated to an astonishing and astonishingly unnecessary 6,000m of water resistance. And much like the Rolex “Deep Sea Special” experimental design of the’50s- ’60s (namesake of the current Rolex Sea-Dweller Deep Sea), it’s about the size of a golf ball. Rolex of course had the sense and restraint to limit the production to some half-dozen examples for the experiment only, and wasn’t so brash as to introduce it as an actual production model.
Montres Charmex CX Swiss Military 20,000ft diver.
Add to that cheerful irony of branding a watch as “Swiss Military” when Switzerland is both historically neutral with very modest military capabilities, and of course is completely landlocked with little to no opportunity for any would-be military divers to use such watches.
The CX 20000ft.com website even has a video showing he watch being subjected to shotgun blasts, which the watch indeed survives relatively intact. The advantage of such is quite beyond me though, as in all occasions when I’ve been subjected to gunfire and other assorted nastiness the thought of whether my watch might survive was usually the absolute furthest thing from my mind. Irrational and pointless excess capability.
So here you have it folks, the watch that’s probably going to become the “What the hell were they thinking!?” high water mark of the early 21st Century: an unwearable watch with technical specifications no one could ever need. What were they thinking? Look at those pants!
Links:
- Hodinkee Unboxing Video of the CX Swiss Military
- aBlogtoRead reveiw of the CX Swiss Military 20,000ft and follow-up video review
- CX Swiss Military showcase website: 20000ft.com
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Thanks for some fresh perspective on this watch! It does seem a bit over the top and I think would be more impressive as a very limited edition watch.
Happy New Year to you and best wishes for 2010!
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It’s a man’s watch, for males with wrists that aren’t girly; perhaps you’ll like the watch better when you first: grow a set; then find a way to get them to drop.
As if you’ve ever been under fire, give me a flippin’ break.
The demonstration is to prove the watch’s ruggedness, something rael men seek and appreciate.
FYI bell-bottoms are all the rage with custom designs going for thousands, more than the watch in MANY cases.
Just proving how out of touch you are.
Switzerland has been ANYTHING BUT “historically neutral”, read a history book, one NOT written for the USA, that is.
Damn you really need to stop typing, you’re just embarrassing yourself.
I just read another POS hack job of yellow journalism you did over a Reactor piece.
You need to grow up, move out of your parent’s basement and kiss a girl before you’ll be man enough to wear a cx.
It is for real men that get their watches [and their women] wet.
I bet you use an Apple computer don’t you.
A 550 break hp engine is “pointless blah blah blah” too.
I bet you drive a hyundai
You sound like a woman; with Penis envy.
And YOU ARE THE ONLY person to have written anything negative about this World Record setting dive watch.
Tell us about the movement, etc, tell us about the fire truck hose test from an aircraft fire fighting truck, tell us that the Rolex Deepsea, which you laud is absolutely destroyed in fact it disentergrates. And when the DSSD is shot, it simply ceases to exist whilst the cx keeps ticking, and remains water resistant.
I bet you’re just one of those wannabee desk divers, that loves the R DSSD with the homosexualesque vanity ring that you paid 7K for whilst this comes in at 4.
You simply have ZERO knowledge of watches, and ZERO credibility as a watch journalist. Let alone a diver.
And just to finish: Ever heard of a lake Geneva? No? It’s in Switzerland, it’s over 310 metres deep.
So a Rolex Submariner selling for more than the CX won’t make it to the bottom of Rolex’s own national lake, but this watch selling for thousands LESS will.
You ARE an EPIC failure.
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My apologies for not responding sooner, but I’ve be extraordinarily busy of late and seem to have missed the notification email. I’ll try to post a more detailed response later but I wanted to address a couple of your points quickly:
1. Yes, I have been under fire in some faraway dusty places. We wore a variety of personal protective gear that came in handy on numerous occasions but a watch was not considered part of the protective system, and I can’t imagine how a half-pound monster like that would have been comfortable or useful. If there’s something in your tactical experience and expertise that might convince me otherwise, I’d be delighted to hear it.
2. I referred to the Switzerland in Europe, the one that has been officially neutral for the enormity of the most recent two centuries, the same ones in which the Swiss developed a reputation for fine watchmaking.
Again, thanks for your comment, and I’m glad you enjoyed reading the site.
Regards,
Ryan
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Who is DGB? Answer: A troll commenter in need of deleting:
http://www.cinema-suicide.com/2008/07/09/fear-itself-sucks/
And of course, in R’s own marketing literature, their famous watch, handsomely outperforms the 300 metre case rating, to further nullify DGB’s diatribe. Or worse am I stoking its ego?
Kudos to those Accutron commercials by the way ;)
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Yes, some quick Googling of his name reveals that DGB is a serial smear artist who seems to enjoy leaving a bad smell all over the net. I considered deleting his comments, but decided to leave them just so other search engine users might be able to see just what an irrational and unpleasant fellow he is.
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I find DGB’s comment highly entertaining and educative. As far as i remember i have never seen or heard the noun “woman” used as an invective before.
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The only point to agree with the writer is the Military and Army issue. For a Country that didn’t take any part on WW1 or WW2 – they surely have a lot of Military products and brands. As pointed out in a famous film – in many centuries they have only been good at making the cuckoo clock.
In their defence, the Swiss male population take active army exercise every year, I believe, as old as 60.
I am male, my wrist is just over 8 inches and I love gadgets. I tried the watch on and, it is awesome. It is not the 3mm thick watch that one would wear at dinner parties but, even with a suit on, the watch is, for certain, an eye catcher.
There are really some ugly ***** ***** watches out there and I agree with Dean Grant on what he said about the article.
GREAT watches – SUPERB value for money. -full stop-
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