This one's a complicated one for me. I generally prefer mechanical watches, and I generally prefer metal cases. This is neither of those – it's quartz, and a plasticky body they're calling 'carbonox'. It feels like some sort of GRP or carbon impregnated plastic.
The end result is this watch feels light and plasticky when you pick it up. It doesn't feel like a $300 watch… it feels like my $20 casio. In terms of rating, the '200 meters' is a nominal, lab-conditions rating, and is generally understood to mean "OK for swimming and gentle surface diving". Again, my $20 digital carries the same rating.
On the positive side, the glow tubes are nice, and work quite well. The watch has survived a short dive, a fairly intense pistol class (And I wouldn't use any of my mechanical watches for that), and a bit of rappelling. The body doesn't seem to scratch easily, and the crystal seems durable. The light weight means you don't really notice it on the wrist. The band feels comfortable, and rubbery – not like my cheaper watch's plastic bands. The band, unfortunately, seems to pick up carbon staining easily (see black marks in photos), and doesn't really clean off well.
As a point of comparison, though… I usually wear my much, much cheaper Casio for the same things, and it's been trucking along just fine for 4 years now. The two major things this watch has – a better crystal, and a bunch of illumination tubes. Overall – if the design and branding appeal to you, this watch basically behaves as described.
So – if you *need* a lightweight, durable watch – I think this fits the bill. If you need full time tube illumination, you could do worse. On the other hand, if you're buying a watch to wear as a statement… it just doesn't feel it to me. I'm left wondering where exactly this watch sits, what it's trying to be… and it doesn't scratch any particular itch for me. I have better watches for "tool" use, and I have better watches for "statement" use – so I really don't find myself reaching for this one in the morning. It's not exactly a bad watch, but I just have trouble justifying it.
