Ares Watch Company

[Guerrero]

Mission Timer sounds cool. That said Sinn has Mission Timer category.https://www.sinn.de/en/SINN_mission_timers.htm

Ding! Mission's over.

[Totem Polar]

I want to bump this thread and thank @scjbash for the pertinent feedback. A quick phone conversation with Matt got the response, roughly, "Good point, can you send me the verbage, the way you just said it, and I’ll get it put on the website?"

I think it’s now super-clear what he’s doing and what his goals are down the line, as currently stated, and the conversation—at least between he and I, in the first week of the website launch—wouldn’t have happened without this thread, and scjbash’s valid input. Opinions on the watch effort aside, an awesome aspect of this place is that, regardless of topic, *someone* always knows their stuff on the subject.

FWIW.

[Totem Polar]

I haven’t responded to Rich, primarily because: not my company, not my expertise. But what the hell, I’ll give it a go now, after looking into things a little.

Some constructive criticism. Full Disclosure: My normal everyday watch is a Rolex Submariner I've had for 20 years. I'm a PADI DM. For SCUBA, I generally prefer a Citizen; my last one was an original Aqualand.

1) Not sure why the entire bezel is luminous. That is puzzling to me. Having used dive watches, at night (e.g. Red Sea, Ras Muhammed), the only luminous part of the bezel I need is the pointer. Having the rest of the bezel be luminous seems extremely distracting.

I don’t know either, because I have zero OCONUS operational experience. My understanding, however, is that the bezel design (countdown, lume, etc) is aimed more at folks who’s legs are cramping while waiting in the dark for a "go" than pure diving.

2) If the bezel is uni-directional, I missed it in the ad copy. That small fact is pretty important to people who use watches for diving. Is it?

Yes, 120-click.

3) There is a lot of use of the term "hard-use". Without it being quantified, it reminds me of those ads for the plastic sunglasses "as used by our troops!" that get run over by a deuce and a half to prove how tough they are. This does not strike me as appealing to the target market, unless the target market are Starbucks drinkers in Issaquah WA.

My understanding is that the prototypes are out in use. I know that one friend that Matt has relied on extensively for alpha/beta help—and I know who he is and have contact info for him—is current DoD and a retired Master Chief and MDV from NSWC; he’s got protos on wrists of members of his former team. FWIW.

4) I didn't see any reference to a water resistance standard like ISO 2281, other than the "300m" on the face. That seems like something I would expect to see at the $700 price point.

Again, not my area of expertise. All I know is that each piece is individually tested in North Seattle, and certified to 40ATM. Probably means more to you than me.

5) I would be very curious what the phrases "operational dive watch" and "mission-timer tool" mean.

For that, you’ll definitely need to talk to somebody else with experience timing missions. Apologies. All I time are concert sets, festival stages, rehearsals, master classes, and lessons.

I hope some of the above makes sense, Rich.

[RJ]

Sounds good. I saw the 120 click unidirectional bezel on second reading.

Definitely looks the business.

A mention of the objective cert protocol for water resistance would be a plus.

Hope he does well and sells a bunch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BigD]

$700 for a quartz watch made in Hong Kong. I'm not seeing the appeal.

Did you miss the part about saying the owner used to work for the CIA?

(Also, they claim it’s made in America.)

[BigD]

To be fair, the watch does have a bit more of a history behind it, if only because of the creator's previous career, enough to make folks be willing to buy it based off of that rather than any technical specs. I mean, there cheapest Resco Instruments are MSRPing at >1000 USD for a quartz watch, and folks seem to be happy to spend that, even though I think that's an incredibly poor value (not to mention that many of the designs look ugly as fuck to me).

Funny you mention Resco. . That Ares case looks very, very similar to the same cases that Resco, Dievas and Kobold have all used. In which case it arguably wouldn’t even have been designed in the US. (Arguably. Clearly the dial, hands and bezel are unique.)

[Drang]

I want to bump this thread and thank @scjbash for the pertinent feedback. A quick phone conversation with Matt got the response, roughly, "Good point, can you send me the verbage, the way you just said it, and I’ll get it put on the website?"
...

He needs to proofread the guaranty. "Sourced", not "sources."

[Totem Polar]

Yeah, I saw that one too. I'll make sure he lets his web guy know.



ps. *guarantee

[BehindBlueI's]

He needs to proofread the guaranty. "Sourced", not "sources."

*cough* Guarantee *cough*

(-ty is only for securing a debt or taking a legal obligation for a third party)

[Totem Polar]

Here’s a little vlog interview on Ares, and the project. Even if you think the watch is lame, it’s worth watching the interview to hear Matt talk (roughly 6 in) about receiving Ken Hackathorn’s 1968 GMT that Ken bought, new, in country, directly from Ken. I’m here to vouch that Matt was really, really excited to get that legendary 1-owner Rolex, from the legendary gunfighting guru. It’s a great story, and even better hearing it from Matt in person. At any rate: