Cheap Chinese Watch Review #1: Naviforce NF9040M

In my quest to find the ultimate, budget timepiece, I kinda went crazy and bought a few Chinese watches. I thought I would share my experiences and put together a few reviews on my findings. This is the first such review, the Naviforce NF9040M I bought from GearBest.

I posted pretty much the same review over at the watchuseek forms , but I am not known very well over there, and many of their members like the higher-end market for watches. Maybe you guys will appreciate these budget priced watch reviews more

I received this watch a few months ago, and it is currently in my EDC rotation of about 5-7 watches. I purchased it from GearBest when it was on sale for about $10 (No longer on sale, regular price about $16). I thought that was a pretty good deal, especially since a replacement Miyota movement costs more than the entire watch. Anyhow, here is the direct link to 4 different colors of the NF9040M on GearBest, as well as NaviForce’s website and direct link to this specific watch. None of these are affiliate links, and are only supplied for reference:

Gearbest Naviforce NF9040M listing
http://en.naviforcewatch.com/
http://a100407330285.oinsite1.cn/_d276809779.htm

My workplace isn’t too hard on watches, but can be occasionally as I have to go through security and a scanner. The security personnel are not always concerned about treating personal property with kid gloves.

During my budget watch quest, I have seen the explosion of what some call “Mushroom Watches” (new brands that seem to pop-up everywhere) from China. I’ve bought a few of them…some good, and some bad to absolutely horrible. I thought the Naviforce watches looked attractive…both physically and price-wise…so I selected a NF9040M with the red accents. The watch is also sold with white, gold and champagne accents. The gold and champagne versions come with a brown band, and white and red have a black band. Here are the other color choices:

^ GearBest Pic ^

^ Dial/front of Naviforce NF9040M ^

KRONOREVIEW:

There is much to like about this watch. I confirmed that it does indeed use a Miyota Quartz movement (Miyota 2305) and a Sony battery. Many watches in this price range use something cheaper, typically a Chinese movement and an ultra cheap battery that typically lasts 2-6 months. So, it is nice to see that Naviforce doesn’t embellish the internals. The watch is also pretty comfortable to wear due to the curved lugs and band. The black band is real leather that is thick, and is also nicely contrasted with red stitching.

^ Case-back removed ^

^ Nice looking leather band with red accented stitching ^

^ Yep…Miyota 2305 movement, and a Sony battery…nice! ^

The outer and inner bezel are numbered and give the watch a sporty, military look, but the bezel is non-rotating. On the dial, the hour markers consist of raised chrome with a red accented stripe in between. The red stripes are not perfectly centered on a couple markers, but perfect on the rest. The second-hand stops on the red section of the markers, but also not perfectly in the center…pretty close, though. The outer bezel has a colored ring underneath that protrudes on each side ever so slightly at about a .5mm. It appears to be red-anodized aluminum. The splash of color gives the watch a nice, contrasting halo effect which offsets the matte black case.

The case is said to be Vacuum Ion Coated. I do not know what metal is used underneath, but is magnetic, so probably some sort of steel. I do know that this black coating is somewhat susceptible to scratches. I found that out because my case-back removal tool was too small to span all the way across and reach at least two notches. Therefore, I used needle-nose pliers, which of course slipped, and proceeded to gouge the back of the case. I was exerting quite a bit of pressure, so I can’t necessarily fault the coating. But, over time, I suspect that the coating will exhibit some expected wear.

The ‘N’ logoed crown is flanked on both sides by raised portions of the case, I assume for protection. The crown adjustment has 2 positions. 1st allows for day, second for hour and date, which means you have to cycle through all dates to get to current date. The black dial is textured using an attractive, alternating circle and elongated oval pattern. The dial also contains a clean ‘N’ logo, “NAVIFORCE” name, ‘Water Resistant 30M’ and also has ‘JAPAN MOVT’ surrounding the six O’clock position.

^ Close-up of logoed crown ^

^ Another close-up of watch face ^

The metal buckle also has an ‘N’ logo, and the same matte coating as the case. The Stainless Steel case-back is a nice, 6 notch design and screws down.

^ Metal buckle with logo ^

^ SS Caseback ^

PROS:

Miyota 2305 movement.
No ‘slop’ in movement.
Sony SR626SW Battery.
Week/Day function.
Screw-down caseback.
Lume on Hour and Minute hands.
Leather band with contrasted red stitching.
Red accents also on Bezel, Hour markers and Minute hand.
Textured dial.
Comfortable, curved lugs.
Metal pin buckle.

CONS:

Non-rotatable bezel.
Durability question on black coating.
Lack of a bare SS case version.
Lume is very weak and sparse.

I will judge the watch on 5 different metrics:

Cost: 5
Looks: 4
Durability 3
Function: 4
Comfort: 5
KronoReview Overall Rating: 4.2/5

The Naviforce NF9040M watch is pretty good value!

More watch reviews to come…

Thanks!
krono