KronoReview: Carnival Tritium 8638G Day/Date Field Watch

Hello, and thank you for checking out my latest watch review! I was fortunate enough to take this watch with me on a trip to Banff National Park in the gorgeous Canadian Rocky Mountains (pics below).

In this review, I will be looking at the Carnival 8638G Day/Date Quartz Watch with Tritium accents . This watch was provided gratis by lightinthebox.com, and regularly retails on their website for $91.99.

FYI…this Carnival watch is available in 4 color combinations:

White Dial/Blue Trits (reviewed)

Black Dial/Blue Trits

White Dial/Green Trits

Black Dial/Green Trits

And a larger manufacturer pic of the version up for review:

^ Lightinthebox listing Pic ^

The specs as they appeared, verbatim, from the lightinthebox listing :

Specifications:
Gender: Men, Men’s
Movement Type: Quartz
Display: Analog
Type: Wrist watch, Fashion Watch
Case Material: Stainless Steel
Case Diameter Approx: 4cm / 1.57 Inches
Case Thickness Approx: 1.1cm / 0.43 Inches
Band Length Approx: 22cm / 8.66 Inches
Band Width Approx: 2cm / 0.8 Inches
Dial Color: White
Band Color: White
Band Material: Stainless Steel
Water Resistance Depth: 30M
What’s in the box: 1 x Gift Box, 1 x Watch, 1 x Watch Band Tool, 1 x Watch Instructions Manual
Listing Date:04/27/2017

KronoReview:

I have been enamored with the Carnival Tritium watch after seeing it online. Even more so because of the positive response BLF member JohnnyMac had when he bought one some time ago. Well…I finally received one for review. I guess the pictures featuring those delectable Tritium vials were calling my name. Maybe…just maybe because I am a flashaholic and love lumens?

Anyhow, this Carnival M/N 8638G is a field-watch style, and very versatile with casual or semi-formal attire.

The Carnival watch came in a padded/bubble-wrap envelope, wrapped securely and very protected, and sealed inside a styrofoam shipping box. Inside the shipping box was an outer retail box, with a nicer inner-box, sizing tool, warranty card, booklet etc…it really makes you feel as though a quality product awaits inside. So…Is that the case (pun intended)? Let’s see…

CASE/CROWN/CASEBACK/LUGS: The Stainless Steel case measures a width of 40mm (43.5mm w/crown), and the overall height is 12mm high…a good size for this type of watch. Lug-to-lug measurement is 49mm. The nicely curved sides and top of the case have a very workmanlike, brushed finish. The relatively thin, angled bezel is fixed and un-marked, as well as highly polished. The Stainless Steel case extends under the crystal to an attractive, stepped rehaut that butts up to the chapter ring. The pull-out crown is a nice size, properly knurled and easy to manipulate. There is a raised Carnival logo on the side of the polished crown. The screw-down case-back utilizes a standard, six-indention design for a 2 or 3 point removal tool. Upon removal, there is a single black internal O-ring seal between case and back. The watch has a 3ATM water-resistance rating. Therefore, I won’t be using this while swimming, but it has been fine for dish duty.

^ A TON of pics of this watch amongst the Rocky Mountains in beautiful Banff National Park, Canada. Sorry there are so many…I just couldn’t help myself.

BRACELET/CLASP: The solid link, 20mm Stainless Steel bracelet has a modified, oyster-style look. The outside links are brushed on the top/bottom, and polished on the sides. The center links are also brushed, but have a smaller polished end piece on each side. These pieces match well with the polished bezel, providing a nice contrast to the mostly brushed surfaces on the rest of the watch. There are six removable links for adjustment, held together by standard split-pins (split-pin removal tool included). The double-pushbutton, butterfly clasp is nice and secure, and has “Carnival” & “1986” on the middle attachment links, and “Stainless Steel” etched on the inside. The butterfly closure does not allow for micro-adjustment for wrist size, so it might fit a little snug or loose, depending on what you are more comfortable with. Not a huge negative, but could be an annoyance if your wrist size is somewhere in-between.

CRYSTAL/DIAL/HANDS/INDICES: The white dial has traditional field watch looks, with ample, easy-to-read Arabic numbers next to the Tritium indices. Just inward of those numbers are smaller, 24 hr. Arabic numbers, from 13-23. Each indice extends into a notch on the white chapter ring. Each hour indice is marked with a T25 ice-blue Tritium vial, with the exception of an orange trit at 12 O’clock. A day/date window, outlined in black, sits between the 3 O’clock indice and the center of the watch. The white date wheel matches the dial well, with black Arabic numerals and abbreviated day indicator (except, of course, a red Sunday “SUN”). The hour and second hands are a pointed baton/radium style, with ice-blue T25 Tritium vials in the middle. The rectangular paddle-style second hand also has a small ice-blue trit in the center. The Tritium vials are remarkably visible in the dark! I originally thought that I would want much brighter T100 trits on a watch, but I’m beginning to think they might be too bright. With a total of 15 trits, this watch, IMHO, is PLENTY bright! So much so that it freaks my wife out if she wakes up and catches a view of it as I move my hand (I’m quite the restless sleeper). The sapphire crystal is awesome and very scratch resistant. It also has an excellent anti-reflective (AR) coating, and does a phenomenal job of making the crystal disappear when looking directly at the watch. The AR coating, along with the large numbers, makes this a very easy to read, legible watch. If I had to change anything, I would use a different color trit on the hands for increased nighttime legibility.

MOVEMENT:Ronda Powertech (Series 500) 517 1 jewel, analog quartz movement with Hour/Minute/Second and Day/Date functions. “Swiss Parts” is printed on the movement, so I am assuming that they are assembled somewhere outside Switzerland. The watch came equipped with a Renata 571 battery.

^ Ronda website pic of 517, 1 jewel quartz day/date movement. ^

PROS:
Tritium, Tritium and more Tritium!
Swiss Parts 1 jewel Ronda quartz movement with Renata battery.
Excellent night-time legibility with the 15 trits on indices and hands.
Top-notch daytime legibility with white dial, large contrasting black Arabic numbers/hands and an excellent crystal.
All Stainless design with very good fit and finish.
Attractive, field-watch aesthetic.
Screw-down, stainless case back.
Grippy pull-out crown.
Nice brushed case and solid link bracelet with appropriate polished accents.
Day/Date functions.
Flat Sapphire crystal with excellent AR coating.
Nice retail box and attractive inner box with warranty card, manual and sizing tool.
4 color combos to choose from.

CONS:
No contrasting Tritium vial colors on hands.
No micro-adjustment on clasp.
3ATM water depth rating.

DIMENSIONS:
Width: 43.5mm (including crown).
Case Diameter: 40mm.
Lug to lug: 49mm.
Bracelet width: 20mm.
Crystal: 34.5mm.
Overall Height (top of crystal to case back): 12mm.
Weight: 132gms.

RATING:
Cost: 5
Looks: 5
Durability: 5
Function: 5
Comfort: 4
Average: 4.8/5

CONCLUSION: I like this watch. OK…I REALLY like this watch…maybe even love it. Keep in mind that I am an automatic/mechanical watch kinda guy, so it is a bit surprising to me that I’m so smitten with a quartz watch. This is just such a handsome looking, highly legible, nice feeling timepiece! And I cannot find a decent (nor a crappy one, for that matter) Tritium watch out there that comes remotely close to competing with Carnival at this price point. When I considered all the positive attributes of this watch, it made it easy to proclaim this an exceptional deal. Are you looking for a Tritium watch? Get it!

Thanks,
krono