REVIEW!! (finally)
So I received the watch in about 4 calendar days, which is not bad. Shipping was $5 by UPS, and no other options were offered. That was fine, but communication from Lucky Brand was poor. I received no order acknowledgement or estimated delivery info from them. Only a heads-up email from UPS (via my UPS My Choice account) forewarned its arrival.
The Fairfax Racing watch is unmistakably a fashion watch, and feels like one. Its 40mm case is lightweight, lacking the heft of my Jack Mason aviator chrono (to which I compare due to similar vendors and list-price point). Case sides are brushed, and the bezel face is polished. Packaging is meager…a branded paperboard box with an undyed canvas pillow. No instructions were included with the watch.
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The large orange center-seconds is the running seconds hand. Three subdials: at 3 o-clock is a 24-hour hour indicator which matches the watch time (not like a GMT function). At 6 o-clock the small orange chrono seconds, and at 9 o-clock the chrono cumulative minutes up to 30. Interestingly, after using the chrono feature, when resetting the hands, to return to zero they spin backwards the number of cycles they just ran. For example, if you just measured 3 minutes 25 seconds, the small minute hand will move backwards 3 increments, and the small seconds hand will spin back 25 secs and then three full CCW rotations. Not sure if this is common in quartz movements. There is no day or date function. There is greenish lume on the hour & minutes hands and small dots at each hour marker, but the glow is neither bright nor long-lasting.
Another chrono note: just as seen in the stock photo (in my first post), on arrival the small chrono seconds was not correctly zeroed to 12 o-clock. But it can be recalibrated using the crown and pushers, which I figured out by trial & error.
Quartz accuracy is boringly good as would be expected. The website states the movement is an Epson VR34. So far, it’s favorably tracking to a Victorinox (Ronda) that I would trust with my life.
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The photo of the snap-on caseback reveals the advertised features, such as water resistance (5 ATM or 50 meters), “all stainless steel” case, Japanese movement, and a map of California marking the company’s L.A. headquarters. Curiously though, the package I received was actually posted from Kentucky! No claim is made about the (flat) crystal, but from the feel I’m guessing thin mineral or maybe plastic (?). The cloverleaf-engraved crown does not screw down.
On the plus side, the styling is attractive, being based on vintage racing design. In the right lighting, the blue-green sunburst dial really pops (wrist photo). Unfortunately, this photo also shows the watch’s two most annoying qualities. First, though I usually make it a rule to avoid watches with low contrast between the hands and the dial, in this case I made an exception, and sometimes it’s a strain to tell the time quickly and without glasses. The silver/white hour & minute hands clash with the white outline of the subdials between 2 & 4 and 8 & 10. (To be fair, this shot added another wrinkle…the time was 4:22 pm, so the minute hand obscures the hour.) The second most annoying trait is the misalignment between the dial hashmarks and the running seconds hand. Not only does the hand routinely miss every single hashmark, it falls almost exactly at the midpoint between the marks—about as bad as you can get.
The quick-detach 20mm soft “genuine leather” strap is nothing special, but is branded as is the polished stainless clasp. I think I may swap to a nice, perforated racing strap to dress it up a bit.
At a $50 sale price, overall the quality is passable but unimpressive. I can’t say I’d recommend one. You could find any number of as-good-or-better Chinese branded watches for half the price. Still, I’ll probably keep it for now, as resale would be low and I don’t have any other comparable racing-style chronographs (but haven’t ruled out better watches). It might even draw the occasional compliment.
As for the Lucky Brand spam emails: so far I’ve received two. I’ll keep watch on my inbox and unsubscribe if it gets annoying.