View the Oceanus OCWM700TBA-1AV Photo Gallery.

Watch Report recently received the black Ion Plated Oceanus OCWM700TBA-1AV. Since I already reviewed its silver-colored titanium sibling (the Oceanus OCWM700TDA-1AV) which has identical functionality, I decided to use this opportunity to write an article on the process of turning metal watches black.

When deciding which materials to use for a watch case or bracelet, manufactures have to take several things into consideration like cost, intended use, desired color, and target weight. They also have to consider the drawbacks of various materials. For instance, titanium is strong, super light, durable, non-corrosive, non-allergenic (some people cannot wear stainless steel due to nickel allergies), and unlike stainless steel, it's unaffected by salt water. This combination makes titanium a great material for dive watches, however one drawback is that its surface hardness is relatively low which means it's easily scratched.

One method that can be used to change the surface properties of a material is called Physical Vapor Deposition, or PVD (you'll also see it labeled as Ion Plating, or IP, which is a variant on PVD). The PVD process involves placing the item to be coated in an inert (non-reactive) atmosphere, heating it up to 400° C or so (depending on the process), and basically spraying it with the molecules that you want to coat it with. That's the general process, however there are a lot of subtle variations like using charged ions for the ion plated variation. PVD has been around since 1838 and is heavily used in semiconductor manufacturing, automobiles, and many other places including, or course, watches.

PVD results in a coating up to a micron or so thick that's tightly bonded to the base material. It won't flake off, as the coating is interpenetrated with the underlying material which is what makes it different from paint, powder coats, or anodizing. If you hit it with sufficient force, however, you can go through the PVD and into the material below, and since it's still a coating, polishing to remove scratches is not recommended.

Another more advanced technique is Chemical Vapor Deposition, or CVD. The main difference between PVD and CVD is that the deposited material is produced via a chemical reaction instead of directly coating the surface. The titanium nitride hardening on the Citizen PMT56-2711 that I reviewed is the product of CVD, and holds up extremely well.

Better still is DLC, or diamond-like Carbon, where, via secret-sauce processes, the surface of a watch is coated with something very much like synthetic diamond! With an incredible surface hardness, this is very nearly impossible to scratch, and can been seen on some high-end Citizens like the Attesa, on the Casio MR-G watches, and on watches like the Rado V10K. DLC is also used in the engines of most super sport motorcycles, on implantable human heart pumps, and in other exotic tasks than can afford the artistry required to create it.

In the world of watches, PVD is most commonly used to produce a flat black "stealth" finish which is quite attractive. It wears better than the stainless or titanium underneath it, and is used on both cases and bracelets. There is a lot of variation in the technique used, so different brands and models will have different levels of durability; unfortunately, the relative quality is hard to discern when purchasing. Be aware that PVD cannot be re-applied, and even marquee brands like Panerai will only remove the coating if its damaged. Many people consider scratches in PVD finishes to be signs of real use, however. They feel that scratches give a "tool" watch some serious character, and wouldn't buff them out even if they could.

View the Seiko Velatura SRH005 photo gallery.

I've always been a big fan Seiko Kinetic watches. There's something about generating power through physical movement that I somehow find more intriguing than a static and stationary solar cell. I like how you can hear the rotor turn, and even feel the friction that generates the power. And I like how the power reserve indicator let you know if you've been giving your Seiko Kinetic enough wrist time. It may sound strange, but there's something a little more alive about a Kinetic watch than its solar or battery powered counterparts.

With the introduction of the new Kinetic Direct Drive movement which appears in four of Seiko's new Velatura watches (two available in the US — the SRH001 and the SRH005), the Kinetic experience gets even more interesting. Kinetic Direct Drive movements allow the watch to be "hand wound". Before the Direct Drive, there were three ways to charge your Seiko Kinetic:

1. Wave it back and forth for a minute or two to spin the rotor. Anyone who has ever owned a Kinetic is probably familiar with this motion.
2. Wear it. Daily use is more than enough to keep a Kinetic watch sufficiently charged. It's only when you have a Kinetic that is part of an extensive watch rotation that you have to concern yourself with keeping it charged.
3. Place it on a Kinetic charging unit. You can buy charging stands which conduct power directly into the capacitor through the case and dial of the watch to essentially "quick charge" it.

But now with the Kinetic Direct Drive, you can charge the capacitor directly simply by turning the driving wheel. The procedure is certainly much more natural and subtle than the martini shaking motion of the past.

The Seiko Kinetic Direct Drive takes what I love about Kinetic movements to the next level by making the charging process not just active, but actually interactive. Shortly after you start turning the drive wheel to charge the watch, the power reserve indicator jumps to life and turns into a real-time power generation indicator. It's a bit like a Kinetic tachometer, you might say. Here's how it works:

View the Timex iControl Photo Gallery.

MP3 players are becoming an increasingly standard piece of workout equipment. Music can help keep runners "in the zone" or help keep weight lifters' adrenaline pumping, and audio books and podcasts can help us make more efficient use of our workout time. Now that MP3 players are small enough, battery life is long enough, hard drives and flash memory is large enough, and prices are low enough, just about any athlete can have access hours of audio content anywhere their workout takes them.

But not all the problems have been solved. Although the iPod's user interface is widely considered revolutionary for its simplicity and intuitiveness, there's no getting around the fact that interacting with an MP3 player while working out is usually not very convenient. Removing your iPod from wherever it's stashed can be tricky while running, and after you've managed to retrieve it, the controls can be clumsy to use and the screen difficult to see. Of course, the risk of fiddling with your MP3 player too much while working out is that it can easily break your concentration and flow.

Enter the Timex iControl watch. Timex IRONMAN watches have always been designed to make interacting with them while running as simple and natural as possible, so why not extend the functionality of your watch to also control your iPod?

The Timex iControl watch is a fully functional IRONMAN with the following features:

View the Luminox Navy Seal Photo Gallery.

I look at a lot of different metrics when evaluating and reviewing a watch, however there's one metric that I hold above all others: wrist time. Wrist time is simply the amount of time I wear a watch beyond the amount of time needed to review it.

The Luminox Navy Seal does very well in this category. Although I can't pinpoint exactly why, I've been wearing it pretty consistently for weeks. I think it's a combination of comfort, tritium gas tube illumination (which I've really come to love), high-contrast readability, and overall value. How do I judge the overall value of a watch? Let me put it this way: the Luminox Navy Seal isn't the most sturdy watch I own, but if I ever managed to destroy it, I would have no problem spending the money to replace it, and would probably do so at the first opportunity.

That's not to say I expect to destroy it. The Luminox Navy Seal is a relatively inexpensive watch made from relatively inexpensive materials, however it's quite sturdy (don't confuse inexpensive with cheap). The polymer case is very solid, the crown is protected, and the mineral glass crystal should stand up to anything but a hard direct impact.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I love the tritium gas tube illumination system which allows the hands and hour indices to glow brightly and consistently for 25 years without having to absorb light. Since I don't use an alarm clock, and since I have kids who feel compelled wake me up throughout the night, I love always being able to easily read off the time. The Luminox Navy Seal is more than comfortable enough to wear to bed, so I've gotten in the habit of putting it on at night (if I'm not already wearing it), and wearing it all the way through my workout the next morning. Now that I have other watches to review, it usually has to come off when I get out of the shower, but occasionally I'll continue wearing it throughout the day.

Features of the Luminox Navy Seal 3001 include: