Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of sitting down with (read: frequently emailing) Mitch Feig, owner and founder of Ocean7 Watch co. You might remember that I had the opportunity to review two Ocean7 watches (the G2 and LM-2) earlier this year, and I walked away impressed with the high quality, reasonable prices, great customer service, and client interaction. After getting to know Mitch a little better, I feel he is yet another reason to consider buying an Ocean7. He is a successful entrepreneur who spends his time answering questions on forums, and ensuring that customer feedback never falls on a deaf ear.

JS: Have you always loved watches?

MF: Yes, I have always loved watches.  I have a degree in computer science, but I studied watch making for two years, in the early 1990’s. I am comfortable working on mechanical watches including chronographs. I have a little experience with quartz movements.

View the Casio Edifice photo gallery.

A few months ago, I received an interesting and rather surprising watch in the mail: a Casio Edifice EFX700D-1A1V. I like some Casio models, but as a whole, they usually don't register as one of my favorite brands, primarily due to the styling of their most popular lines. I could never get behind the G-Shocks (unlike Christian), and despite the amazing functionality of the Pathfinder family, I always found them too big for my wrist. In retrospect, it was probably because of this bias of mine that Christian passed the Edifice on to me. I think he wanted to challenge my preconceptions.

I must admit, the watch I received changed my view of Casio in a profound way. The Casio Edifice EFX700D-1A1V (hereby referred to as the “Edifice 700”) is a great looking watch — probably the first analogue/digital combination watch I've seen that actually looks better then the analogue-only version. It's just a flat-out good looking watch by almost any standard, mixing styles and influences, sporting a high-contrast dual display and a very respectable feature list:

• Sapphire crystal.
• 100 meter water resistant (about 330 feet).
• Electroluminescent backlight.
• Dual time.
• Stopwatch with a 60 lap memory.
• 3 alarms.
• Countdown timer.
• Solid stainless steel bracelet.
• $210 retail (which we consider to be very aggressive).

View the TX 730 photo gallery.

When we think of Timex, we usually think of the king of the American bargain bin. Timex is known for inexpensive "drugstore" watches sold in places like Walmart and Target. But they are good inexpensive watches, and because they are such a good value, we like Timex. Besides, any company that has put over a billion watches on wrists over the years deserves and gets our respect.

And now, with their new TX line of premium quartz watches, Timex deserve even more respect. The TX 730 Flyback Chronograph is a watch to stand against the canons of Asian elites like Seiko and Citizen. Like Ford beating Ferrari with the GT40 in the LeMans in 1966, Timex is showing the world that even a good old-fashioned American staple can rise to the occasion.

Features of the TX 730 include:

• PVD coated stainless steel case, and PVD coated bracelet with solid end links (SEL).
• 46mm case.
• German designed 6-hand quartz movement.
• Sapphire crystal.
• Analog time, retrograde GMT, retrograde chronograph, and compass.
• Date between the 2 and 3 o'clock positions.
• 100m water resistance (about 330 feet).
• Retail price of $550.

Case and Hands

Given the price point, the case is very good, and the finish is on par with the Seikos and Citizens that tend to dominate this price range. The crystal is flat and sits over an inky black dial with inlaid markers that are too small to glow brightly in low light. The hands are interesting, unique, and nicely fashioned, however they, too, do not glow as brightly as I would have liked. This is one area where TX has some room for improvement.

View the Rolex Sea-Dweller photo gallery.

Without a doubt, the Rolex Sea-Dweller is one of my favorite watches of all time. It represents everything I look for in a watch of this sort: simplicity, quality, functionality, and stark beauty.

The Sea-Dweller is one of the less common Rolex sport models. While the Submariner is produced in several combinations of materials and colors, there is only one Sea-Dweller. It is only available in all stainless steel, and only with a black dial and black bezel. Rolex designed the Sea-Dweller purely as a dive tool — not a fashion accessory.

Features of the Rolex Sea-Dweller:

• Guaranteed waterproof to 1,200 meters, or 4,000 feet (that's significantly higher than the 1,000 foot rating of the Submariner).
• 40mm stainless steel case which sits 14.5mm high.
• Ultra-thick synthetic sapphire crystal.
• Unidirectional rotating bezel with a corrosion resistant anodized aluminum insert.
• No date magnifier. I don't mind the "cyclops" on my Explorer II, but I prefer the cleaner look of the Sea-Dweller.
• Helium escape valve. Developed in cooperation with the French industrial diving company, Comex, the helium escape valve allows helium molecules to safely escape without popping the crystal off the watch during decompression (I told you this is a hardcore dive tool).
• Dive extension. The dive extension on the Sea-Dweller is actually nothing to write home about, but it's sufficient. This is one of the biggest improvements of the new Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA.
• Triplock screwdown crown. The Triplock system uses an additional rubber gasket (clearly visible when the crown is unscrewed) beyond the Twinlock system used on many other Rolex sport models like the old GMT Master II and the Explorer II. The crown threads beautifully, and feels incredibly robust and secure.
• Quick-change and quick-set date. Quick-change means that the date changes over to the next day instantly almost exactly at midnight (as opposed to changing gradually over the course of several minutes before and after midnight). Quick-set means that you can set the date while the crown is pulled out to the second position rather than having to change the time in order to change the date.

Some other interesting facts about the Rolex Sea-Dweller, and Rolex in general:

View the Immersion Prowler photo gallery.

Up for review today is a dive computer wristwatch from a lesser known Italian company: The Immersion Prowler. It's a digital data logger, dive computer, and full-featured watch, all in a 200m (660ft) water-resistant housing.

Let's start with the feature list:

• Stainless steel case with rubber side guards.
• Integrated rubber strap with machined buckle and clever strap retainer. It's also long enough to easily go over a 1cm wetsuit.
• Swiss-made depth sensor.
• Dive mode which starts automatically by the pressure sensor on the left side (more on this below). In dive mode, it logs the min and max depths for each dive.
• Always-visible temperature sensor, in Celsius or Fahrenheit.
• Film supertwist nematic LCD. These are the ones with a brilliant green hue from certain angles which makes it very readable.
• Electroluminescent backlight for the entire display.
• Battery life indicator. Around the outside of the dial from about 5:30 to 9:30, there is a 11-bar battery "gas gauge" that shows remaining battery life. In a safety-critical item like a dive computer, this is a great feature.
• In dive mode, the backlight comes on automatically when you tilt your wrist, as do many Casio G-shock watches. Nice touch.
• The dive log records a total of 50 dives, with log date & time, max depth, min depth, and temperature at each recorded data point.
• Sleep mode. You can have the display turn itself off after a configurable interval, to be instantly activated on any button press. Also an excellent idea, especially for a watch that you may only break out a few times a year.
• Fast ascent warning. An alarm warns you that you are surfacing too rapidly and are risking the bends.

There is also a full complement of digital watch features:

In January, we told you about the Nike Amp+ iPod watch which doubles as a remote control for your iPod Nano. Recently, Nike introduced the Nike+ SportBand which seems to be a variation on the theme with a slightly different focus.

The SportBand answers the question "What if I don't want to run with music?" This isn't as theoretical as you might think since many races ban music players. With the Nike+ SportBand, you can see all the same information that the Nike Amp+ iPod displayed on the screen of your Nano (pace, distance, calories burned, etc.), but on an LCD integrated into the SportBand itself rather than on the screen of your iPod.

Like the Nike Amp+, you can still upload your running data when you get home, so it's just as well integrated into the whole Nike/Apple ecosystem. All you do is pop the Nike+ Link out of the SportBand, and plug it directly into your computer's USB port.

Nike has also introduced a web-based coaching system called Nike+ Coach with professionally crafted programs for a range of fitness goals. Everything from "Walk to run" to "Marathon" is laid out with motivational tools, progress tracking, peer challenges, and more. This might sound trivial, but I'm here to tell you that workout buddies — even virtual ones — are a major factor in keeping up an exercise program. Of course, you probably have to have the hardware to make much use of the virtual coach, but the cost of entry is really pretty minimal. The Nike+ SportBand sells for a very reasonable $59.

By Paul Hubbard