Armida A10

I am not always fond of vintage homages, because they tend to use what I consider sub par crystals, such as plexiglas. Fortunately, Armida chose to use a flat sapphire crystal, which is another thing that adds to the value of the A10, as there are not a lot of watches out there with sapphire for $300 and under.

Armida did choose to go with a more vintage style bracelet, and the thing that initially concerned me was the folded end links. It has been quite some time since I have worn a watch with folded end links, and honestly, I had no issues. They do not feel cheap, they do not rattle like I thought they would have, and fit very well to the case. The one downside to the bracelet though, would be the use of the rivet style screws. I really like the look, but they make it a little tough to size. Two screwdrivers will be needed, and some patience.

A nice touch that was added was the addition of drilled lugholes. This is something that I always appreciate, especially when there are additional straps added to the package. It makes swapping bands easy, and for me, I prefer to wear it on the included “Cuda” rubber strap. (Full disclosure, I much prefer straps than bracelets these days). Not every watch looks good on a rubber strap, but with the Cuda strap being a copy of an Isofrane, I think adds to the vintage look of the A10 and compliments it very well. If anyone is not familiar with a Cuda strap, these are not the rubber straps that Armida used to use that had a “gummy” feeling about them, these are as close to an Isofrane that you will get, in both look and feel.

The lume on the matchstick style hands glows very bright and lasts about an hour or so before fading. You might not be able to tell in my photos that there are lume dot hour markers, but there is just not enough surface area to apply lume to these very tiny dots, and the lume was so faint the camera did not pick it up well enough. With that said, it is not a dive watch, and I did not expect the lume to be any better than it is. Actually with the thin hands, I was surprised the lume was as good on them as it is.

While the A10 does not have a screw down crown, the watch is rated water resistant to 200m, the standard of most dive watches. This is something I did not test, and quite frankly, I am not about to. While I am sure it will be fine when washing your hands, being in the rain, etc. I am not one that likes to do anything water related with a non-screw down crown. But, with its stated WR resistance, if you want to wear it in the pool, etc, go for it. I am guessing Armida would take care of any issues should they arise.