Crepas Loggerhead | Hands On Review

Crepas Loggerhead

If you are not familiar with Crepas Watches, you have probably not been following microbrands for that long. Crepas hit the scene a few years ago and between Crepas and their sister brand Tactico, they have surely made a name for themselves. Some of their more popular releases have been the El Buzo, the Tektite and the Cayman 3000. That brings me to the one I have in hand today, the Crepas Loggerhead. The Loggerhead is in its last stretch of the preorder as I write this and should be delivered within a few weeks (first or second week of August). The Loggerhead is a collaboration with Divers Watches Facebook Group, a very popular watch facebook group that of course centers around Dive Watches.

Crepas Loggerhead Specifications:

• 44mm Stainless Steel Case
• 52mm Lug to Lug
• 14.5 mm Thick
• 229 Grams in Weight
• 22mm Lug Width
• Sapphire Crystal
• Beads of Rice Bracelet
• ETA 2824 Automatic Movement
• WR to 1000 Meters

Price $619 USD

http://www.crepaswatches.com/styled/styled-2/photos-11/index.html 

http://www.diverswatchesgroup.com/

Divers Watches Facebook Group has worked with a few companies over the years and produced some really great dive watches. That said, I feel the Crepas Loggerhead is probably my favorite of the bunch, that is at least until they do a DWFG Edition Doxa. The Loggerhead is a watch that I knew I was going to love from the moment I saw it. It is the vintage 70s style that I adore and has a Beads of Rice bracelet. I knew I needed to get one of these in hand and Ana from Crepas was happy to arrange it. The prototype I have in hand for review is the all lume dial, but my favorite of the bunch has to be the ocean blue version. That one is truly calling my name and has been haunting me in my dreams. Fortunately, these watches will be ready soon, so I will not have to wake up in cold sweats much longer.

All kidding aside, the Crepas Loggerhead is a great watch and in many ways almost perfect for me. Notice I said almost. Yes, as usual, I have a few things I can pick on and one of them would be the size. I love this watch but I wish it was 42mm. These days, that is a size I love to wear and not only would it be more wearable in the size department, but it would have reduced the weight as well. I have been wearing this Casio All Metal a lot and I don’t realize how much lighter in weight it is until I put on a heavier piece such as the Loggerhead. Most will not find this watch to be very heavy as they are used to watches over 200 grams. I just prefer something a little lighter on a daily basis.

If I am being really picky, I would love to have drilled lugs. It just makes it so much easier for removing the bracelet and strap changes. Granted, I probably will not want to take the BOR bracelet off too much, but it still would have been a nice added feature. I am still unsure on the end link of the bracelet though. I somewhat wish it continued with the BOR links and not the big slab of metal. Maybe it will grow on me. The other minor issue is the spacing of the water resistance measurements on the dial. They just look a little far apart for me and I wonder why that was done. It is not a huge deal, but it is something I immediately noticed. Other than that, the dial is great; applied markers, easy to read hour and minute and hand the date at 3 o’clock.

If you have not watched the video yet or somehow glanced over it in the specifications, the movement used for the Crepas Loggerhgead is the tried and true ETA 2824. Now, I have talked at length about movements over the years in many different watch reviews and I think it is widely known that the ETA 2824 is a well regarded Swiss movement. It is the workhorse of the bunch and a movement that set many of standards in its time. It is not the best movement out there by far, but it is nice to see it in the Loggerhead at the price of $619. Going back 7-10 years, it was the norm to see this movement at this price or lower, but many factors have changed that over the years and most microbrands cannot afford the ETA or cannot get their hands on them. Just because Crepas chose the ETA movement, does not mean they need to show it off. Instead, they chose a  sea turtle engraving for the case back, and I have to say, I do like it.

Getting back to one of my favorite aspects of the Loggerhead, and that is the bracelet. If you follow Watchreport on Social Media, you might have seen that about 6 months or so ago I had picked up an Irreantum Magellan. They were another great microbrand that is unfortunately no longer producing watches as the people did not have the time to continue to grow the brand and do it properly. Anyways, that watch is very similar to the Loggerhead in that they are both 44mm, both draw inspiration from 70s styled watches and both came with the BOR bracelet. The biggest difference though is that the Magellan had the rachet dive clasp, where the Loggerhead has the more traditonal flip lock clasp with dive extension. These days, I think I prefer the traditonal clasp as it is not as large and bulky and just wears better on the wrist, especially with a bracelet such as this. One sided screws are used to hold the links together, so sizing is a breeze.

-Crepas Loggerhead Lume-

It is quite obvious that I am pretty enamored with the Crepas Loggerhead. It just ticks a lot of boxes for me. The overall design is right up my alley and the finishing is fantastic, which I expected nothing less from Crepas. This can easily be an $8-900 watch these days but being able to grab one for just over $600 is great. As always, I never try and sell you a watch here. Some watches I love more than others, and that comes across in the reviews, and this one falls in the “love a little more” category. It is not perfect, as I do point out a few things I would have done different, but it is a great looking and comfortable watch and I can’t wait to get the blue dial on my wrist. Don’t forget to check out the Crepas Website and if you are on Facebook, go ahead and join the Divers Watches Facebook Group. If you like dive watches, you will definitely enjoy the group.