Hands-on with the RZE UTD-8000

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RZE UTD-8000

Digital watches have been on the rise in the last decade, especially Casio G-Shocks, which most consider the king of tough digital watches. Enter the RZE UTD-8000, a digital watch in a grade 2 titanium case, hard-coated to resist scratches, with a sapphire crystal protecting the display, all with a starting price of $250. And if you are wondering, UTD stands for Ultrahex Titanium Digital. Yes, a young microbrand known for its field watches and divers has dipped its toe into the digital watch world, and not only that, it has created a watch that can be considered an alternative to the metal Casio G-Shock watches. The UTD-8000 has a relatively simple digital module, time, date, a stopwatch, and an alarm, but to me, the selling point is the titanium and sapphire. It is scratch resistant, shock resiantat and water-resistant to 200m, and if you want the titanium bracelet, it still comes in under $500.

Speciffcations

42MM Case (41mm Bezel)
Grade 2 titanium Ultrahex case
13.4mm thick
49.5mm lug to lug
20mm lug width 
115 Grams (on bracelet)
Sapphire Crystal 
Shock Resistant
200m Water Resistant
3 Year battery
Titanium Bracelet (optional)

Price $250 (On Velcro Strap)

$450 on Titanium bracelet

https://www.rzewatches.com/pages/utd-8000-launch

Now I have to confess, I love G-Shock watches, and I have had a fondness for RZE watches since their very first release, and I have reviewed most of their watches here on the site. And back in 2018, I bought and reviewed a Casio Full Metal G-Shock, a watch that is long gone, while the more affordable rubber/plastic G-Shock watches have stayed with me. Why is that? Because even though the G-Shock has many more functions, I always felt the value for price for the Full Metal G’s was unbalanced. For $600,  they give you. a stainless steel case (a very solid and well finished case, mind you), and a mineral crystal, and anyone who has owned one and worn one for even a few months, knows it is fairly easy to scratch, at least the silver stainless model.

Now I think it’s important to point out that the RZE UTD-8000 is a rather simple digital watch, especially in comparison to many G-Shocks these days, and of course compared to smartwatches. The main display shows a large time readout, the day at the top, and the date below, and don’t worry, you’ll know which is which, because it says so on the white border separating the readouts. I do find it odd, but the face is cleaner than many G-Shocks, so I can overlook it. When you hit that mode button, you’ll find a chronograph, an alarm, and at the end then it goes into set mode as the RZE doesn’t have a dedicated set mode button. And while I am listing things it doesn’t have: no timer, no world time, no multiple alarms, and there’s no Bluetooth or app either.

Some will complain the font used for the days of the week is a little wonky as well ( it is), but again, this is a simple and clean digital watch, and I’m going to say what I think a lot of people have missed or omitted-this is a watch by a small microbrand. RZE is not Casio, they are not Garmin, or Timex. They don’t have billions of dollars. Yes, the module of the RZE UTD-8000 is more like a watch from the 80s, and there are some quirks, but it’s also their first attempt. How many variations of the Samsung Fold did they go through until they got to an everyday usable folding smartphone that didn’t cost $1800? So yes, the module may be simple, but it has other features that, at least at this price point, the G-Shock does not.

That would be the grade 2 titanium case and the sapphire crystal. The standard Full Metal G is stainless steel with mineral, and if you bought one of the standard titanium versions (which are no longer available directly from Casio), they started around $1500. If you opt for the default version of this watch, which comes with a velcro nylon strap, it $250, and if you want the RZE H link bracelet, it will cost $450. It’s available with the positive display shown in this review, a negative display, as well as a new gold-tone positive display, and there are a few color options available as well. The one I have is the black positive model.

The RZE UTD-800 doesn’t just look tough either, as RZE made sure to build them to the same standards they do their analog watches, while also engineering and constructing an even more complex case to provide the dust and shock resistance needed for a digital watch such as this, which you can see in the breakdown photo from RZE below.

The titanium case is hard-coated with RZE’s Ultrahex coating, as is the titanium bracelet, and the case is similar to RZE’s other watches, such as the Endevour or Reselute, except that instead of one large crown or two crowns, you have 4 push buttons. They aren’t inset like a G-Shock typically has, and while they may not be as protected, I actually prefer this, as they are much easier to push and use. The general design does follow the look of a G-Shock, especially the screwed in bezel, but with the rounded case with the angled sides, no one would mistake this for a G-Shock.

I also appreciate the size of the RZE UTD-8000. Many G-Shocks are pretty large, but wear small, including the square Gs, but this case style would wear pretty large if they went with a 44mm as an example. Alternatively, 40mm, the size of most other RZE watches, would make for a rather small display, so the case itself is 42mm, with a 41mm bezel, and for someone who gernally prefers a larger watch than a lot of microbrands make these days, I thnk RZE nailed the size and I never once felt it was underixized on my 7 1/2 inch (19.05cm) wrist.

The UTD-8000 comes standard on this nylon velcro strap, and look, I’m not going to be nice to it. I do not care for this velcro strap at all. Everhign is subjective in this world and this is just a strap that makes the watch look and feel cheap, and Im not a fan of how to attach it to the watch either, which is one side has a quick release pin installed on the strap, and they give you an extra quick releiease to put int eh opposite lug, so you can then loop the stap through. I find it ugly and uncomfortable, and find no reason to mince words here. RZE does make FKM rubber straps, beautiful rubber straps, and I feel those should be the default strap for this watch.

You can upgrade to the titanium H-link bracelet, though, and if you’re familiar with RZE, you know this bracelet. It’s a solid titanium bracelet with the Ultrahex coating, has quick-release pins, and a great quick tool extension. I love how it looks on the bracelet, though I did wear this watch on a few rubber straps I had in the drawer, and it was great on rubber as well, but the bracelet really does complete it. I will say, the screws in the links, the heads are very shallow, and it was challenging to get torque to get them out when sizing the bracelet, so much so, I had to take it to my watch repair guy, who also had a tough time doing it, but he was able to remove 2 links successfully. Here’s the good news, though. If you own a Resolute or Endevour, you have this bracelet, and can save yourself $200 if you don’t mind swapping bracelets out for when you want to wear either watch.

If you thought RZE left out a backlight on the UTD-8000, don’t worry, they did not. The blue-toned backlight lights up the display and numbers well, and stays on for a few seconds. And this may be ultra nitpicky, but I wish the button for it were on the right side and not the left. Wearing the watch on my left hand and having to reach over the case to push the button in the dark, it seems counterintuitive, and the majority of G-Shocks have this button on the right side as well, unless it’s one where the button is at the bottom of the bezel area.

Yes, the RZE UTD-8000 isn’t loaded up with all the features of many digital watches or smartwatches these days, but it has the basics, and to be honest, the more I wore this watch, and the more I thought about it,  I’m glad it’s not. If you want a smart watch, they are plentiful these days. If you want a watch with a heart monitor, step tracker, Bluetooth, and all that, well, Casio makes many versions with these features. If there were two things I wish RZE would add in future iterations of this watch, it would be a timer and maybe use solar quartz if they can.

Other than that, I think RZE did a great job, especially for their first attempt at a digital watch. RZE managed to make a good-looking titanium-cased digital watch with a sapphire crystal, and one that can take some punishment and abuse, go in the water, and can be worn without worry, which is how I wore and treated this watch for a period of around 3 weeks. I didn’t baby it and wore it as I would any of my G-Shocks, and it held up perfectly. Here’s hoping RZE continues this model for many years to come. ‘

RZE