[Vaer C5 Design Navy Solar] Initial Thoughts
First, I’m not a collector or expert, I’m barely an enthusiast. I just like having a watch that wears well and keeps fairly accurate time. So this is less of a review (I would take it all with several grains of salt…) and more just my observations of a watch that seems to do what I’d expect a watch to do. Here we go:
A while back I was given a modded Seiko skx007. Tasteful mods- sapphire crystal, cerakoted case, bezel, and bracelet, and that’s about all. The finish was already worn when I got it and it’s a pretty hefty watch so, after wearing it for a while, I decided to add another timepiece to the mix. I liked the automatic movement on the SKX and - even though it seems that particular movement isn’t exactly the most accurate or robust- I still had good luck with it. It keeps time within a minute or two each month which is good enough for me. I toyed with the idea of a newer Seiko 5 to get the upgraded movement but the rest of the specs seemed like a step backwards - specifically the hardlex crystal and the fact that Seiko doesn’t seem to have done much to improve the lume (arguably my biggest gripe with the SKX is how dim the lume is even after sitting in direct light). Which brings me to what I expect a watch to do:
- Keep time - silly to even mention but I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the one core thing a watch should do
- Be able to take a certain amount of abuse - again, I’m not a collector and I don’t have a reason to have dress watches. I want something that I can wear daily and not worry about it getting scratched to hell immediately.
- Be waterproof - too easy to make them waterproof to not have that feature.
- Not tick excessively loudly - I want to see my watch, not hear it
- The lume should be visible for a reasonable amount of time - the SKX I have is not. Almost can’t read it at night not matter how much light it was exposed to
After some research digging through Reddit and online forums I stumbled upon Vaer, a micro-brand with seemingly favorable ratings and a decent selection of products. After looking into them I also discovered that their watch specifications seemed to tick all the boxes, especially for the price. I initially went into this set on another automatic but -after some time and looking- settled on a solar-quartz movement in the C5 Design Navy Solar. Coming in at 40mm with just over 11mm of height the size was about perfect. It also boasted a domed sapphire AR-coated crystal, screw down crown, 100m water resistance (with 2-year guarantee of zero water intrusion), and C3 SuperLuminova lume (15 layers. Not sure what the baseline for that is but I’m assuming it’s good since they mention it specifically). It also claims to have a 6-month power reserve after being exposed to direct sunlight for just 6-hours.
It took about 5 days to arrive after ordering and it hasn’t left my wrist since. It comes with two straps - a navy blue rubber strap and a khaki nylon strap - but can be ordered with leather or stainless bracelets. The rubber strap is nice enough and is great if you know you’ll be getting the watch wet or dirty. The nylon strap is actually pretty comfortable and is what I wear with it most days. It has a slight sheen to it that has grown on me. The lume is bright and the watch wears very well (in my opinion) with no issues with comfort wearing it through the night. There’s no discernible “tick” unless you put your ear right up to the watch and the domed crystal doesn’t distort the view of the dial except when looking from the very edge.
Overall I’m very happy with it and am eager to see how it holds up in the long term.
Does anyone else have experience with these watches? How about Vaer as a company? How have they worked out for you?