I've always been the jewelry lover in our home. My husband quit wearing his high school ring by his freshman year in college, never got a college ring and wore the last watch I gave him (Fossil) only when I was looking. Once the battery died, the watch was never seen from again. In the years since that first watch, the only piece of jewelry he's ever worn was his wedding ring. This may be the piece of jewelry that changes everything. Despite the fact that the diamonds may add a little too much bling for his taste, he really likes this watch.

The band on this watch does not lay flat; it attaches at a curve. Neither of us had ever owned a watch with this type of band, so Mike was not sure how it would wear. It is a great design; the curve of the watch band makes sure that the watch will not twist while you wear it. When you put the watch on face up, you can assure that it will be in the same position at the end of the day. Not only is the shape of the watch functional, but comfortable as well.

This watch is self-winding, which is a great feature. If you happen to have a few lazy days or don't wear the watch for a while, you always have the option to wind it by hand. The really cool thing about the self-winding feature is the visual aspect on the back of the watch. The counterweight can be seen through the back of the watch, as can the watch gears. I can't express how cool this looks. Mike has actually taken the watch off several times to show people the gears in the back. It is a nice touch and shows off the great craftsmanship. There is something innately cool about seeing gears move on a watch, something that you won't get from a battery or quartz watch.

The face of the watch is a very thick convex glass. It makes for an interesting visual addition to the watch. I suspect the slight magnification out the outer edges is by design to make the diamonds appear a little larger than they actually are. I was actually really surprised by the size of the diamonds; usually when jewelry has decorative diamond accents of this style, you see more of the settings than the actual diamonds. This isn't the case with this watch. I was very surprised by the generous size of the diamonds. I wish the description gave a cttw in addition to the number (53) of diamonds.

There is a definite difference in the look and feel of a watch of this price and quality versus a less expensive watch. It is very heavy. Every care is taken in the smallest details of this watch. From the exquisite detailed stitching on the leather band to the beautiful mother of pearl dials, you can look at this watch and tell that it is a quality timepiece. With a watch like this, Mike does not have to "show" people his watch; they notice it on their own and ask him about it.

As for how well it keeps time, the first couple of weeks Mike wore it, he reset it to the second every morning and consistently found that is was with one or two seconds after 24 hours. Sometimes it ran slow, but usually it gained time. For anyone not familiar with this type of watch, this is exceedingly good timekeeping.

If I had any critique of the watch, it would be that the instruction book was a generic Invicta manual and warranty. For the cost of these watches, I would hope that the book would be specialized to my specific watch, not giving me information that may not apply to me. I can understand how this would be a lot of work for a company, and I guess more information is always better than not enough.

So now, when we stop by the jewelry store to get my stuff checked or cleaned, we linger a little longer while he looks at the nice watches. I think it's a good thing that he's cultivating a taste for fine jewelry.... as long as he doesn't outshine me!