The first thing that strikes you about the Invicta Men's 1512 I Force Collection Chronograph Strap Watch is it's size. This is not a watch for diminutive people. In the infamous words of the character Bean, it is large. It even looks large on their own diagram of a human arm included in the picture set here on Amazon. At some point, large watches apparently were popular with a certain segment of society and Invicta was there to supply the demand. Personally, I find that it's much larger than necessary, but perhaps the race set has a "bigger is better' mentality or they simply wanted a very small clock. It comes in a very nice leatherette case in bright Invicta yellow and a booklet is inside to help the owner come to terms with it's various time-keeping functions.

And this is where a bit of confusion sets in.

The manual in question has instructions for their entire line of watches. Figuring out which watch you have and the functionality of it per the manual is a bit tricky. Invicta manufactures a plethora of watches with various 2-position crowns and all are included in this one manual. This particular watch's crown has two positions, the first is for setting the date and the second is for setting the time. It took me a few minutes with a magnifying glass to figure out what was actually happening on the watch's face in both positions. (Note: Even more confusion set in after going to the Invicta website and trying to locate this specific watch for it's manual. Entering in the model number resulted in nothing coming up.) There is also a stopwatch which can be used to time various events and the wearer can use buttons on either side of the crown to start and stop the action while watching the milliseconds, seconds and minutes accumulate on three separate dials. The figures are also handily luminescent once the watch is exposed to at least a few minutes of bright light and you can dive in up to 330 feet of water without damaging the watch, but seriously, why would you want to wear this beautiful watch while diving when they make much less expensive diver's watches for just that purpose? Perhaps if you are pushed off the dock at a yacht party, it's nice to know that while your tux may be a bit fishy afterwards, your watch will still work like new.

It is a seriously beautiful watch offered at a huge discount. But in this age of cell phones and computers, the known time is all around us and I'm afraid that there will come a day (video screens and internet connections on a watch withstanding) when we'll see the death of the watch as a time keeping device. That said, I'll only wear this to special engagements where I'm sure I'll receive approving nods and glances throughout the evening.