OK, disclaimer: I bought this watch elsewhere with a discount, but as I write this review I think the price here is now about the same so I might as well have ordered it here. I have way too many watches, due to a rampant watch (and specifically chronograph) fetish. My tastes run to affordable but stylish chronos that are either sporty, dive-inspired, or pseudo-military. This Timex reminds me of the kind of watch a tank commander might have worn in North Africa around the battle of Tobruk. You know, I write novels so I like to spin narratives... my point is that it has that retro military look. Its case is a sort of chocolate color steel, the band is brown calfskin with light stitching and very soft. The face is large but not excessively so, and the dial is also a desert tan in color: it would match your LRDG Land Rover desert camouflage as you stood on its "bonnet" to peer over a nearby dune. It's desert tan, which -- in my case -- was attractive because I prefer silver and black cases. This is my only brown-tone case, and the only suede band. The numbers around the dial are not the usual 3-6-9-12, but 5-10-15-20-25 etc. to 60 in 5-min increments. The three sub-dials are crisply painted in a lighter tan (almost but not quite yellow) so they really stand out. The calendar window replaces the 20 mark and is outlined by a rounded-corner rectangle that highlights it. The outer case is simple, almost antiqued... reminiscent of an older timepiece. My assessment so far is that this watch is a very nice addition to my collection, fits a niche I didn't have represented, and makes a distinctive statement on my wrist without being overly large and ungainly (I do like large, by the way, but this watch face is reasonably conservative in size). So even if you're not a British LRDG member hunting Rommel, or a pilot doing recon for those elusive Panzer divisions, you can almost pretend you are living that adventurous life when you wear this affordable replica representative of a simpler time. If I have any operational issues, I'll update the review. Timex does not include a particularly nice box, and the instructions are a much-folded flimsy sheet with generic steps for setting time and date and resetting sub-dials -- they do the job, but they could be a bit more substantial. Perhaps it's because of the low price-point... don't let that deter you if you like the watch's style. (Addendum: I forgot to mention the Indiglo function, which is accessible at a push of the crown and backlights the watch's face in blue -- works well and is a thoughtful addition to an already fine timepiece. I've had it for several months and it has performed flawlessly so far.)

--W.D. Gagliani, author of SAVAGE NIGHTS