Zodiac Watches is a brand that dates back to 1882 but is now owned by the Fossil Group. Zodiac is created with creating the first purpose-built dive watch in 1953, called the Sea Wolf. The Super Sea Wolf was introduced in the 1970s.

Diameter: 40.1mm

Lug-to-lug: 48.3mm

Thickness: 13.4mm

Lug width is: 20mm

The watch has 200 meters of water resistance.

Looking at the face of this watch one can see the silver sunburst dial with an applied Zodiac logo at the 12 o’clock position, Super Sea Wolf text printed beneath that, and the automatic status and water resistance printed towards the 6 o’clock position. The hour markers are applied, with a green border and lume filled on each. The hour and minute hands are stick style, the watch does have a central seconds hand, and all three hands have lume applied. The hour and seconds hand are polished and the minutes hand is green. The crystal is sapphire and has an anti-reflective coating. The bezel insert is covered with a mineral crystal. The bezel is unidirectional and features 120 clicks. The bezel turns quite easily but does have a bit of backplay which you need to do to align the markers properly. The bezel insert is green with black markers, with a lume pip at the triangle marker. The dial also has an orange chapter ring with black markings printed at each minute.

The lume is decent but nothing groundbreaking or particularly impressive. The dial is well lumed.

The case is steel and features a mix of polished surfaces on the top of the lugs and brushed surfaces along the sides of the case. The crown is screw-down with the Zodiac logo and features four positions. In position zero the crown is screwed down. In position one the movement can be hand-wound. Position two allows the date to be quick-set. Position three allows the time to be set.

The watch has a closed caseback. The steel bracelet it came on features a butterfly deployant clasp with the Zodiac logo on it. This is my first butterfly clasp and it took a bit of getting used to.

This watch features the STP 3-13 movement which is considered in-house as it was developed by Fossil. This automatic movement has 26 jewels and uses a bidirectional rotor and features hacking, hand-winding, quick-date function, a 44 hour power reserve, and beats at 4 Hertz. The movement is clearly based on the ETA 2824-2 but does have a swan neck regulator. According to my timegrapher I get an average across six positions of +4.3 seconds/day, with a positional range of -1 second/day to +8 seconds/day.

My overall thoughts:

The positives:

• In-house mechanical movement

• Easy-to-read dial

• Good accuracy

• Comfortable bracelet

The negatives:

• QC (quality control) issues with the dial

• Questionable on the use of mineral crystal on the bezel while using sapphire for the dial

This watch retailed at $1,395 when I made my purchase.

I’m not sure yet if the mineral crystal choice for the bezel insert. It will scratch easier than sapphire, but is that by design? To mimic how aluminum bezels wear over time? Was it a choice to give the bezel more of a bakelite look that would be lost with a stronger crystal? I really don’t know.

However, the biggest issue I’ve had was the QC. I’ve actually worn two of these watches. The first one I received had debris on the dial, what appeared to be paint that splattered and dried onto the dial, discoloration of the minute hand (though only visible under magnification), and per my timegrapher the watch was off by over 13 seconds per day in all positions. I tried to regulate it myself and the regulating stud snapped. The authorized dealer sent me a new watch which they inspected and regulated before shipment. As noted earlier the timing was solid for this price-point but under magnification you can tell there is debris on the underside of the crystal. I’ve read and been told that Zodiac is known for these sort of QC issues so if you are the perfectionist type you may want to steer clear. I can’t really notice anything without magnification on the new watch I was sent (in certain lighting now that I know where to look I can make out the dust), the first one had a bit more naked eye visible but it was still slight. Still, for a watch over $1,000 I honestly think they should do better.

Overall though I like the unique color scheme and how the watch feels and wears. The bracelet is one of the more comfortable ones thanks to its ability to stretch.