Every so often I have a look at what’s on offer around the watch world. And this time I was having a look at affordable chronographs, preferably mechanical, but came across the rather outstanding looking Quartz powered Detomaso Sorpasso. I was quite intrigued in particular by the Diallo Blu model, at first on it’s looks alone and was curious to see if this particular dial colour combination of yellow and white? actually worked out. And of course how did it’s chrono function stack up.
It was an inexpensive watch at just about £130 here in the UK – so did it’s performance match it’s looks?
No doubt it is a striking looking bright yellow dial with recessed sub-dials and a triple Date window scroll window @6. All contained in a rather stylish 316L ‘blued’ 316L stainless steel case. It measures 42mm diameter and 12mm depth and has the triple date indication window – very handy if the date is hidden by one of the hands – as you can see yesterday’s and tomorrow’s date either side – This date also has very good contrast and easy to read.
According to Brand data this model features luminous hands and markers, but don’t be fooled by the marketing picture (below) showing amazing luminous hands – probably taken right after a bright light was shone on the dial – however that said, in practice I could just manage to read the time all night when I tried it out, though definitely NOT as bright as shown. But, yes this watch does have readable luminous hands & markers. So, that’s a plus.
As to the amazing colour of the dial – the hour and minute hands can be seen OK as the hands are outlined in a silver edge with luminous infill paint and the edges appear black most, but not all of the time in normal light. The dark coloured chrono centre seconds centre sweep hand has good contrast, though not so the white tip against yellow in practice. I would prefer it to be all dark for clarity, after all it’s the tip that shows against the index that you have to read.
The recessed sub dials also have part black and white tipped pointers and again white is not effective and the fact the 60 minute sub-dial @9. Also as this dial has no detailed index, it is not so easy to see what it indicates exactly – in other words – for example the chrono has run for just over after 2 minutes, it’s difficult to confirm exactly as the small pointer indicates ‘somewhere’ between 0 and 5. An index is essential in my opinion.
The chrono is started by a very firm push on the top right pusher, stopped by the same pusher and reset by the lower pusher. On reset the centre sweep hand runs back clockwise to Zero and the sub-dial minute pointer jumps to Zero.
This is a feature of the Miyota 6S21 quartz movement which appears to have some of the functions of the so-called meca-quartz. The chrono operation has a mechanical feel when operating the pushers, though for me these are too stiff and NOT smooth in operation (sometimes you press it and it doesn’t – so you have to do it again!).
The chronograph features 4 beats/sec on the centre seconds hand, so measures to 1/4 second (but with no index to really pinpoint that position) it’s simply not good enough for chronograph timing – perhaps OK for a rough time record for a parking meter? However, I have seen this movement on other watches which have proper detail on the indexes, which is more sensible.
So for me whilst the chronograph movement is OK, the lack of a detailed printed index on the sub-dial is not.
Whilst I like the look of the watch (the reason I bought it), as a chrono it is quite basic.
Conclusion –
The looks of this model promises so much more than it delivers. Yes, it looks great and it looks and wears nice on the wrist – a talking point almost.
It has a nicely finished case and as a basic good looking watch, it works. It has a domed scratch resistant sapphire hardened glass, 5bar Water Resistance and a 2 year guarantee. Accuracy is listed as +/- 20 seconds/month (this movement often betters this rating) and I believe a SR927W or 395/9 battery with approximately 3 years life.
But for a chronograph maybe expected something better. The lack of chrono sub-dial details are annoying and the stiff pushers I hope will ease. And those white tips to the seconds hand and sub dial hands, really don’t help with clarity – white against yellow just doesn’t work.
However, despite the Brand apparently having won a few German watch awards – in regards this particular model? – I’m not convinced.
Just noted in these images here, I ‘d been trying out various straps at the time of taking images for this Post! And the strap shown is not as supplied.
The original strap is actually an excellent recycled plastic Ocean model with matching neon blue buckle and I apologise for not showing it, as it turned to be better than expected!
So, the soft silicon one shown here was temporarily (but with their buckle) used in place, just to see how it looked and my fault (I’m a bit of a “nut” about straps and bracelets and tend to try out various ones with any new watch).
In fact Detomaso have a range of very good 22mm wide straps, quite pricey, yes, but very good indeed and I’ve already bought some.
Watch space 