Invicta vs. Submariner from WU
Invicta pro-diver & Submariner from WU
ALBUM:
To start this off I have had both watches for a little while now and figure both of them to be more or less entry level for people looking to get their feet wet. I have a gen omega (inherited) and wanted something a little nicer than my G-shock to wear all day, even at work as a machinist, and preserve my Omega.
I bought the Invicta pro-diver from amazon for $47.00 using only some searches for gold automatic date watch. It came a few days later and I couldn’t have been happier at the time. Learning about life with an auto winding watch was fun and the piece itself has nice features for the price. But now my feet are wet.
I google how to get a replica Rolex and end up here on r/Chinatime with all my hoodrat friends. I was lurking for a month or so before deciding to contact WU (Wu always comes thru) for a gold submariner and a gold Daytona. For the purposes of this comparison/review I will not touch on the Daytona.
I have at this point worn each watch, the pro-diver and submariner, for three month stretches having started with the Invicta. I have thoughts on both the watches and the rep game itself so, here goes.
GOLD PLATING:
I don’t want to pretend that either watch has any actual gold on it. I would be willing to bet that the invicta is Titanium nitride coated and not even a heavy plating. The plating on the Sub is much more “Gold” looking and better quality overall. Side by side I prefer the look of the plating on the Sub. I know that when it comes to reps or homages the general consensus is to stay away from gold plating and stick to stainless but at least with this submariner the plating is holding up well and I have been beating this watch up with hard daily use in a machine shop. I have a stainless as well and it’s holding up about as well as this plated sub.
Case and case back:
There are huge differences here but at this point I can say both cases are well made. The invicta has a better water resistance rating and I have taken this one in a 12 foot deep pool without any issue. The sub got wet once because I received the watch with a loose case back. Once I tightened down the back it has been water tight enough that ive worn it in the shower and washing hands but don’t really trust it enough to swim with. The designs are both nice just different. The sub has bigger/bulkier case bug and crown guard which I prefer the look of since I have big ass wrists. The invicta has a nicely finished case and a HUGE engraving on the side. The display case back is on the invita is neat since the movement inside looks decent but it does add to the overall thickness and wearing height.
BEZEL:
The bezel is dog shit on the invicta, two weeks in and the lume pip just disappeared from the insert and the machining on the aluminum bezel is not as crisp as the sub. The Bezel is a huge difference between the two watches. The invicta bezel machining is so smooth that is can be difficult to rotate because the spring mechanism underneath is super stiff. The submariner is much more refined where the bezel is concerned. The clicks are finer and operate smoothly, the scallops on the outside are smooth enough to be pointy without being sharp which enhances grip. The Submariner bezel spring work so well I bump it out of proper orientation every now and then when digging in my pockets. The engraving on the inserts are very different when sitting side by side, the invicta has more of a polished look where the sub is more matte. It’s not that the sub is dull in any way it’s more that the invicta is overly shiny.
Glass:
I would be surprised if either watch was sapphire but the glass on the invicta is very nice. The sub glass is more reflective and catches a lot more glare than the invicta. I also prefer the cyclops on the invicta because it offers more of that “black Hole” effect and the glare on the sub make the date useless unless you tip the watch just right. I haven’t scratched the glass on either watch, and I work on a Swiss lathe with stainless all day where cuts and scratches are commonplace.
DIAL:
Both dials are well made and easily legible. I hate the design on the invicta where the lume is this weird greenish color and doesn’t hold a candle to the sub in the dark. The hour markers on the invicta have a strange metal ring to lume fill ratio that is similar to the worst shitters we see on here. The lume on the submariner blows away the invicta. Lume on the sub is blue, like really blue and very easy to see in the dark even for hours. The invicta lume is a dim toxic sludge green for 20 mins tops.
HANDS:
Both watches are decent. The differences are mostly just carried over from the Lume and plating discrepancies. The sub hands look the part but aren’t as refined, and the invicta hands have better finishing and polish. Glaringly obvious difference is the second hand on the invicta where the lumed dot is at a different position that, when combined with the lume color, can make it hard to read. The wings on the end are finished well.
End Links:
The submariner uses Solid End links (SEL) and this particular piece is fit pretty well…..if seen worse on r/reptime level watches. The Invicta uses hollow end links with the link pivot position indexed in a very different spot than the Sub. I have large wrists and this hasn’t made any noticeable difference to me but the design of the invicta end link is executed poorly in my opinion.
Bracelet:
The submariner bracelet is awesome. Even without the glidelock clasp the watch is comfortable and sleek. The corners of the links are crisper on this one and could even be considered sharp which I don’t prefer because normally the hard corner is easy to ding up, but that hasn’t happened at all yet.
The bracelet on the invicta is trash. It doesn’t taper toward the clasp, it stays uniform in width throughout which looks better to me but isn’t as comfortable. The clasp is clunky and gritty when opening or closing and the edges are sharp. To touch again on the plating, the bracelet on the invicta has begun rubbing off at the corners of the links and the clasp which looks terrible.
Also the Sub uses threaded screws to hold the links to each other and the Invicta uses low quality pins.
Movement:
This invicta uses an NH35a Seiko movement. This thing is a powerhouse. It’s got a ton of power reserve and unless it sits over the weekend I almost never have to hand wind it. My only nag is that the date changes slowly from 9:00-12 instead of quickly right at 12 but given the nature of this Seiko movement some light modding could fix that. The rotor isn’t super quiet but is far from being noisy.
The submariner I got has a DG2813 inside. The 2813 has the same bps as the NH35 so glides too, not super smoothly, but no complaints really it is still better than a quarts. The dg2813 changes the date very quickly right at 11:55 but the power reserve isn’t great. I don’t use a winder of any kind and this watch will stop overnight almost every night even when I hand wind a few times in the morning. Because the power reserve sucks I end up having to wind and set the time of this thing WAYYY more than I would like to since every time I use the keyless works I feel like I’m chancing breaking it. The Rotor in this unit is pretty noisy. I can hear it spin even when it isn’t spinning in the winding direction and, when it’s winding it sound like a socket wrench. The movement in the invicta is far and away superior.
To summarize my thoughts:
Neither watch is the wrong choice.
The invicta I bought at a sale price but normally runs about 60 bucks. The sub cost me 80 because I was buying three things total when I ordered from WU. For the $20 difference the sub looks and feel so much better than the invicta.
I am machinist and gunsmith so I’m mechanically inclined and have a tendency to tinker with everything. I plan on modding the Invicta and trying to change some of the things I hate about it. Right now the NH35a found in the invicta will run you about 60 bucks on its own. So buying this watch to get used to wearing an auto was a good move in my opinion because I plan to tinker with it in order to learn about modding. If I throw a bracelet form WU on it, a new dial with some hands and it will rock all day and night. The submariner looks and feels great but it also a lot less reliable.
If you want something in the middle Pagani Design is the move. They mostly look the part and a bunch of them have Seiko movements inside.
The Invicta would be great for modding but is pretty lack luster in everything except the movement and maybe the glass.
This particular sub from Wu has been great. I even got water inside on accident and once I got it dried out its working fine, even if it is on borrowed time. The fit and finish of this sub is just sooo much nicer than the Invicta. Moving forward, for the money I will probably just buy a rep with a nicer movement inside. IF you’re not trying to mod it at all, save your money and spend the extra 30 bucks on the rep even if you have to wait for two month ship times, I was blown away.
WU is my guy for the Rolex stuff and I plan to get an omega from Jason pretty soon.