REVIEW – A good go to watch is a must have for anyone that wants to show a little sophistication on a daily basis. I don’t mean a smartwatch gadget on your wrist. I mean a traditional watch. Whether it’s analog or digital, there is just nothing like having a singular-purpose, time-telling watch you can count on just giving you the time. And maybe the date too, I guess. The Armitron Parker watch does just that at a price that is hard to pass up.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $95.00
Where to buy: Armitron
What is it?
The Armitron Parker is a small sleek everyday dress watch that comes in a variety of different colors and finishes from silver to gold, no subdials or 3 subdials, and leather or metal link bands.
What’s included?
- Armitron Parker watch
Tech specs
- Stainless Steel case
- Blue leather band with metal buckle closure
- Mineral crystal
- Analog movement
- Water resistance to 100 feet
- 38mm case width
- 44mm case length
- 9.1mm case depth
Design and features
To start off I have to say that this watch looks great! It has a subtle sophistication to it that will class up any outfit from a business professional one to casual lounging around the house-afternoon wear. At a glance or from afar it looks like it punches well above its weight class (or price class I guess). That said, if you take a closer look you start to see that price class that it actually sits in.
The first thing to take a look at is the bezel. The contrast of the polished finish of the bezel against the bruised finish of the case looks great and gives some depth to the watch.
However looking a little closer you notice the screws around the bezel. They seem to be real screws, but once you get close you can see that they are in fact just molded into the bezel. Just for the looks. But I have a hard time holding it against this watch too much. Looking nice at a glance is half the purpose of a watch overall. So not a huge deal.
The case is made of durable stainless steel. Even after heavy wear day after day for the better part of 3 weeks there are no visible scratches. It holds up really well.
The mineral crystal of the face also shows no signs of scratches or wear and tear after my time sporting the watch.
Fingerprints are an issue, but only in so much that it picks up prints quite easily. However, the lighter silver color does hide fingerprints quite well. That said, because of the SS finish and crystal face the prints wipe off with a quick graze across your shirt or a glasses cleaning cloth.
The band is also a bit of a mixed bag. It looks nice, but unfortunately, that’s about it for the pros in regard to the band. At first, it was quite stiff, but that loosened up over a couple of days of constantly wearing it. I also used some mink oil to help the process. The first big issue is that it’s “genuine leather”. This is one of the biggest misleading terms in leather. It’s supposed to reassure you that it’s, in fact, leather. What it really means is that there is some percentage of leather included in the construction, and that could be as little as 1%. The back of the band seems to be leather. It has a nice smooth finish and is pretty comfortable against the skin. But the blue top of the band I suspect is “some other type of material”, and could be why it’s as stiff as it is. I could be wrong here so that is completely speculation.
But what the hell is this band connector?! Why on earth did they not choose to put a standard lugged connector on this watch!? It would honestly be such a chameleon of a watch if you could switch out the bands daily for a different look. After quite a bit of googling, all I was able to find was that it’s a type of band used on an Omega Constellation watch. If you do some digging, you can find some replacement bands, but they seem to be extremely few and far between. I really wish they would have used a standard lugged band on this. I like to order bands from a company called Barton Watch Bands. And for the life of me, I could not find any compatible straps on their site.
The watch is also very thin, and easily slips under the cuff of a sweatshirt or dress shirt without even knowing it’s there. But when it does peek out it looks quite nice.
Performance
One noticeable omission is the lack of any light or even lume on the dial. However, I don’t think you should buy a watch like this to wear around the clock and check the time in the dark. It’s just not that type of watch.
It does say 100 meters water resistance, but I wouldn’t push your luck. I’m sure the case will hold up to the water, but I would be worried about the band getting damaged after not too much exposure.
The band/buckle pulled my hair a little every time I put the watch on, but I think that is more a “me” thing than an “everyone will experience this” thing.
And if we are on the subject of “only things that will affect me” things; I’m very sensitive to the sound of a ticking clock or watch. Kind of like Captain Hook. When I was 5 or 6 I remember getting a stegosaurus clock for my birthday. And it only lasted one night in my room. I could not for the life of me ignore it and fall asleep that night. So for the rest of the time I had it, it was without batteries. It was just a wooden Stegosaurus sitting on a shelf with clock hands that never moved. This watch is not loud enough to hear when just going about my day, or even at night when I lay down to go to bed. But I did have to make it a point not to put my wrist too close to my head when trying to sleep. But again, this is a very personal issue. I’m sure not everyone will have to be so aware of how close to their head they have the watch. Also, this is not really a watch you wear while sleeping anyway. I think it’s meant to be worn as a nice piece while dressed up. Something to be slim and discrete on the wrist while going out.
The last point here is that it did not come with a manual at all, though they did have a PDF of one on the website. And to be honest it is pretty straight forward. Pull out the crown one notch to set the date and two notches to set the time. I can’t imagine on this watch that it keeps track of the month so on days with fewer than 31 days you may have to adjust the date manually. Not a huge deal at this price point, but still something to consider.
Final thoughts
As I alluded to in my intro, this is a no-frills watch that is meant to look good at a glance and provide the date and time. It is unassuming, but in a good, elegant way. At a price of $95 it is hard to come down too hard on a watch like this. However, I really have to give it a negative mark for the band choice. A watch is something many people want to customize to their liking. You can give a watch a whole different look by simply switching out the band style, and their choice here greatly hinders your ability to do so.
What I like about the Armitron Parker watch
- Small sleek size
- Stainless steel color and finish
- Durability
- Price point
What needs to be improved?
- Band lug choice
- Cheap leather band finish
- Fake screw heads around the bezel
Price: $95.00
Where to buy: Armitron
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Armitron. Armitron did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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