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Electric DW03 Tide watch

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Franko
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Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Franko »

I’m not a watch reviewer so bear that in mind :D

This watch was $33 shipped. It has a unique crown unsigned but is a “smart” crown. I’ve never had a crown like this and when I pulled the watch out and tried to adjust the time, I thought it was broken. The hands would hardly move. So I pulled out the dreaded handbook and found that you only twist the crown a touch, and it adjusts the time. Boom, it works, a really different feature for me.
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It’s a 120 click bezel, case is brushed, with Screw solid end links. The weight of the watch is a lot heavier than most of my collection, it’s on par with my Aragon. Below is a picture next to the Timex Q :lol:
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It has a tide indicator which can be set when you’re at the beach. The “smart” crown easily sets to tell you if it’s high or low tide, adjustable for your location. This is actually handy for our trips to St Simons because much of the beach disappears at high tide. Now a quick look at his dial and that information is quickly available.


This is not high end watch but has some neat features that are not in my collection, I’ll keep it for $33. Thanks 🙏 MOT
Last edited by Franko on Sat Mar 28, 2020 3:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by MoT »

I agree, it is a unique watch, and it has a Swiss ISA movement. The 4bps tick of the seconds hand reminds me of my 60s/70s electrics.

I have the strap version, and it's a tad too short for my wrist. I was unable to unscrew the lugs, so I cut the strap off and have been using it with a single-pass strap.

I wish I could have gotten the bracelet version.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Franko »

I knew nothing about electrics, I’ll have to do some more research. I’m amazed that this was $33 shipped, it’s unlike anything I have. It seems to be a quality watch.

An aside, I also got the Field watch for $15 shipped and I’m not to crazy about it but it’s still a quality watch.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by MoT »

Franko wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2020 11:45 am I knew nothing about electrics, I’ll have to do some more research. I’m amazed that this was $33 shipped, it’s unlike anything I have. It seems to be a quality watch.

An aside, I also got the Field watch for $15 shipped and I’m not to crazy about it but it’s still a quality watch.
The electrics I am referring to have nothing in common with the brand Electric.

This site is a good reference for the watches I mean: http://electric-watches.co.uk/
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Franko »

I was curious to verify the Swiss part and it is in fact Swiss quartz.
1AD5FDDE-6425-4F5D-85E7-F8AF47AE751A.jpeg
And now you know more than you ever wanted to about a $30 watch with no jewels :lol:
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Klaatu3 »

Great review, thanks. Hard to find much else online about these. How's the quality of the bracelet? Can it be removed and replaced with a conventional strap?
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Franko »

It has screws at both ends of the lugs. You’ll have to find a way to hold both of the screw ends on a lug to remove the bracelet, I haven’t tried. MOT said he couldn’t remove his but the bracelet is nice enough that I don’t see the need but I’m a bracelet guy 👍
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by CVP33 »

Got all of my Electric's (3) in and I gotta say. I'm impressed. I bought 2 DW02 colorways and 1 DW01 for $27.86 per watch after TopCash rebate. Didn't have high hopes or expectations especially sub-$28, but figured they'd be an easy watch to sell one day for that price. Now I know they'll be staying around for awhile. Also, Electric does a terrible job of describing these watches on their site. No idea why there is a total absence of romance copy, but there is. They give you the basic description, but that's all.

The 44.5mm case is probably my limit for my wrist size, especially with a case this tall, 14.5mm. They are definitely no light weights coming in at 143 grams on rubber or NATO straps. The Japanese sourced Quartz should make for worry free miles and the mineral crystal, well what did you expect in this price range. You can tell from the pics, but I think there's some notable specs here that are actually brag-worthy:

1) The bezel has an innovative design visually in that the case has the corresponding "negative" notch to match. As you can see below, this makes for a really nice side view. Its also a 120 click bezel to boot, with loud, positive clicks and zero back-play - which is a huge pet peeve of mine so all good here.

2) The buckle is a nice, chunky, screw-in design that tapers in thickness from 4mm to 2.5mm. It's also logo'd front and back.

3) The crown is an engraved and reliefed, screw-in style that ensures the 300m water resistance. The 2 relief cuts actually give your finger/thumb something to "bite" to screw/unscrew.

4) The pushers are knurled, screw-in as well and have a positive click when activating the chronograph function.

5) The case is a quality stainless steel with a good brush job covering the entire case. Even the strap ends are super clean with no ugly corners or flashing from machining.

6) Drilled lugs too, are you kidding me? How did I miss that in the online pictures. Again well done.

7) Rubber straps are 3mm thick and stretchy so they wear comfortably when you pull the strap nice and tight. They're also embossed with the lightning bolt logo.

8) The dials are printed and nothing special,lume is a bit of a let down (remember CVP it's $28). BUT, these are sandwich dials. SURPRISE! Again, not sure how I missed this looking through the online site pics.

9) Caseback is nicely engraved, nothing special (so I didn't photograph), lightning logo and some declarations around water resistance, Japanese Quartz, stainless steel and model number.

10) Finally the movement. The quartz has the sweeping reset, which I'm a sucker for and the DW01 has 10th second tracking on the 3 o'clock dial. Nice touch.

All in all a VERY impressive $28 watch. Get 'em while you can!!!!! I'm sure glad I did.

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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by BostonCharlie »

Thank you [mention]CVP33[/mention]! That last one appears to have engraved numerals on the bezel. Looking more closely at their product photos, I now see that a few models appear to have engraved bezels. The bezel on my diver has no relief -- it's an insert.

Update: thanks to your photos and review I'm in for a chrono -- that last one with the all-black bezel and engraved numerals, but mine's on nato. Their photos are so bad compared to yours I had to triple check to make sure I was looking at the same watch.

I see now that all sales are final -- didn't recall noticing that before.

I am also going to roll the dice on their Carroway field watch here, $17.50 after promo. I like the golden dial color and domed mineral crystal. Some photos online show a messed up dial -- like it's corroded. Their own stock photo says "automatic" on the dial, yet the copy says quartz. Googling around, I wasn't able to find this colorway as an automatic. And the one Carroway auto I found has an exhibition back (this listing doesn't show that). So it's probably a mistake with the listing photo, but the possibility makes it more interesting.

Update 2: Here is an Amazon listing showing the golden dial field watch I mention above. The dial is, er, toasted. And the 360 loop shows quartz ticks. The product number matches Electric's listing, so it's def. not an automatic.
Last edited by BostonCharlie on Sun Apr 26, 2020 8:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by MoT »

What is the resolution of the chrono seconds? Is it 1 tick per second or 1/5 like a VK/mecaquartz?
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by Sporkboy »

CVP33 wrote:Got all of my Electric's (3) in and I gotta say. I'm impressed. I bought 2 DW02 colorways and 1 DW01 for $27.86 per watch after TopCash rebate. Didn't have high hopes or expectations especially sub-$28, but figured they'd be an easy watch to sell one day for that price. Now I know they'll be staying around for awhile. Also, Electric does a terrible job of describing these watches on their site. No idea why there is a total absence of romance copy, but there is. They give you the basic description, but that's all.

The 44.5mm case is probably my limit for my wrist size, especially with a case this tall, 14.5mm. They are definitely no light weights coming in at 143 grams on rubber or NATO straps. The Japanese sourced Quartz should make for worry free miles and the mineral crystal, well what did you expect in this price range. You can tell from the pics, but I think there's some notable specs here that are actually brag-worthy:

1) The bezel has an innovative design visually in that the case has the corresponding "negative" notch to match. As you can see below, this makes for a really nice side view. Its also a 120 click bezel to boot, with loud, positive clicks and zero back-play - which is a huge pet peeve of mine so all good here.

2) The buckle is a nice, chunky, screw-in design that tapers in thickness from 4mm to 2.5mm. It's also logo'd front and back.

3) The crown is an engraved and reliefed, screw-in style that ensures the 300m water resistance. The 2 relief cuts actually give your finger/thumb something to "bite" to screw/unscrew.

4) The pushers are knurled, screw-in as well and have a positive click when activating the chronograph function.

5) The case is a quality stainless steel with a good brush job covering the entire case. Even the strap ends are super clean with no ugly corners or flashing from machining.

6) Drilled lugs too, are you kidding me? How did I miss that in the online pictures. Again well done.

7) Rubber straps are 3mm thick and stretchy so they wear comfortably when you pull the strap nice and tight. They're also embossed with the lightning bolt logo.

8) The dials are printed and nothing special,lume is a bit of a let down (remember CVP it's $28). BUT, these are sandwich dials. SURPRISE! Again, not sure how I missed this looking through the online site pics.

9) Caseback is nicely engraved, nothing special (so I didn't photograph), lightning logo and some declarations around water resistance, Japanese Quartz, stainless steel and model number.

10) Finally the movement. The quartz has the sweeping reset, which I'm a sucker for and the DW01 has 10th second tracking on the 3 o'clock dial. Nice touch.

All in all a VERY impressive $28 watch. Get 'em while you can!!!!! I'm sure glad I did.

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It looks like you could easily repaint and lume those signed crowns.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by CVP33 »

ManOnTime wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:02 pm What is the resolution of the chrono seconds? Is it 1 tick per second or 1/5 like a VK/mecaquartz?
1/5
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by MoT »

CVP33 wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 8:14 pm
ManOnTime wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:02 pm What is the resolution of the chrono seconds? Is it 1 tick per second or 1/5 like a VK/mecaquartz?
1/5
Guess I'm buying a watch.
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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by CVP33 »

BostonCharlie wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:02 pm Thank you @CVP33! That last one appears to have engraved numerals on the bezel. Looking more closely at their product photos, I now see that a few models appear to have engraved bezels. The bezel on my diver has no relief -- it's an insert.

Update: thanks to your photos and review I'm in for a chrono -- that last one with the all-black bezel and engraved numerals, but mine's on nato. Their photos are so bad compared to yours I had to triple check to make sure I was looking at the same watch.

I see now that all sales are final -- didn't recall noticing that before.

I am also going to roll the dice on their Carroway field watch here, $17.50 after promo. I like the golden dial color and domed mineral crystal. Some photos online show a messed up dial -- like it's corroded. Their own stock photo says "automatic" on the dial, yet the copy says quartz. Googling around, I wasn't able to find this colorway as an automatic. And the one Carroway auto I found has an exhibition back (this listing doesn't show that). So it's probably a mistake with the listing photo, but the possibility makes it more interesting.

Update 2: Here is an Amazon listing showing the golden dial field watch I mention above. The dial is, er, toasted. And the 360 loop shows quartz ticks. The product number matches Electric's listing, so it's def. not an automatic.
Given how much I now know, I actually bought 7 more. The officer watch for $10 are cheaper the HMT redials! Had to give them a try. Thanks for pointing out the engraved bezels. I went back and bought some black chronographs and a silver. Not sure why they mixed the bracelets black/silver but hopefully I can correct that. If not, I’ll pick up a couple of cheap super engineer II bracelets on eBay and make em right.

By the way, TopCash is now 7%.

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Re: Electric DW03 Tide watch

Post by BostonCharlie »

[mention]CVP33[/mention]: I just realized that your watch photos have lightning bolt logos at 12, but their product photos don't show that. I like it either way, but I've taken screenshots of what I think I'm buying in case there are any big surprises.
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