Croton Men's CA301158SSSL Two-Tone Automatic Dive Watchand Winder

Comment: Nice watch for the money, I liked it so much I bought another one after I bought the first one. This watch is truly a Green Watch no batteries ever, not paying to have them changed, a watch like this is pressurized and the cost to change a battery is over $50 dollars to re-pressurize it. If a battery runs out and the watch sits for awhile there is a chance the battery will leak and ruin the watch, with this one you just put it away for awhile, when you want to wear it again just shake it and wear it. There is one thing though I would not pay over $500.00 with tax for this but for the money it is a good buy.

Comment: Similar to many of the previous people who ordered this watch, I had the same problem with the watch crystal. The inside of the crystal has a hazy cloudy appearance coating. What's totally unacceptable was that there's a small area on the side where the crystal was clear. There was also a streak line in what appeared to be probably the second hand had scraped against the inside of the crystal from the 45 minute mark to 01 minute, where the hand had rubbed away the cloudy coating. The watch should have never left the factory or passed quality control in this condition. I sent it back to Amazon for a refund.

Aside from the problem, this watch is quite large, much larger than most of the "Submarine" style watches I've seen. The bracelet is solid, the clasp was nice and crisp, extra links are adjusted by removing small screw-in pins, crown was a little stiff but turned nicely without any noticeable slop. Bezel turns unidirectionally with 60 clicks and rotates nice and crisp. Accuracy out of the box appeared to be +1 minute per hour for the few hours that I had in possession. The watch winder turned approximately 8 times per minute and fairly quiet. It's covered in low gloss black leather (or leatherette).

From past reviews, seems like this watch is suppose to have a Miyota (Japanese) 8215 automatic movement. However, the newer ones might now be a Miyota 8215 clone (Chinese), as the movement in this watch hacks and handwinds.

It's a shame that the watch was defective since I wouldn't be able to buy a watch AND a winder for the sub-$60 that I paid in this deal.

Comment: I should have paid more attention to what some other reviewers have already mentioned: this specific model often has a cloudy, opaque coating on the INSIDE of the watch crystal...and while it looks like condensation, it is most likely not, since it does not vary. Whatever foggy pattern is there, remains, unchanged.
My first watch had splotches covering about 2/3's of the interior crystal surface; Amazon very nicely sent me another, but I don't think they inspected it, since the replacement ALSO had a similar film, but in a different pattern of smeared splotches. After seeing these 2 defective watches, I then compared them to a 3rd one that my friend had purchased last year...and, AGAIN, there was a cloudy underside, but it was not initially noticed since the opaqueness was more uniform and it simply gave the dial a normal gray/black appearance if not compared to the splotchier ones.
[I tried to take a photo, but it's hard to get the lighting right.]
I wrote to Croton customer service, and was told it required "service" and to send it in with $19.95 and to expect to wait 4 to 6 weeks for its return...unacceptable for a new watch with an obvious defect. I wrote in again hoping for a better response...and I will post any updates.
For now, I would say: do NOT buy this for the watch...consider it a winder purchase...at least until they get their quality control under control! If they don't, Amazon will probably have no choice but to stop carrying it, because more people will probably return theirs as well...something I am hoping to help others avoid by posting this review!
Be careful with this one...

Comment: It's great watch for the price and it came with a winder(usually pretty expensive on it's own). An outstanding deal for under $80 (purchased mid-March 2010). The time-piece itself is substantial and of pretty good quality. The band is a little lightweight for my taste, but it's push-button release feature, on the wristband, is usually found on much more expensive watches. Since I have had it, it has keep accurate time. The plug-in watch winder is very convenient way to keep it working, since I don't wear the watch all the time. Another bonus feature of the winder is that it rotates in either direction for Japanese or Swiss movements. Thank you.

Comment: A good solid automatic watch, accuracy of the movemement about -9 seconds/day. It does not have an exhibition case back.
The watch has a nice, heavy feel to it and the automatic movement does keep it's charge, when not wearing the watch. The winder is very useful and easy to use and is bi-directional for Japanese or Swiss movemements. At a below $100 price point, would highly recommend.
I would have given it 5 stars, if it had a skeleton/exhibition case back.