INTRODUCTION:
To say I have owned many dive watches in my lifetime would
be a gross understatement. I have gone from small 36-38mm divers in the late
80’s / early 90’s to the giant behemoths of today. I have also gone from quartz
to mechanical and from affordable to “don’t tell my wife how much I spent”. I
can honestly say, with the exception of one or two, I have owned every dive
watch I have ever coveted.You would think that by now, after all this trial and error, I would know exactly what I like and what is best for me, right? WRONG! I am more confused now than I have ever been. That said, when I stumble onto a watch that “does it right”, it makes me quite happy. In fact, I do not remember the last time a watch sang to me quite like this one.
Why is that? It is not flashy. It is not huge. It does not
go deeper than any other. It does not house a special / in-house movement. It
is not worn by Daniel Craig in the latest Bond movie. It did not travel to the
bottom of the world with James Cameron. It simply is a well built, well designed,
ultra-comfortable dive watch. You know the saying “more than the sum of its
parts”? Well, this saying perfectly describes the Jenny Caribbean.
There is something about it that just screams quality and
this design is not contemporary. Quite the opposite, the original Jenny
Caribbean from 1963 was the world’s first dive watch to be rated to 1000m and
to this day, the company is still run by the Jenny family. Together with their
longstanding partnership with Synchron, they have re-issued this legendary
Caribbean diver, which combines the aesthetic elements from the original Jenny
Caribbean 700.
Strangely enough, this is not my initial encounter with this
design. When I first discovered watches on the internet, back in the late 90’s,
there was a company called Ollech & Wajs that was selling NOS (New Old
Stock), rebranded Caribbean watches. I was quite drawn to them, but I was not
yet comfortable enough in my WISdom to jump on the opportunity. Looking back, I
should have and who knows, I would likely have paid peanuts for one.
The following is my detailed review of this modern-classic,
I hope you will enjoy:
CASE & BEZEL
The 42mm case is fully brushed and without superfluous edges
or contours, it is a simply, straight up watch case. The back is nicely
engraved with the Jenny Caribbean Marlin fish and he even looks like he’s
smiling. I think he likes this watch as much as I do. There is also a nice
curve to the case back, which allows the watch to sit well on the top of your
wrist.
The crown is large enough for ease of use, but not too large
as to scrape the back of your hand when worn loosely. The bezel is a work of
art, with the standard 60 minute markers and decompressions table. The latter
of which, I will have no use for, but sure is a cool conversation starter. All
of this is under a sapphire glass and is adorned a diamond shape lume pip at 12
o’clock. It is also knurled nicely and slightly larger than the case, which makes
it super easy to use, even with wetsuit gloves on.
CRYSTAL, DIAL & HANDS:
The flat sapphire crystal is almost completely flush with
the bezel, almost appearing to be one smooth piece. The opening is nice and
large, leaving much room for multiple indices and clear visibility. There is an
anti-reflective coating underneath the glass and it works pretty well at
avoiding unnecessary reflections. The lume is so far satisfactory, but it is
not as bright as others in this price point. When the price point includes
various excellent Seikos, it is hard to compete in this area.
The dial is where I feel this beauty shines. The black used
almost looks like neoprene wet suit material and the applied indices seem to
just float about dial. It is truly remarkable. The writing is crisp and the
text is somewhat minimal. Now I usually prefer the date wheel to be white writing
on black background, but in this case, it sort of works, as the color counter
balances the light-colored marker on the opposite side. The only issue I have
with this dial is the marker at 12 o’clock. It should have been different than
the others, to demark the top of the watch. Mind you, with the absence of a
marker at 3 o’clock and the used of the pip on the bezel, one can still easily
tell which way is up, even in complete darkness.
The hands are nicely triangular and beveled, which allows
the light to reflect on them at different angles, so they are not completely
washed out. This seems like such a tiny detail, but ever so effective. Wish
more manufacturers would adopt it. Unfortunately, they could have been slightly
longer, as to reach the outer minute track, that runs the outer rim of the
dial. What makes it look all right, is the fact that the 5 minute applied
markers are all within this track, so the hands look balanced. Not sure if this
is why it is designed this way, but it really works.
MOVEMENT:
The movement for the Jenny Caribbean is the venerable, often
talked about and so many times duplicated, ETA 2824. What is there left to say
about this bad boy? Nothing really, except that it is functioning superbly and is
consistently +2 sec / day on my wrist 24/7. One cannot beat (pun intended) this
movement for reliability, sturdiness and consistency.
And in the words of Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that…” oh and
“Chinese watches are like a box of chocolates, you open them up and you never
know what you’re gonna get.” He said that last one too… I am pretty sure of it!
BRACELET:
Mine came with both the super supple rubber strap and the beads
of rice bracelet. I was somewhat disappointed in the latter, as I was hoping
that each bead would be independent of one another, like the classics were, but
after wearing it for some time, it was so comfortable that I forgave this flaw.
I know that this is the exact same bracelet I had on multiple Doxa watches, and
now the latest iterations have these individual beads… I just wish this one did
as well…
I know there is cost savings to be hand the way it is now
and to keep it as competitive as possible, sacrifices must be made. Keep in mind, this is a complaint from an
extremely anal collector that notices all these little details. Most “normal”
humans will be more than pleased with it. Sizing the links is by screws, which everyone seems to like best and I do not disagree one bit.
The rubber strap is incredibly comfortable and completely
changes the look of the watch, while accenting the lungs and case shape. This
is plenty long enough for most wrists and on the rubber strap, the watch almost
disappears from your wrist. You cannot feel it and you would think you are not
even wearing a watch. My only grip is that it is made of silicon and for all its
comfort, it is a lint magnet. Hard to keep it looking clean and smooth. Again,
I refer to the “extremely anal” comment I made early. Most people will be fine
with it.
CONCLUSION:
If you are looking for a fun, extremely comfortable sports
watch, that you will not see on everyone’s wrist, I cannot recommend the Jenny
Caribbean highly enough. It is everything I expected and then some. Its
combination of looks, function, finish and performance make it a great go everywhere,
do anything watch.
Would I wear it with a suit? Heck yeah! But that is just me…
lol… You may want something a little
dressier. Mind you, if you were into dress watches, you likely would not be
reading this review, let alone frequenting my BLOG.
Thank you for reading!
For more on Jenny, follow this long to their website:
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