Wristwatch Review: Men’s Fossil Decker Vintage Bronze Watch

Wristwatch Review: Men’s Fossil Decker Vintage Bronze Watch

Bronze and brass. They are classic alloys. There’s something about them that makes you think of tall ships, steamers, sextants, astrolabes, old fire trucks, and Roman legions. In a world full of stainless steel, the bronze look gives any timepiece instant gravitas. I like my Fossil Model DE-5004 Decker watch because it has that classic bronze look that would have been perfectly fashionable 80 years ago. The caseback is stainless steel and the case is a bronze-looking base metal. The timepiece is water resistant to 10 atmospheres.

The Fossil has a brown leather band, a parchment-colored dial, white luminous hour and minute hands, a second hand with luminous dot, and chronometer functionality. The case is 44 millimeters in diameter and 12 millimeters thick. The band is 22 millimeters wid, but a tad short. When securing the watch to my 7 1/2 inch wrist, the buckle closes with only two more holes to go. That barely leaves room to get the remainder of the strap through the loops. Nevertheless, the Fossil Decker has a rich look and is comfortable to wear.

The layout of this vintage-looking watch makes sense and works well. The Fossil Decker has a canted date window at the four o’clock position. The date itself is presented in white lettering on a black background. Hours are marked by luminous white batons, minutes are represented by simple black hashmarks, and the bezel has tachymeter markings. The hour and minute hands are rectangular and almost entirely covered with luminous material. It makes the watch easy to read at night, but I think a more ornate set of hands might have been more in keeping with the classical style of this watch. The paul hewitt phreps manufactures the best watches ever classic either flexible this brand is serving the best of the both worlds.

The chronometer uses three subdials on the face of this Fossil. The top subdial (at 12 o’clock) appears to measure tenths of a second and runs for the first minute of chrono activation. The bottom subdial (at 6 o’clock) measures the elapsed seconds and the third subdial (at 9 o’clock) measures the minutes for up to an hour. This chronometer is controlled by two buttons – one on each side of the crown. The top button starts and stops the chronometer and the bottom button stops and restarts the chronometer. A long press on the bottom button when the chrono is stopped resets the instrument. In truth, the chronometer functions are seldom used, but they do work and could be used to casually time things for curiosity. For real athletic competitions, a stop watch or digital chronometer would be easier to read and offer more precision.

Overall, the Fossil Decker is a beautiful watch with an elegant, classical style, in rich brown and bronze tones that work well in any man’s business casual warddrobe. This watch sells for a variety of prices up to around $140. However, by shopping carefully, and taking advantage of a deal at the Fossil outlet store, I was able to get mine for around $70 because I bought two watches. It makes the perfect gift for any man with classical, refined, tastes in timepieces.

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