Invicta Men’s 2309 Pro Diver Collection Ocean Ghost Automatic Watch Review
I’ve been wearing mine for about six weeks now, I really like it, though I have a few minor reservations that limit my rating to only four stars.
In my opinion, the best thing about the Ocean Ghost II is its appearance. The watch is bold-looking based on its size and contrast, but not “loud” or gaudy with a relatively simple face. The watch simply looks elegant, out of proportion to its modest cost. The watch has no bells or whistles; just minute, hour, and second hands, a date, and that’s it. The wedge-shaped hour markers each have three facets which are reflective in the light and match the wedge-shaped hands to give the watch a classy look. The crystal is slightly dome shaped, not flat, and that enhances the appearance a bit. There is no lens or “cyclops” over the date to magnify it, so you do have to look closely to read the date.
The band is sturdy, and unlike some metallic bands, doesn’t catch the hairs on my arm. The band is conservative and the shiny middle links make a nice contrast with the matte outer links. Clasp is easy to open and close, but doesn’t snag or open accidentally. The crown is relatively easy to unscrew to set the time and date then rescrew to seal out water. Back of the watch has a transparent mineral face so you can see the movement whizzing around inside or watch yourself winding it up by swirling the watch around, which is a nice touch.
Adjusting the band size was fairly easy. I removed three links by pushing out their pins using the back of a steel sewing needle held by pliers. Whole process took only a few minutes, though I’ve done this several times before with other watches I’ve owned. Any jeweller should be able to do this relatively quickly for only a few dollars.
The ultimate compliment, I think, is that I’ve had two intrigued “serious” watch wearers (one wearing a k Rolex, and the other a k Tag) ask me what brand it was, and how much it cost. Both were sort of shocked after I showed them the transparent movement back and told them it was a 0 watch! This watch really does look like it ought to cost significantly more than it does. Also in my opinion the watch actually looks a bit nicer in person than in the internet images, which don’t convey the depth of the face, or the reflectiveness of the hour markers.
Other features worth mentioning:
This watch is LARGE. . .not just wide in diameter, but also relatively thick and heavy. These are not necessarily negatives, and there are definitely bigger ones out there, but if you like a thin light watch, this one is NOT for you. If you have a small dainty wrist, this one is probably not for you. If you want to engage in vigorous sports with this watch. . .it MIGHT not be for you. (Though I’ve actually spent the better part of an hour punching a heavy bag while wearing this watch. . .not the most comfortable watch for that activity, but the watch seems to be no worse for wear for doing it!). I happen to like the size, as again, it makes the watch sort of stand out a bit, though I’d say its about at the upper limit of what I’d consider tasteful.
Watch itself runs nearly silently. I can literally put it right up against my ear and only then BARELY hear it ticking. But a quick movement of my wrist, and I its possible to hear the internal weight whirring around rapidly, as the movement weight only winds in one direction. (Movement in the other direction causes the internal winding weight to simply spin around).
While the “Tritnite” paint glows fairly brightly and for a reasonably long time (the hands are still readable in the dark after at least many hours), the second hand and hour markers are NOT luminous. Only the minute and hour hands are marked with the luminous paint, and even those two only have a thin band of paint on them. The thin bands of luminous paint and lack of visible hour reference markers make telling the time in the dark difficult, particularly in comparison to traditional dive watches with big luminous faces. If reading the time in the dark is something you’re going to need to do often or accurately, this is not the watch for you. Forget about timing seconds in the dark; no chance of doing that with this watch!
The rotating bezel has a coin-type serrated edge a la the Rolex, which is a lot easier to turn than the scalloped Omega-style edge seen on other watches (and in my opinion looks nicer). The bezel itself turns with a reasonable amount of effort and offers 120 clicks, which are distinctly heard and felt. On my watch there is no extra play in the bezel and the bezel is tight enough that you have to turn it deliberately. The bezel is certainly functional, not just cosmetic, and could be used for its intended timing purpose if desired. Again, though, there is no luminous reference dot on the bezel so you couldn’t use it in the dark. The numbers on the bezel are also stamped into place and raised, not painted or marked. That’s potentially a plus and a minus. The raised lettering gives the bezel numbers actual texture and in my opinion enhances the appearance of the bezel. The bezel numbers can’t rub or wear off. On the other hand, the lack of visual contrast makes the bezel numbers a bit harder to read than those on some other dive watches.
Another potential minus is that the so-called “cabochon” (the term refers to a dome-shaped gem) on the crown is a plastic bead in yellow and black with the Swiss cross insignia on it. By itself its not bad looking, but it seems out of place on this watch, since there is nothing else yellow on mine (I happen to have the 2300 variant in stainless only band with black face). I just don’t understand why Invicta put this color scheme on there. The watch would be better looking with just a plain metal crown, or Invicta could have at least simply left out the yellow color from the bead leaving it transparent and black, which would have looked much nicer. Fortunately, the crown is nearly invisible in ordinary wear. You’d pretty much have to be right next to the watch and literally looking down the wearers hand at the crown end on to see it, so I can’t score this as a major drawback. Its probably less out of place on a watch with gold accents, as some in this series have.
Out-of-the-box accuracy is acceptable, but not great. Mine seems to gain about 2 minutes a week. Unfortunately, that’s probably within the realm of normal for automatic watches. I’ll see how it does over the next few months, and if it doesn’t slow down a bit (as some apparently do with time), I may have it regulated for accuracy. Supposedly its fairly easy to do that with the Japanese Miyota movement inside with just a minor adjustment of one screw. For what its worth, the guy with the 00 Rolex Submariner told me that after owning it for several years, HIS watch now runs a few minutes SLOW each month, and to get it tuned up will cost him 0!
Speaking of boxes, this one came in a rather large yellow Invicta box. The “problem” with the box is that while its too nice to throw away, its also too big to use to store the watch inside a drawer or such! A smaller box would probably be more practical, though I can hardly offer this as a complaint.
In summary, then, in my opinion while nominally the “Ocean Ghost” is part of the Invicta “Pro Diver” collection, I think a true professional diver (or other detail-oriented pro user like a cop, soldier, scientist, etc) would not be satisfied with it, as its not well-designed for use under low light, and its not particularly accurate out of the box. In fairness, though, I don’t think its reasonable to expect that level of performance from a mechanical watch in this price range. For everyone else, I’d say the Invicta Ocean Ghost II is an elegant-appearing timepiece that would make an excellent every-day watch for wearing around the office, for a professional, or for a date or night on the town.
Feature
- Quality automatic movement; functions without a battery; powers automatically with the movement of your arm
- Durable mineral crystal
- Case diameter: 47 mm
- Two-tone-Stainless-steel case; blue dial; date function
- Water-resistant to 660 feet (200 M)
Overview
Brushed/polished stainless steel and 23k gold plate case and bracelet;Blue dial with goldtone hands and stick hour markers;Luminous hands;Unidirectional rotating bezel;Sweep second hand;Date display at 3:00 position;See thru skeleton case back;Invicta accent cabochon design;Water resistant to 200 meters;Mineral crystal;Japan automatic movement
Customer Reviews
junk – Dirk E. Howland – Wisconsin
Ok…I was a professional diver in the military and have been wearing my mid 80’s Seiko 7002 diver daily since i bought it new in 1988! Its beat up…but keeps ticking. about 6 months ago I decided to pick up an Invicta 6026 after watching the Shop NBC program a few times. The price was right, the automatic 7S26 movement a workhorse so figured what the heck…
Well…its a very good looking watch..heavy and seems from the outside to be well built and it keeps time just fine with a decent power reserve, but I have a couple issues.
1…the numerical plate on the bezel has come off twice in the last month and I have glued it back on twice. I called customer service today and after 20+ min on hold I was told its no trouble…just mail it back to the service dept and they will fix it under warrantee. but…a 2-8 week turn around. The guy was nice and accomodating…but 20+ min on hold and a possible 8 week wait and shipping on my nickel…
So…mechanically..so far so good…seems well built, but the bezel problem is really unacceptable…its a pretty basic thing that shouldn’t happen…
time will tell if it holds up
5-10-10….still a very good looking watch!!
Discovered another issue though and this one seals the deal…this watch does not have a screw down crown….. it uses a double gasket to seal it off..the problem is that the crown is pulled out by the contact with my wrist and the back of my hand and the time is changed without my realizing it rendering the watch all but useless. What good is a watch that cant be relied on to keep time??
So….on a 1-10 scale I give this a 2!
6-15-10
The second hand has now fallen off the watch…. Im so glad I never used this watch to dive with…the thought of putting my life in its hands is now scary. I called Invicta to discuss sending the watch back for warrantee work and here is the process…..
I PAY TO SEND THE WATCH TO THEM AND FOR THE SHIPPING BACK…..mail it to them (on my nickle) along with a check for .50 for the return shipping and it will be fixed… So…I pay + to have the watch repaired under warrantee…hmmm….I think not. I’ll use the band for my seiko which hasn’t failed in the 5 years I’ve owned it and use the invicta as a sinker on my next fishing trip!
JUNK!
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amazing how fast we get out of the house these days.. 