In the last decade Invicta brand, the one that have been bought half-dead during the Quartz crisis of the 70’s and then brought to life again, became the America’s number two brand. Mostly, thanks to Amazon, where Invicta has the largest virtual outlet, and the Internet in general.
Being just a little bit more pricy than America’s numero uno — Timex — Invicta occupies much more prestigious niche as a “manly Movado”.
Invicta are pretty large watches, some models could be called huge. Even ladies’ models are quite bulky and feel heavy for the first time. However, it’s really easy to get used to a 150-200 grams watch on your wrist. After wearing it for a couple of days you hardly notice it.
Half of Invicta models are bigger and heavier than world’s most monstrous Casio G-Shock and other well known big watches brands like Luminoux and Hamilton. And half of this half is listed in the Invicta Signature Collection – the anthology of Invicta’s most authentic, most original, most expressive watches.
Invicta Corduva Skeleton model No. 7136 is among the biggest wristwatches in the Invicta‘s Signature Collection. It measures 52mm in diameter not counting a crown covered with even balkier screw-in cap attached to the watch case with a sturdy steel lever. Case thickness of 16mm isn’t something extraordinary for a 200m/660ft divers but it looks really thick on the wrist.
Yellow gold ion-plated case looks brushed in contrast to polished gold plating of the movement which is visible through the windows in the dial and the back cover but it doesn’t hurt the overall impression of quality.
The caliber you can see in all its glory through the skeleton dial is a neatly decorated good old Miyota — simple and reliable automatic movement. Invicta 7136 timepiece I’ve played with was gaining about 20 seconds a day which is ok for a sub-$1000 automatic watch.
The band is multi-layered — half canvas, half leather. It feels sturdy, quite comfortable and easy to clean. However, if you will need to change it after awhile you will have to look a spare one on eBay, simply because it’s not that easy to find a 26mm wide watch band in the next door clock shop.
The luminescent coating on the hands and hour markers is bright and keep glowing for at least six hours. The good thing is a tiny bit of lume on the second hand which looks gorgeous.
What’s not so good about Invicta Corduva Skeleton 7136? The hands — they are way to short for the such big watch. The minute hand should be approximately 3mm longer. The short hand could be bigger too.