Most of you budget watch lovers probably remember Detomaso and their racing/sporty watch designs that costed only up to 100euros, but now they completely changed their marketing, their watch designs and focused on a different market. Today for the review we have their newest model called Viaggio which is kind of an everyday watch with a casual, yet interesting design.

The Viaggio arrived in actually a very nicely made rectangular wooden box with suede like material inside lining. The watch also will come with instructions and warranty, but as this is just a sample for review, mine didn’t came with documentation. Anycase, I was very surprised about the quality of the watch as I have had some older Detomaso watches which had questionable quality, but this one feels very much like a proper watch should, sturdy, with good movement, well made and good looking original design.

For the review I chose the green dial version, but the Viaggio comes in many different case and dial colour variations, but this one just catched my eye more than others.

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The Viaggio 316L stainless steel case is 42mm in diameter, 49mm lenght wise, and 13mm thick. Slim, sinuous lugs, and a tapered case makes the watch look slimmer and smaller than it is. While it certainly isn’t a tool watch, it has a sporty vibe accentuated by the no-nonsense satin finish. It is rated for 50m water resistance, which fair for a daily wear. On my 18cm wrist it looks quite good and I think it fits my wrist nicely size wise. Perhaps my favorite bit of the case is its push-pull crown design, a cylinder that meets a protruding base of the same shape. Satin-finished like the rest of the watch, on top it has an embossed logo tastefully accented by polished peaks. When I first picked up the watch I thought that it will be hard to operate the crown with that smooth finish and no grip, but in reality due to it’s size it was pretty easy to wind up the movement or change time. The exhibition case back is held on with four small screws and has some writings around the crystal. The crystal on the case back is a flat mineral crystal which is normal for this price range and on the top we have domed sapphire crystal.

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I chose the green dial version as I started to like green watches more and more after reviewing many of them in the last year, also you don’t see this colour a lot. Usually everybody choose either black or blue dials, but green ones aren’t that popular. The green colour on the dial actually changes colour depending on the lighting conditions, sometimes it looks like darker and sometimes lighter shade of green. The dial is described as domed on the website, but it is actually dished, curving upward at the index. The dial is kept very minimalistic and straight forward. The only thing that I maybe don’t like is the 3 day date window at 6 o’clock, I hate when companies make their date windows a 3 day ones, I think it looks super ugly and just ruins the design completely. Another thing that I noticed that I don’t like is that date wheel has a very bad print problem, some of the numbers are bolder than others and it looks strange. The hour and minute hands are white and are skeletonized, the seconds hand is yellow which works very well with the green on the dial. Aside from the brand name at 12 o’clock and “Automatic” the only other text is incorporated into the index at the very bottom of the dial “Live the Momentum” which is Detomaso’s slogan. It is another marketing thing that most of these fashion watch companies do and I just think it is not needed, but as it is so hidden on the bottom, I don’t mind it being there as it is hardly noticeable. The dial overall is very legible and easy to read!

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The movement that is inside the watch is Japan made Seiko NH35, which is running at +9 to +11 seconds a day, at least for me. This movement is pretty popular in the microbrand world as 50% of watches that are coming out have this movement inside them. It has proven it’s reliability and easiness to service within many years. You just can’t go wrong with Japan made movements from Seiko. It is an automatic 24 jewel movement with 41-hour power reserve and beating away with 21,600 BPH. Detomaso also throws on top of the movement a customized rotor with the slogan as on the dial “Live the Momentum”

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Now we come to the strap, so often an afterthought on so many affordable watches with those alligator print strap etc. Not so here. Detomaso’s 20mm strap is cut from a very soft leather. The color and grain provide rich character. The leather actually reminds me the 90s brown or light colour leather jackets, they had a similar leather texture. It has a light paddling throughout the length which enhances its supple feel. A squared tip and stamped logo finish it off nicely. The strap is also equipped with quick-release pins which make the strap change very easy and fast. I have bought watches that cost four and even five times more than the Detomaso with straps that weren’t half as nice. On the wrist the watch feels very comfortable.

Overall I quite like the watch, although it wouldn’t be my first choice when looking for a daily wearer. There is a lot of competition for this watch as you can see from my websites archive of reviewed daily wearer/casual watches. But the you get a lot of watch for the price (at the time of writing this review, they have it on sale from 349€ to 272€). Can I suggest this watch? Yes, it is a pretty solid, well built watch with a decent movement and design!

Price: 349€ 272€ @ www.detomaso-watches.com

• CLOCKWORK Automatic movement from the Japanese quality manufacturer Seiko
• CALIBER Cal. NH35 with date display and 40 hour power reserve
• DIAL Domed dial with matt lacquered surface
• CASING Diameter: 42 mm; Height: 13mm
• GLASS Scratch-resistant sapphire crystal
• WATERTIGHTNESS Water protected up to 5 bar
• BRACELET MATERIAL Made of vegetable-tanned natural leather and with a practical change mechanism
• BRACELET LENGTH 20 cm
• ARTICLE NO. D06-01-01