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temerityb
- Banned!
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- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:00 pm
Edox Grand Ocean 83006
It must be more than a decade ago that I picked up – for just a few hundred bucks, thanks to the brand’s continued and unfathomable lack of recognition in the U.S. - my first Edox watch, a COSC-certified Grand Ocean; the model number escapes me, but I continue to insist it’s one of my favorite watches, with quality rivaling brands that sell for about $3,500 to $5,000 here (I am choosing my words carefully; the case, movement (an ETA 2892), strap, clasp, and overall quality was a complete shocker) rival anything else that’s in my varied collection. A photo of my old favorite:
Now, I realize last year I said I was pretty much not going to buy any more watches – however, Edox’s 2020 and 2021 releases got me percolating again, so I started to eyeball the gray market for the first time in a long time (I remain, likely, the last proponent of brick-and-mortar in the lower 48). I am a fan of a watch with a terrible name – The Sky Dweller Neptunian, which makes absolutely no sense. But while lurking around to see if any auto models night have gone gray, on a whim I typed in “Edox” on the Costco website since I had seen an Edox on the display case of my local store – and I found a model I’ve wanted for years and thought was long gone. As it turns out, some of these are still floating about (or maybe they brought it back, tho it is not listed in the current catalog):
This is the Edox Grand Ocean 83006, a model which originally came out in the next series of Grand Oceans that followed my previous one. Here’s the specs on this one: typical smooth as silk shake-it-and-it-runs ETA 2834 (Edox Caliber 83, whatever they do to it), 40 hour power reserve, 44mm, rubber strap (best I’ve ever felt and quite similar to my older one), 100m water resistance, SS, sapphire, absolutely no lume at all (not bad lume – NO lume, much like my other GO), you know the drill. I ordered it online, and picked up from a locker at the store similar to the way Amazon fulfills orders in their lockers, and of course there was no delivery charge. Given Costco’s outrageously lenient warranty policy, I had nothing to lose in dropping just a few hundred bucks on this (I read that the list is $2,700 on this, but who really knows). Seriously – Costco will refund the entire purchase price for watches purchased through them for any reason. That’s crazy good.
I am a huge fan of this era of Grand Ocean’s “porthole” casebacks, which you can see here in a shot I just fired off:
I would not steer my friends here wrong: They don’t do it all the time, but on occasion Edox punches way above its weight, and this one is rock solid. I think it’s sharp, and it feels great on the wrist. Being a day-date, the dial is way busier than on my previous GO, but it also has the nautical-style dial that looks great in real time. I have no doubt it is as water resistance as claimed, but I think this looks versatile enough to be worn with anything from a suit to a wetsuit.
Edox continues to fare okay in European markets, but I don’t believe the brand even has any U.S. representation at all as I write this. Fine by me; all I know is that I’ve been able to scarf a handful of legitimately good watches for pennies on the dollar, brand recognition be damned. The old Kenjo store in NYC sold them (Kenjo is back, by the way), but I have never seen them in a retailer before or since. Thank goodness Edox’s brief flirtation with Slop seems to be long over and done with. Here’s another factor that I think keeps Edox out of the mind’s eye of a lot of watch fanciers: They’re about 60/40 quartz/autos, and that might lead some to shy away. Oddly enough, a Long Island repair place is listed as an authorized repair center, so that’s really odd – you can’t buy ’em here, but you can get ’em fixed here.
All I know is that now I have a handful of their watches and I feel like the cat that ate the canary. This is good stuff for, like, nothing. Fine by me. I recommend Edox all the time. I think conj likes an auto he picked up last year, and Hawk at WL had the same model I just picked up, I believe.
Now, I realize last year I said I was pretty much not going to buy any more watches – however, Edox’s 2020 and 2021 releases got me percolating again, so I started to eyeball the gray market for the first time in a long time (I remain, likely, the last proponent of brick-and-mortar in the lower 48). I am a fan of a watch with a terrible name – The Sky Dweller Neptunian, which makes absolutely no sense. But while lurking around to see if any auto models night have gone gray, on a whim I typed in “Edox” on the Costco website since I had seen an Edox on the display case of my local store – and I found a model I’ve wanted for years and thought was long gone. As it turns out, some of these are still floating about (or maybe they brought it back, tho it is not listed in the current catalog):
This is the Edox Grand Ocean 83006, a model which originally came out in the next series of Grand Oceans that followed my previous one. Here’s the specs on this one: typical smooth as silk shake-it-and-it-runs ETA 2834 (Edox Caliber 83, whatever they do to it), 40 hour power reserve, 44mm, rubber strap (best I’ve ever felt and quite similar to my older one), 100m water resistance, SS, sapphire, absolutely no lume at all (not bad lume – NO lume, much like my other GO), you know the drill. I ordered it online, and picked up from a locker at the store similar to the way Amazon fulfills orders in their lockers, and of course there was no delivery charge. Given Costco’s outrageously lenient warranty policy, I had nothing to lose in dropping just a few hundred bucks on this (I read that the list is $2,700 on this, but who really knows). Seriously – Costco will refund the entire purchase price for watches purchased through them for any reason. That’s crazy good.
I am a huge fan of this era of Grand Ocean’s “porthole” casebacks, which you can see here in a shot I just fired off:
I would not steer my friends here wrong: They don’t do it all the time, but on occasion Edox punches way above its weight, and this one is rock solid. I think it’s sharp, and it feels great on the wrist. Being a day-date, the dial is way busier than on my previous GO, but it also has the nautical-style dial that looks great in real time. I have no doubt it is as water resistance as claimed, but I think this looks versatile enough to be worn with anything from a suit to a wetsuit.
Edox continues to fare okay in European markets, but I don’t believe the brand even has any U.S. representation at all as I write this. Fine by me; all I know is that I’ve been able to scarf a handful of legitimately good watches for pennies on the dollar, brand recognition be damned. The old Kenjo store in NYC sold them (Kenjo is back, by the way), but I have never seen them in a retailer before or since. Thank goodness Edox’s brief flirtation with Slop seems to be long over and done with. Here’s another factor that I think keeps Edox out of the mind’s eye of a lot of watch fanciers: They’re about 60/40 quartz/autos, and that might lead some to shy away. Oddly enough, a Long Island repair place is listed as an authorized repair center, so that’s really odd – you can’t buy ’em here, but you can get ’em fixed here.
All I know is that now I have a handful of their watches and I feel like the cat that ate the canary. This is good stuff for, like, nothing. Fine by me. I recommend Edox all the time. I think conj likes an auto he picked up last year, and Hawk at WL had the same model I just picked up, I believe.
“Jewelry isn’t really my thing, but I’ve always got my eye on people’s watches.” – Clive Owen
