In this episode Chris Peterson, played by Chris Elliott, is inspired by the television show, "Sea Hunt". This inspiration leads him to seek a "Mr. Underwater Watch", the fictional SCUBA watch worn by one of the "Sea Hunt" characters. At the local watch store he's told by the salesman that the Mr. Underwater Watch is a piece of junk and he won't sell it to him. What he will sell to him is the Chronosync. But not just a Chronosync, the Chronosync 2000. Elliot is told that it's the Cadillac of watches. When the watch stops dead in the store the salesman informs Elliott that it's a tap watch which means that it stops itself to keep from overheating and must be tapped to be re-started. Of course he buys the watch for $100 and even pays 18% sales tax.
After some fanfare Chris Elliott finally takes a shower with his new state-of-the-art, water resistant to 1000 ft. diver's watch. After two seconds in the shower he screams like a little girl and comes running out of the bathroom holding his arm out with the watch still on his wrist. The watch had practically dissolved, the colors ran and the bezel fell off. This was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Not so hilarious was when I bought a new O & W Ranger from Gnomon Watches two years ago. After waiting nearly six weeks for the watch to arrive from Hong Kong, I, like Chris Elliott's character, couldn't wait to get the watch wet and prove it's superior water resistant qualities. And just like Chris Elliott's watch, it failed immediately. No, it didn't melt but the crystal did fog up. It turned out that the case back had never been tightened fully at the factory. I had to open it and allow it to dry for 24 hours before I could replace the case back and tighten the hell out of it. Now it was water resistant and has remained so for two years. I learned two things from this experience. The first is to expect a long wait from Gnomon Watches. The second is to always check the case back that it's been properly tightened. Fortunately my O & W Ranger is no worse for wear but it could have been much worse. Remember, all warranties exclude any damage as may be caused by water entering the case.Aside from these not so small complaints the Ollech & Wajs Ranger is one of my favorite watches. I would recommend it for anyone who wanted a tough, military styled automatic watch. So far it has put up with showers, swimming, diving and hunting in near zero degree conditions. In fact, I bagged my first buck while wearing the Ranger. And since buying it, it's ETA 2824-2 automatic movement has maintained an accuracy of +5 secs/day. I can live with that.
Specifications:
Movement: Swiss Automatic, ETA 2824-2, 25 jewels.
Case Material: Polished stainless steel.
Case Size: 42mm without crown.
Lug-to-Lug Size: 47mm.
Bracelet: Oyster, Stainless Steel, 20mm wide, brushed with polished center link.
Bezel: Uni-directional.
Crystal: Mineral crystal.
Luminance: SuperLuminova.
Water Resistance: 200 meters.
The watch came with a stainless steel bracelet and a black Nato band. The Nato was kind of cheap so I replaced it with an olive drab Maratac band of much better quality. To me this watch looks a lot like the British MoD issued SBS watch.
It's almost too good to be a "beater" watch but it's a tough watch and looks good with a little wear and tear on it.
The Ranger with the original stainless steel bracelet as shown on the right. The watch comes from the factory with the black face as shown or with either an orange or yellow face.
All in all, the O & W Ranger is nothing like the Chronosync or even the Chronosync 2000. I give it two thumbs up. I consider it to be on a par with the Seiko SKX007. I have to give Gnomon watches one thumb up. Even though there was a six week wait they replied immediately to all of my e-mails. I probably became a bit of a pest after awhile but Anders, the Gnomon Watches rep., didn't lose patience with me. Thanks.
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