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Forzo EnduraTimer Review

Geckota launches a new brand with a focus on racing-inspired watches

If you’ve run across Geckota or Watch Gecko, you’ll instantly be familiar with Forzo Watches. The British brand has been producing watches, straps, and bracelets for years. We’ve reviewed a few of their watches on this site. Geckota’s watches lean toward being slightly dressy even though they do have a few tool watches in the catalogue. To be candid, it isn’t a brand that comes to the forefront of many watch conversations and the one thing that might be putting them off is the name. I’ve discussed it in my reviews and while I don’t mind it, there are some who do.

With that said, how do you get your watches onto the wrists of consumers when the name is the problem? Launch a new brand with a new name and focus. Forzo aims to be the tool watch segment of Geckota and the watch we’re looking at today, the EnduraTimer, is a wonderful entry into that new brand. For starters, the name sounds closer to what they are going for: Motorsport-inspired watches. Let’s take a closer look at the Forzo EnduraTimer.

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On the Wrist

You’ve got your new watch brand, an idea for the watches, how they will look, and now you need to design a case. Forzo spent some time on that last part as the case of the EnduraTimer is extremely well-executed and feels great on the wrist. When I first received the watch for review, I looked it over and wasn’t sure how the great looks of the case were going to translate to on-wrist comfort. The case looks a little flat and… it is. However, there is just enough turn-down in the lugs to keep it comfortable. They were going for an angular yet form-fitting design and Forzo nailed it.

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Forzo took full advantage of the 40mm width of the EnduraTimer to pack in a dial with plenty of information without feeling cluttered. This translates perfectly to legibility on the wrist. I found it easy to take a quick glance at the watch, read the time, and move on. Some chronographs which feature a polished handset can often have them lost in the dial. Chronographs by nature are busy watches and being able to thoughtfully design the dial layout and color palette is paramount.

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I’ll touch more on the bracelet later but when it comes to comfort, I expected nothing less from Forzo than top-notch. Forzo’s parent company, Watch Gecko, has been designing and manufacturing bracelets for years and everything you would expect from a bracelet that looks and feels good on the wrist is here. Granted, this is meant to be an affordable watch so some of the creature comforts like quick adjust and release aren’t here but that doesn’t affect how it feels on the wrist.

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Dials Details

It’s hard to screw up a traditional reverse panda dial layout on a chronograph, but that isn’t to say it hasn’t been done before. Thankfully, that is not the case with the Forzo EnduraTimer. The subdials are well-proportioned, the entire dial is legible, and it just plain looks good. I have a couple squabbles about the dial, but they wouldn’t dissuade me from buying it, nor should they anyone else.

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Overall, the finishing on the dial is extremely well-executed. The applied markers add additional depth to the dial and they feature small bevels on the inside that play with the light more than if they were flat.

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The branding logo and text at the top of the dial is fine, but I wouldn’t mind seeing RACING EDITION omitted to clean it up. The Forzo logo is well-designed, and it has the overall look and feel of motorsports. The subdials are symmetrical; however, the running seconds subdial is slightly smaller than the others. The subdial hands are painted black save for the center of the hand which I thought it was an odd choice. With that said, it doesn’t affect legibility. The tachymeter scale flanks the dial and stays somewhat hidden when looking at the dial straight on. This keeps it out of the way until you need it.

My two squabbles are more so with the movement (Seiko VK63) and the complications available on it rather than anything Forzo has done, although it doesn’t totally vindicate them either. The 24-hour subdial is totally useless and I wish either Seiko would release more mecaquartz movements without it or brands would use a different movement (cough VK67 cough). Second, even though it would create a ghost position on the crown, the date window should be hidden. It clutters the dial, and I don’t feel date complications are necessary on racing chronographs. However, I understand having a date complication sells more watches so I can’t fault Forzo for this one.

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Case & Bracelet

I really like the case on this watch. Forzo did a fantastic job in capturing the look of cases with squared-off lugs from racing chronograph days gone by. The vintage looks of the case end there as the finishing is outstanding. The brushing and polishing on both the case and bracelet are flawless and it has the look of a case where no detail was overlooked.

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One of my favorite elements on the case is the screwdown crown. The crown’s knurling has a twisted look to it and along with being cut deep enough to give a solid grip, the crown is a joy to use (although you won’t have to often). The pushers are properly sized and don’t dig into the wrist, but they are still easy to use.

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The bracelet has a flat link design that pairs well with the squared-off lugs of the case. While I would be fine with a fully brushed bracelet, the polished center links don’t bother me. They look great with the polished bezel on the case. The bracelet tapers from 20mm at the watch head to 16mm at the clasp. Forzo also offers a 5-link design as well. The friction clasp features a flip lock to keep it secure on the wrist and there are 6 micro-adjust positions, which should allow the wearer to dial in a perfect fit.

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Final Thoughts

Having handled Geckota’s watches before this, I came into this review knowing that this watch was going to, at a minimum, be a solid watch. In some ways I feel this watch is better than the Geckota watches I’ve handled before. However, I would say that is because of the nature of this watch. It is a tool watch through and through and that speaks to me more than the dressier watches in Geckota’s lineup.

Mecaquartz chronographs are almost always a sure bet. They are affordable, still growing in popularity, and give their creators plenty of options to create something awesome-looking. Forzo took full advantage of that and put in an entry that is competitive enough to take the pole position among other offerings in this race.

Check out more quartz chronograph reviews at The Watch Clicker

Check out the Forzo website

Forzo Enduratimer Specs

Case Width

40mm

Thickness
12.5mm

Lug-to-Lug
47mm

Wrist-to-Crystal*
11.5mm

Lug Width
20mm

Weight
126g (sized)

Crystal
Sapphire

Strap

Bracelet

Water Resistance
100m

Lume
SuperLumiNova BGW9

Movement

Seiko VK63

Price
$633

*Height of the watch from the wrist to the top of the crystal

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