This past October, the Watch Clicker team hit the streets of New York for the Worn and Wounds Windup Watch Fair. We perused the fair tables at the show and spoke to different brand owners. One of the tables I was excited to see in person was the Islander Watches table, with the pioneer of double wristing himself, Marc. Marc can be seen on his YouTube channel or all over Social Media, and he runs a successful online retailer, longislandwatch.com.
In 2019 Marc took the next logical step, launching his brand under Islander Watches. The Islander Watches feature divers and watches reminiscent of those you would see Seiko modders create. However, in the past year or so, a new surge of releases has piqued my interest. Specifically, Islander has upped their game with a Swiss GMT, 36mm classically styled sports watch (complete with Hi-Beat options), and this quartz Speedmaster-styled chronograph.
In my hand is the 40mm Bethpage Amerigraph. The watch comes on a stainless steel bracelet in two dial variants (Silver and Black) and a fully lumed dial PVD version. These watch retail for $449.00 and regularly have discounts on the site, bringing it down to $349.00, well within the typical range for quartz chronographs. The Amerigraph was given that named and styled this way to pay homage to the town where the Apollo Lunar Module was designed and built, Bethpage. Bethpage is a blue-collar town in Long Island, where Grumnman is still located today.
On the Wrist
On my wrist, the watch wears very similarly to a Speedmaster reduced. The Amerigraph has twisted lugs and a short lug-to-lug dimension of 47mm. Due to the thickness-to-diameter ratio, I compared it to the Reduced Speedmaster rather than the Professional. The Amerigraph is 13.5mm thick, making it wear a little chonky for a quartz watch. The bracelet has solid links and a pin and collar system for sizing. I found the bracelet to be comfortable and well-constructed. The clasp was notably the lowest quality component of the bracelet. Where this watch sings, though, is on different straps.
My favorite pairing was this Nodus Tec-Tuf white strap. The short lug to lug of makes this a strap monster, though. The only combination that didn’t work well was pass-through nato straps. The added thickness combined with the already thick wrist to crystal was too much for me.
Islander Amerigraph Specs | |
Case Width 40mm | Lug-to-Lug 47mm |
Case Thickness 13.5mm | Lug Width 20mm |
Water Resistance 100m | Strap Bracelet |
Crystal Sapphire | Lume Super-LumiNova C3 |
Movement Ameriquartz 7C01 | Price $349 |
Dial Details
The Amerigraph is called the Amerigraph, among other reasons, because an American quartz movement is within the watch. The C7201 is a 5 Jewel quartz chronograph movement, and this watch has three sub-dials. One for a 24-hour display at 3, a running 60-minute timer at 9, and the chronograph second hand at 6. The center second hand is not linked to the chronograph pushers. The 24hr subdial is distinguished from the chronograph function with the black and white split coloring. The thin baton hands do an excellent job of staying out of the way of the registers. Lume is applied at all hour markers along with the hands and bezel, with no subdial lume.
The lume is C3 Super-LumiNova and shines well beyond what a chronograph requires. Green luminous bezel numerals do raise the question of why the 24hr scale. In place of a tachymeter traditionally paired with a chronograph, there is a 24hr display around the black ceramic bezel. The bezel is fixed; the primary use would be for easy conversion to military time. As someone who struggles with military time frequently and never found a good purpose for a tachymeter, I don’t mind the switch.
Below is about what you can expect to see during the day, not in a dark room.
Case, Movement, Misc
The case shares the same twisted lugs of a speedy, but the mid-case is thicker, and the crystal is not a bubbled hesalite.
AR-coated sapphire is what separates the world from the dial on the Amerigraph. You lose some of that warm glow you experience with acrylic or hesalite, but there is no debate, and sapphire is the superior material. Again similar to my Speedmaster, when you flip the watch over, you are met with a treat.
In gold, for the world to see is the American quartz chronograph movement for all to see. Some people would scoff at putting a quartz movement on display like this, and I am not one of those people. Quartz movements are fantastic and COOL. I wish more brands would take inspiration from this and put display backs on their quartz watches, cough, Grand Seiko, cough cough. One small critique, though, with the name being the Amerigraph and going through the effort of displaying the American movement, Islander could have sourced American quartz batteries to match.
All said and done, the display back on this watch makes it a winner in my book.
Conclusion
What was the Islander Amerigraph like, and how did I feel about wearing it? I have had the Amerigraph for about two months; during that time, I would mostly wear this to the gym. A go-to quartz is quintessential gym gear, especially with a timing function. During lifting, the watch was comfortable and never bulged or dug into my wrist. During runs, I always wondered whether or not the movement would need servicing afterward. Reading the chronograph, though, was difficult, especially on a treadmill. That is an issue with chronographs in general, not just the Amerigraph. The watch could be improved in case thickness and the legibility of the subdials. I don’t know the controlling factor in making the thickness so substantial at 13.5mm, but if this could be remodeled to bring the watch under 12mm wrist to crystal, it would be a considerable upgrade.
The 24hr subdial I could do without does complete the Speedy symmetry. Unlike some homage watches, I never got that funny feeling of being nervous that someone would ask if this was the watch it was designed to look like while wearing it. The watch is light-hearted with the display quartz back, and Amerigraph scripted font on the dial; it avoids all risk of being a rip-off. Everyone I show the watch to immediately smiles when they turn it over to see the back. This was true regardless of whether they agreed on whether the movement should be displayed. What do you think? At $349, for me? The watch is an easy pick-up. If you want to know more about the Islander Amerigraph, check out longislandwatch.com. If you want to check out some more quartz chronographs, check out our other reviews.
Check out more Islander reviews at The Watch Clicker here
Check out the Islander website here
