2021 has been a good year for titanium watches. We’ve seen several through the door here at The Time Bum and we’re always ready to welcome another – and why not? I’ve often said titanium is probably the best material for a tool watch and I stick by that assertion. The good people at Phoibos Watches of Hong Kong have recently launched the Apollo, their own entrant to the titanium fray. They gave me one for this review (Thanks!) and it is definitely a worthy addition.
The Apollo is a 42mm wide, 48mm long diving watch. It’s 12.5mm thick from the caseback to its flat crystal and sports all the elements we have come to expect from such undersea tools: 200m water resistance, screw-down crown, triple AR-coated sapphire, and a 120-click unidirectional bezel with snappy action and no back play or shimmy. A nearly bulletproof Seiko NH35 automatic movement to power the thing. The watch sells for $400.
I am a firm believer that any watch sold as a diving instrument had better come with a bracelet or other waterproof strap, even though I don’t dive and wear many of mine on leather (yes, I am a hypocrite, deal with it). Phoibos comes through on this front with a full titanium H-link bracelet with solid ends, screwed links – even the push-button, flip-lock clasp is made from the stuff. It was not long ago that a titanium bracelet was a rarity in the affordable watch world, but it seems that time has passed and I could not be happier. I love the light weight and smoky gray color of brushed titanium. If I can get that on every part of the watch, even better. Titanium’s hypoallergenic properties mean I don’t have to think twice about wrapping around my bare skin. I know some folks balk at the rattle made by titanium links but that comes under the heading of “too bad.” You want lightness, you are going to have to accept a lighter sound too. I have no such qualms. The bracelet is a winner in my book.
Titanium is tough stuff, but not invulnerable. It will scratch and scuff if you knock it about, and if you are not putting your tool watch in harm’s way every now and again, then you are not using it as intended. Like many other brands employing titanium, Phoibos gives its watches a scratch coating, raising the surface hardness to 800Hv, far beyond that of 316L stainless steel.
Turning back to the watch head, the Apollo follows conventional dive watch form. It has flat sides with no bevel. The lugs are angular as are the guards surrounding the 4 o’clock crown. The signed titanium crown (with an embossed Angry King Octopus, still one of my favorite logos) has a chunky grip complementing that of the bezel. It is all very toolish, if that is a word.
At this point, the Phoibos diverges from the dive watch formula. As hinted by its name, the Apollo was designed with space travel in mind. On the case back, we find a cartoon spaceman, complete with a rocket pack. I rather like the way they filled the engraving with black paint to bring out the image.
Phoibos describes the hands as rocket-shaped, and I can certainly see the resemblance given the flared fins on their tails. I particularly like the semi-skeletonized obelisk minute hand. I feared this treatment would make it hard to see at night but Phoibos saw to that with an application of BGW9 that extends all the way down to its blacked-out base. The black second hand is similarly lumed, although not as far. These are not conventional hands, yet to my eye, their black bases and white ends immediately mark them as pilot style.
The Apollo features a sandwich dial, which Phoibos offers in six different colors. This review sample was black. The upper layer is sand-textured with heavy BGW9 tuning fork hour markers for all but the cardinal points. Those are cut away to form larger, slimmer-lined forks revealing more BGW9. Cut-outs under the other markers show green-white C3 on the lower surface; an uncommon approach give that it is far easier to apply a single color to a sandwich layer.
All variants have the same black DLC bezel insert. Like the rest of the watch, it is titanium. Its engraved markers are filled with BGW9. Phoibos claims 15 layers of lume and given its potency, I have no reason to doubt them. This thing is a torch.
By the way, I need to mention the date window. First, the disk is black, as it should be on this black dial. Second, the frame is lumed and I like it. Now, I know I dinged Szanto for using the same design, saying that the glowing frame showed quality lume application, but the empty box in the dark left me cold. This one is different because the glowing box is a similar size and shape to the large forks at 12, 6, and 9. Here, the empty box provides balance in a way that a heavier, truncated marker or dark and unlumed space would not.
I found the Apollo to be perfectly comfortable. On my 6.75″ wrist, a 42mm case can be bulky, but the 48mm length keeps it in check and of course, the lightness of the titanium construction goes a long way.
I really like this one. It cleverly straddles both undersea and extraterrestrial worlds; blast off to splashdown, if you will. At $400, it is well priced for a sturdy, titanium-everything tool watch. I highly recommend you give it a go. Head over to PhoibosWatch.com (or PhoibosWatchEurope.com if you hail from the other side of the pond) for more.
