Here's a military watch which used to be very popular on the watch forums (and eBay) about 9 years ago. Made by Hong Kong brand Alias Kim who may not be in existence anymore, there were 3 models in this range; a no-date, a date complication, and a day-date with prices starting at $10 and varying accordingly.
With dials available in green, beige, white, black, and fully lumed, there was something here to suit everyone. I chose the "lumibrite" look because I didn't know about Lorus and didn't have a field watch with a dial like this in my collection.
The dial itself appears to be printed on some kind of sticker or card like most cheap watches of the time, and up close, you can see the bubbles and wrinkles. At first I thought there were some imperfections under the mineral crystal or that it had a bubbled screen protector on it, but it's just a reflection of the dial.
The printing isn't very crisp, and there were some little blobs of black ink around some of the numbers which I removed with a cocktail stick to tidy them up. The overall quality of this watch is "acceptable" for the price but everything could and should have been a little bit better.
Measuring 40mm in diameter, this AK Homme watch wears bigger due to a 50mm lug-to-lug and 22mm lugs. It is, however, very thin at only 8mm, and it looks even thinner because of the case shape. This is a good size and shape for a nato strap especially if you have larger wrists than mine.
A beadblasted effect on the base metal case completes the military aesthetic, although the luminous dial wouldn't be very practical for real military use, and the crown is unsigned.
The watch has a screwdown caseback without a gasket, so it's probably only 30m water resistant like most field watches other than the Lorus with 100m. Amusingly, it claims to be "All Stainless Steel" but adds the word "Back" to it, meaning that it isn't an all stainless steel watch at all, just the back. A little bit deceptive at first glance, but simply handling the watch gives away that this is only a zinc alloy case and not titanium.
The movement is a small unsigned Miyota quartz clone (with the usual plastic movement holder to keep it in place) which is powered by a standard 377 battery. Setting the time takes many twists of the crown, and it only hacks when it feels like it. Once set, there's no wobble or jump to the hands as you press the crown in, and the timekeeping is accurate.
Although I replaced the two-piece 22mm nylon strap recently, it's exactly the same as the original except that the colour was a little bit paler. The original strap was a bit rougher on the edges and had a pleather reinforcement strip over the holes like the one on the Readeel which I reviewed a couple of days ago. I swapped the signed buckle over.
The lume on this watch is absolutely outstanding and lasts a long time, and the dial is extremely legible in all conditions. It's a very light watch, maybe 30g or so (I haven't weighed it), but it's also not the most comfortable due to the large flat caseback and long lugs.
Just to make Aurelian happy, this review will not end with perfect scores, nor was it ever destined to. If you can find any AK Homme watch cheap (and they were always cheap), I do still recommend them as an alternative to Infantry, Readeel, Soki, and the ever popular but smaller Lorus which inspired these clones.
