Let me begin by addressing the elephant in the room. This Sekonda fashion watch is one of the worst examples of lazy fashion watch creation in the entire history of fashion watches. Not only does it take the Gucci colours for its nylon strap, but the dial apes both Rolex for the layout and Tudor for the handset. Since everything gets a nickname nowadays, I think I'll call this a "Gudex". We can all see what it's borrowed every design element from, and we all know it's a cheap Miyota quartz inside, so let's move on. As a watch in its own right, I absolutely love it!
The dimensions of the two-tone, beadblasted-effect, chrome-plated alloy case are 41mm across with a lug-to-lug of 48.5mm. The lug width is supposedly a horrific 21mm according to the official specifications, but it's more like 22mm. A 22mm nato will slide in easily. It'll fit anybody really, but it might look too bulky on skinny wrists.
It's a fairly big (but very light 58g) watch like the quartz Tevise I also own, and it could probably do with being 2mm smaller in diameter like the most popular Sekonda diver-style watches. I didn't actually realise it was listed as 43mm when I bought it. It's not a problem for me, but because I already have a similar 42mm "dive style" fashion watch, I'd have liked it to be 40mm. Turns out that it's 41mm anyway and only 43mm including the crown. It's only 10mm thick because it's quartz, and that makes it instantly better than any Tudor. The crown isn't signed because why would they?
Unlike the Tevise, the Gudex has no crown guards, and along with the creamy "faux-patina lume" colour, this seems like an attempt to make it look more "vintage" or something. It's fooling nobody. This is no Sean Connery era Rolex, it's a pretty standard Sekonda quartz watch, and when the plating wears off, it'll still look like a crappy new watch rather than an old one. Luckily for both of us, I'm careful with my toys, and no plating will ever get rubbed. I still have my Sekondas from over 30 years ago with no signs of wear and tear on them. The movements are dead as doornails, and they are all too small for me, but they still look new. I'll be babying this one just as much even though it came "pre-scratched" with a tiny dent on the top left lug apparently caused by a battery change by GBWatchShop. These are old watches now (from 2018), so I'll forgive them this time.
More niggles abound, but all of them are quite minor. The Miyota movement is as basic as they come, but it's easy to set the time and date, and more accurate than anything mechanical. The seconds hand only hits the markers when it wants to, but the date without a cyclops is far too tiny for normal people to read without glasses. Nobody ever uses the date anyway, do they? I don't, so it doesn't matter.
The bezel rotates, but it's very light and tinny feeling, and it binds in places. Lots of backplay too. After a few twists, the action improved with less binding, but it's not exactly wonderful. It's another feature which I barely use anyway, but at least it's aligned properly.
The dial is a plain matt black with gold-rimmed indices moulded into it during manufacture, and although they look like applied indices to anyone short-sighted, they aren't. They don't have any lume in them either so this won't be a bedtime watch, because the hands based on the Tudor snowflake handset also have no lume. Even the pearl/pip on the bezel has no lume. I hate to say it, but I will anyway, Sekonda isn't actually well known for its lume, and if you do get a lumed Sekonda watch, it's more of a token gesture than a feature. Even Invicta and Casio do lume better, and that's saying something, so having no lume at all doesn't make much difference. If I cared enough I could buy some luminous paint and add my own, but I'm not going to. I knew what I was getting into when I bought this watch, and bought it fully willing to accept its flaws because I'm a bit of a Sekonda fanboy.
I actually became aware of this model 4 years ago (in early 2019) and wanted it straight away owing to my then obsession with Gucci. Despite being very much a Brit of Anglo-Saxon descent, my wife is Italian, and I have gravitated towards Italian things throughout my life. I don't particularly like any Italian food other than pizza, and I'm not what you'd call a person of any great taste either, which is another reason why I love this watch. Prior to the Gudex's creation, I'd been stuck to the window of Fraser Hart ogling the Gucci Dive for several years and wondering how I would get one. Sekonda answered my prayers to some extent with the Gudex, but damn, if it didn't start out priced at £79 and was thus just as unobtainable for me as a Gucci.
At the time of purchase, the Sekonda Gudex finally dropped to an unbelievable £22.98 on Amazon, and my decision was made for me. At the price, I could easily afford it and had to have it or live with regret for the rest of my life. And now that I do have it, is it everything I hoped it would be?
Yes, this is exactly what I wanted! It's a nice big, brash Summer fashion watch which I'll wear all Summer as my new "holiday watch". 50m water resistance is more than enough for me to be able to wear it safely in my paddling pool during the one week of hot weather we get here, and then it'll go back into a watch box until next year. With an estimated 3 year battery life, it should see me through to my official old age before I have to change the 25p 377 cell, which will probably be £100 by then with the current rate of inflation.
Will I one day flip my luxurious Gudex for big money? Of course not. It will hold its value strangely enough as long as I don't treat it roughly, and one day it will be discontinued and labelled as "rare" by eBayers, just like many other Sekondas which were made in their millions and have disappeared without trace. No, before you ask, I didn't buy them all to hoard, but someone else out there must have done. Don't even think about buying a "Made in U.S.S.R." labelled Sekonda from before the fall of the Soviet Union when Sekonda were importing and rebranding Raketas and Vostoks. Maybe it's a certain demographic from the younger generations who have inflated the prices because they all want to be Communists now, don't they? I don't get it. It was a shameful and exploitative period of history and one best forgotten, but those vintage Sekonda watch prices on eBay are getting ridiculous.
Believe it or not, Sekonda is still Britain's number one selling watch brand, but the products are snapped up by too many people who don't look after their things. Most Sekondas often end up in the bin due to scraped chrome, broken mineral crystals, and stems pulled out of the movement with gorilla strength on a drunken Saturday night and then lost. Yes, I know the stereotypes from my own class only too well and what mischief they get up to.
Sekonda also usually has notoriously rubbish "genuine leather" straps which fall apart after a few months, or sub-Seiko level stainless steel bracelets, but the rubber ones are often very good indeed. Time will tell if this nylon strap fails. I've never had one of these before, but it seems very well made albeit a little bit stiff. The reinforced holes aren't ideally placed for me which means I have to wear it a bit tighter than I would like to for now. If the worst happens, I already have plenty of "Gucci" nato straps to replace it with.
Do I recommend this watch? No. Even though I absolutely adore this Gudex and want it to have my illegitimate babies, I don't think you should buy one. Sekondas aren't for everyone. They are an acquired taste like having gravy and curry sauce on your chips at the same time or sandwiches made with Pot Noodle fillings. They look good and slightly more expensive than they cost, but they are a bit rubbish, much like Swatch without the aggressive marketing.
Sekonda don't even take themselves too seriously, and nobody who buys a Sekonda watch should either. Time Products UK (owner of Sekonda, Accurist, and Limit) have been working hard on new marketing to highlight the fun aspect of their products, and according to people who have seen their advertising, it has been very successful.
These are everyday watches for normal working class people with not much money to have fun-filled lives while wearing them, and if you're not one of those people, they aren't for you.