Dating from the year 2000 when Swatch had the bright but very unsuccessful idea to create a new way of telling internet time, this is the .beat, and it's a big one too.
Measuring 45mm across with a lug-to-lug of 52mm, this isn't a watch for small wrists or even normal sized wrists. It's also a thicc boi at 18mm, and the strap is 23mm across with no taper. Lug width makes no difference though because you can only use Swatch straps with this beast, and you have to order the same weird 23mm size as a replacement if you can even get them.
I've had this watch for over 20 years though and the strap is still as good as new, mainly because I've hardly worn it. No door handles have ever had chance to catch it and scratch the case, and it's been little more than a box queen to be pulled out only for photographs.
As a Swiss quartz watch, the accuracy of the ETA module inside is probably as good as or better than a Rolex, but obviously I've never tested it.
The functions are pretty standard for a digital watch, with 6 modes for local time/date, dual time, alarm, stopwatch, timer, and internet time which you can still set according to a page on the Swatch website.
As you press the top left mode button, the mode you are in is displayed with a numerical value in the band along the bottom of the display.
To be honest, I've never bothered to actually set this watch properly, and the battery is running out anyway, so I probably won't now. I have an instruction manual for it which promises all kinds of useful functions, but I've never read it.
The alarm is very loud when it goes off, probably because of the enormous aluminium case which is like the subwoofer on a hi-fi speaker. You can Google or make up your own more scientific explanation for how the acoustic properties actually work. In any case, you won't miss this when it chimes. It will wake you up in the morning!
I have no idea what internet time is. I set it according to the web page and forgot about it. Maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong, but it's not a function I'd use anyway. There's a little animated wave which goes from left to right in this mode and crashes against the rising and falling bars at the side, which is amusing for a couple of seconds.
Pressing the front button should illuminate the screen with the same kind of glorious EL backlight as a Casio, Skmei, or Timex Indiglo.
The battery is almost dead in this Swatch, so it just makes the display go blank for now until it finds enough power to come back to life again. I would change the battery, but I don't wear this watch enough for it to be a priority. I think I last changed it about 5 years ago, so it's done well.
The domed acrylic crystal is very reflective, but the legibility doesn't suffer too much as a result.
It's not the most comfortable Swatch, as you can imagine, but it is very light, and oddly, you do get used to wearing it quite quickly. I wore it all day for @DeeperRed's Scavenger Hunt, and it wasn't all that pinchy despite my wrist swelling up in the heat.
It looks like it's pinching my wrist more than it actually was mainly because the size of the keeper tends to cause an indent much like certain Casio G-Shocks.
Anyway, that's my review of the Swatch "Golden Wave". Why is it called that? Well, it's gold tone and has an animated wave going across the top of the display which you can change to seconds or blank with a press of the top right button.
Yes, I wish they'd called it the "Golden Shower" because I have a dirty mind, but having said that, it will survive a shower or swimming because it has 100m of water resistance. It says so on the back along with the battery code, so it must be true.
Given that a certain hype watch with only 91m of water resistance is being called a dive watch by lots of people who should know better at the moment, you could also call this Swatch a dive watch too if you wanted. You'd be wrong, because it's not a dive watch, but you could still call it that.
I don't recommend this watch unless you want to look like a complete tool in public, but it might be worth picking one up as a collectable or an investment. I wouldn't trust some of the more hopeful 3-digit internet prices though because, in reality, these Swatches aren't worth very much at all and were never intended to be anything more than a disposable gimmick.