I have had the Geckota Ocean-Scout since late June, and I have been wearing it every day since. I just have three words to sum up my experience………. BUY THIS WATCH!
Geckota Ocean-Scout - Credit Guest Author
Once I got the Ocean-Scout and did my initial review and impression. I started out trying it on with the different bands that Geckota was kind enough to send along with it. My favorite is the nylon military band. It is very comfortable, and I really like the look of the slate grey with the blue dial and bezel. I will admit I prefer a deployment clasp to a standard buckle, so, I experimented a bit. I took a deployment clasp off a watch in my collection and removed the standard buckle from the Ocean-Scout’s nylon band. I used the Ocean-Scout’s pin to secure the deployment clasp folded over the nylon’s end to give it thickness and slid the holes over the clasp’s fixed pin and presto! I had a military nylon band with a deployment clasp. I wore the band in this configuration for about a week and it worked great. After a week with the nylon, I swapped it out for the stainless-steel band. I was heading to St. Louis MO. For a meeting and wanted to give the Ocean-Scout a more formal feel and since I was traveling, I wanted to see how it held up.
It didn’t set off the airport metal detector. I must admit I was kind of shocked. Since I am a military member, I am a known traveler and get TSA Pre-Check® which means I get to go through the metal detector not the full body scanner at airport. I purposely kept the watch on to see what would happen. If it set it off, I just would play stupid “sorry, forgot my watch” and go through again. Worse case they would have me go through the scanner. But, to my surprise, no alarm and the TSA Officer said all set.
Geckota Ocean-Scout - Credit Guest Author
As you can imagine flying with the watch was noneventful. A good friend of mine once taught me a trick to flying and jet lag. Once on the plane set your watch to your destination so your mind and body starts adjusting to the new time zone. Now granted Missouri is only an hour behind New Hampshire but I always follow his advice whenever I am flying and there is a time change. The Ocean-Scout was extremely easy to adjust, even with it on my wrist. Normally I take my watch off to adjust because I find it easier to unscrew the crown especially with crown guards. Because the Ocean-Scout has a vintage design and therefore no crown guards it was super easy to unscrew and adjust without having to remove the watch. I like this feature because I can’t tell you how many times, I have dropped my watch on a plane. My wife has referred to me as being a bit clumsy at times.
I traveled around ST. Louis for a couple days in 100-degree heat (37.7 C) the watch and the bands were very comfortable and did not allow for a buildup of sweat. The stainless-steel band really gave the Ocean-Scout a nice formal finish and the watch impressed several watch enthusiasts who were there.
Once I returned home, I ran the watch through a bunch of different tests by wearing it as I went on my day-to-day business. First up, I wanted to see how the Miyota’s Para Shock protection would handle and absorb shock, so I wore it when I qualified at the shooting range. It handled the recoil from the two handguns, shotgun, and rifle. To really give the Ocean–Scout a test I flipped the selector switch on the rife to auto and dumped a full magazine down range. As expected, there were zero issues with the Ocean–Scout.
Geckota Ocean-Scout - Credit Geckota
Since the Miyota 9039 automatic movement has a 42-hour power reserve I did a very unscientific test. I wound the movement and at midnight I stated the test having the watch sit on the counter in the kitchen with a note asking my wife not to move it. I checked the Ocean – Scout every day at midnight and noon. When I Ocean – Scout sopped moving I calculated the time, and it ran for 46 hours. As I stated this was by no means a scientific or controlled test so induvial results may vary (that should make the lawyers happy).
Up until this point I have been addressing the Scout side of the Ocean-Scout. Now let’s talk about my Ocean experience. I got underway with the Ocean-Scout and wanted to see how it how it held up to the harsh marine environment. It has held up well, the only scratch on the highly polished case is from when I was changing bands and slipped with tool I was using. I have repeatedly exposed the Ocean-Scout to saltwater spray and have fully submerged it reaching down into the water. I have noticed no water intrusion and it is keeping perfect time.
Geckota Ocean-Scout - Credit Geckota
A large part of operating on the water is navigation. Navigation today is simple with modern GPS, radar, and computers. I learned how to navigate prior to GPS back when Loran C was the tool of choice. We were taught how to Dead Reckon with just starting from a known position, compass, and stopwatch/timepiece. After knocking some of the rust off my DR skills I broke out my chart (water map for non-sailors), navigation tools, plotted my course and got underway. I had my crew use the GPS to follow along my chart, work just in case, since it had been a while navigating “old school” as one of my younger crew put it. Once underway the joy of DR navigating came back quickly, and the Ocean-Scout was able to time me through all the twists and turns I had plotted to our destination. We arrived within 1 minute of my projected ETA. During a nav drill you are allowed 3 minutes on either side of your ETA. During my nav run I tried using the rotating bezel instead of a stopwatch to indicate when I had to make a turn. For example, if I had a leg to run at 230-degrees at 15 kts for 10 minutes. I would set the bezel 10 minutes ahead of the time I ordered the new course when we got to the appointed time for the next turn, I reset the bezel the correct amount of time and ordered the new course. It worked slick and I didn’t have to keep track of a watch and a stopwatch.
Geckota Ocean-Scout - Credit Geckota
It has held up extremely well to a couple of months of hard daily wear, it has an elegant vintage look, it is affordable, and it keeps great time. If I had one wish for the watch, I miss not having a date. I tend to be working past midnight and sometimes I just need to glance quickly to make sure I am recording the correct date. I understand why there is no date because of the aesthetics.
I have really enjoyed my time with the Ocean-Scout. As I stated at the beginning of this article you need to get one while you can, it is a fantastic timepiece. In fact, I am going to ask to purchase it instead of sending it back, I like it that much.
