Watch Wearing Wednesday: Legion Watch from Belk

This is my Legion watch from 2015 or so. Apparently, there was another Legion brand from an offshore manufacturer that was very popular back in the day. However, this Legion brand watch is a house-brand watch that was created for Belk department stores.

A Legion brand watch from Belk

I don't know if a 9-year-old watch counts as vintage.  I'm afraid that if it does, I might count as vintage, too.  If you'd like to read a review of this watch, bang it here!

A Legion Watch on a restaurant menu

Wristwatch Review: Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph

For Christmas, I received this Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph watch as a gift.  It's a great looking watch and my wife got a great sale price on it online from Belk.com.

The Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph Quartz Watch Under Christmas Lights

Citizen Watch Design.  The Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph has a silver-tone stainless steel case and bracelet with deployment clasp.  The design uses contrasting flat and shiny finishes to add interest.  The dial is white and very readable.  The case diameter is a manly 46 millimeters and the watch is 12 millimeters thick.  The watch is hefty, but I don't find it overly heavy at 5.6 ounces.  This watch is dressy enough to wear to an office and look quite respectable.

Citizen Chronograph Function.  This watch is actually very useful as a stopwatch. The third hand that is traditionally a second hand on most watches is a stop watch hand on this chronometer.  The sweeping second hand is confined to the subdial located at 6 o'clock.  The subdial at 3 o'clock provides the hour on the 24-hour clock.  The sub-dial at 9 o'clock provides elapsed minutes up to 60 on the stopwatch.  While some watches try to take care of all the chronograph functions with subdials, this Citizen uses a big hand that allows you to see what you are doing when you use it as a stopwatch.

My Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph has a vintage Kodak moment

Citizen Watch Construction.  With 100 meters of water resistance, a mineral crystal, and stainless steel case, I feel that this watch is solidly constructed and certainly up to all the uses I would find for it.  For example, fried green tomatoes are no match for this solid Citizen.

My Citizen Stainless Steel Chronograph with Fried Green Tomatoes

The only drawback to this watch is that it isn't an Eco-drive model.  However, it is a great looking quartz timepiece and it is attractively priced.  Overall, I really like this Citizen watch for being rugged, readable, and good looking.  It's my definite go-to watch for daily wear.

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Legion Watches from Belk

At the height of the Christmas season, it can be great fun to enjoy the extended hours at department stores.  Sometimes, it's like you get to sneak in and enjoy the service, the decor, and the personal attention that the early birds miss out on.  One retailer that we like in our region of the United States is Belk.  They are a southern department store based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  During this holiday, we visited one of their premiere stores in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was a good opportunity to take stock of the every day quartz watches they offer in their Legion store brand.

I took a look at the Legion watches stacked in a store display.  After a busy shopping day, the sales people remained effervescent, but they hadn't had a chance to front the display and make it presentable.  Nevertheless, I had a great chance to take a look at many of their Legion brand watches.
 

Legion Diver-style Watch

 The first watch to catch my eye was the Legion diver-style watch with subdials shown above.  It has all the right markings for a dive watch, but the bezel doesn't rotate and the subdials are purely for decorative purposes.  Still, $40 is a great price for a fashionable quartz watch with a 10-year warranty.
 

Legion Watch with Extra Strap from Belk

Another interesting choice might be this gold-tone Legion watch with extra strap.  It would give you the flexibility of a metal bracelet or a leather strap.  However, this gold tone is a little too much like a women's "boyfriend" style watch for my taste.

Legion Watch with Roman Numerals

Handsome Roman numerals and a leather strap drew my eyes to this Legion watch as well.  It's likely that the sub-dials are non-functional, but it is a nice looking watch.

Legion Watch with Gold & Silver Tones

If bling is your thing, the silver and gold-tone Legion watch (above) offered a masculine take on the matter.  It's a solid looking timepiece for sure.  There were many other watches in the Belk lineup of Legion brand watches.  However, after a few minutes, it was time to move on.  Overall, these watches make a great "bonus" gift or stocking stuffer.

Finally, I saw the silver-on-silver Legion watch shown above.  It a Legion watch that I have previously reviewed here:  Wristwatch Review:  Men's Legion Analog Watch.


I should note that there is a Legion brand of watches that is sweeping the Internet.  I don't believe that these watches are in any way related to the housebrand watches sold at Belk.  But, with a ten year warranty and a plethora of styles to choose from, these Legion watches from Belk are solid last minute holiday gift!

Watch Sighting: Wenger Off Road Watch with GMT Dial

Still looking for a great gift idea for a man?  You might check out this Wenger Off-Road GMT watch.  It offers rugged good looks, a Swiss-made quartz movement, a unidirectional rotating bezel, and water resistance down to 100 meters (for swimming or snorkeling).  The 42 millimeter diameter case and 22 millimeter wide strap are perfectly proportioned for most men.

The small red hand on the dial should be set to point at the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).  The Greenwich Mean Time is the time at the Prime Meridian (0-degrees longitude).  When you read the GMT, you can mentally make the adjustment to any familiar timezone.  For example, Atlanta, Georgia, is GMT -5:00 hours.  When it's 7:30 a.m. at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich England, it's 2:30 a.m. here in Atlanta.  You can check your time difference here at GreenwichMeanTime.com.  There are a wide variety of ways that aviators and other professionals can use a GMT watch..

The Greenwich Royal Observatory - Photograph by Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. (www.clemrutter.net). (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons