AC Night Vision
AC Night Vision Specifications:
- 48mm case
- 15mm thick
- 55mm lug to lug
- 24mm lug width
- Miyota 8217 Automatic Movement
- Domed Mineral Crystal
- 50 meters water resistant
- Brown Leather Strap
Price $300 USD
Today I share with you a brand I was not familiar with at all beforehand, the Alexandre Christie (AC) Night Vision, model #9202. I found them by accident while scrolling through Instagram one day. After reaching out to the company to discuss a review, they sent along this model, but not really any information. This was actually a difficult review, because for a good couple of weeks, I did not know the price of it, which of course makes it hard to judge the watch for what it is. Eventually, the company got back to me with the pricing, ($300 USD), and I was able to move forward. Unfortunately, I still do not know where it can be purchased. I was told Amazon in the US, but have not found this watch for sale there at the time of this publishing, though a few models from Alexandre Christie can be found there.
With all of that said, I will give you my insight on this model as usual. One thing of note, Alexandre Christie is based in Hong Kong I believe, and when looking at their website, there are actually two different brandings for this company. This model, the Night Vision, falls under the AC line and there is another line that is branded the full Alexandre Christie. Between the two, you will find a myriad of styles and designs, from dress to casual to dive and sport, and anything in between, all at different price points as well. I can not really give you much info on the company itself as I have not been able to find much, and communication with the brand has been sparse. That said, if you can find it on sale at Amazon, they are at least a reputable site to purchase from.
The Alexandre Christie Night Vision model measures in at 48mm wide with basically no bezel to speak of and is a large and imposing watch, though the curved down lugs help it to sit more comfortably on the wrist. To the best of my knowledge, it is a black PVD coating, though it could be IP plated. I have had it in hand for well over a month and have worn it and have yet to encounter any issues with the plating itself, like chipping or scratching. And with such a large watch, I have knocked it into quite a few things, mainly the doorknobs of the house. The crown is push/pull as it is only 50 meters water resistant, something that greatly disappointed me with this style of watch. I think many will agree, that with its design, you expect this to be a throw anything at it type of watch, and even though it is obviously not being touted as a dive watch, a screw down crown with a 100 meters water resistance would have been a great attribute.
I would say the biggest selling point of the Alexandre Christie Night Vision would be use of the large, flat tritium tubes that are the markers for the dial. The dial markers and hands are adorned with encapsulated tritium tubes, in a similar fashion to some Deep Blue brand watches that have come out in recent years. (And of course Ball Watches). Something bothered me when I first received the watch, and you can see it in the photo below. Some, not all, of the tubes have plastic casing that can only be described as shoddy workmanship. A few of them have rough and jagged edges, making for a not so clean aesthetic. This got me looking around and talking to a few other watch enthusiasts about these type of tubes. I then saw a photo on a face book group of a Ball Watch with a similar style dial, and I saw the same thing. Now the Ball Watch is easily 4 times the price of the Night Vision, and honestly at any price is inexcusable. I would hope that not every Night Vision is like this and that they tighten up QC regarding this matter.
Powering this model is the Miyota 8217 automatic movement, which you can see through the exhibition case back. This movement has a date wheel, standard second hand and a 24 hour time sub dial at the 9 o’clock position. This is in the same class as the Miyota 8215 and is a non-hacking movement. The case back is polished stainless steel, which is odd, considering the rest of the watch has that military feel to it. I guess I was expecting maybe a PVD or blasted case back. The rotor has been skelotonized and there is etching on the glass as well.
Speaking of glass, the Alexandre Christie Night Vision is equipped with a domed mineral crystal that does have an internal AR coating. While I have not experienced any issues with it so far, man oh man would I have liked a sapphire crystal here, even if it added $50 to the price. With such a large watch, and some might disagree with me, this is going to be more prone to scratching because of the bigger surface area. This can always be debated, but in my experience, any mineral crystal I have had over the last 20 years has always scratched eventually, but I have never had a shattered sapphire. Your experience of course, could be different.
The lume shot below might look a little disappointing, especially if you are not familiar with tritium tubes. Keep in mind, this photo has no filters or Photoshop done to it, like you might see in most marketing photos. Tritium lume, whether T-100 or T-25 is not known for being super bright, like C3 superluminova normally is. Rather, it has a consistent glow that does not need to be charged, and is at its brightest when in complete darkness, which makes photographing it a little difficult.
The brown leather strap that is supplied is thick, supple and compliments the watch very nicely. It is 24mm with no taper and has a large black buckle that is not your standard thumbnail buckle I encounter on many affordable watches, (and some not so affordable). It easily conformed to my 7 1/2 inch wrist out of the box and has only become more comfortable over the past month. If I was to give the strap a 1-10 rating, I would give it a 9.
Despite the lack of communication from the company itself, I have not let that turn me off from the Night Vision. I hopefully conveyed to you my feelings on this model, and at a $300 price point there is nothing really out of sorts with it. Have I seen and reviewed $300 watches with better specifications? Yes. That is also not an everyday occurrence either. Of course, as mentioned, a sapphire crystal and 100 meters of water resistance would really bring this up a few notches, and a cleaner look to the flat tubes. If you like the look, and also like an over-sized watch, and have been wanting to try a tritium tube model, this is a possibility to check out. It does look good on the wrist and the build quality is there as far as case construction and the leather strap.
Thank you for reading, please leave your comments in the field below, after the pictures gallery.
