KC
Prologue
In the watch enthusiast universe, the watch enthusiasts are represented by two separate, yet equally unimportant human beings: KC, who likes titanium, and Marshall, who doesn’t. This is a watch review.
Lame podcast jokes aside, titanium is often a surprisingly divisive material in the weird world of watch enthusiasts. Some enjoy the lightness of the material, citing its comfort while on the wrist. I find myself in this camp, and I also enjoy the odd feeling of disconnect when picking up a watch that is much lighter than it looks. On the other hand, people like Marshall dislike the lightness of titanium.
So when RZE Watches reached out to us at Team Matick, I was more than happy to answer the siren call of receiving and reviewing their latest model: the RZE Endeavour. Measuring a distinctly wearable 40.5mm in diameter and 46mm lug-to-lug, the Endeavour shares these dimensions with their first watch, the Resolute field watch (seen below). They both share a similar case that has modern, industrial design with sharp angles and faceted edges.
Technical Specifications
The only change to the Endeavour is the addition of a dive bezel and an additional 100 meters of water resistance, which increases the thickness by 1mm to a still very reasonable 12.5mm. Both come in a bead-blasted finish, with the resulting muted grey titanium working with the sharp case design to provide a watch that simultaneously stands out without being too eye-catching.
Whatever your thoughts are on this divisive material, there is no doubt that the RZE Endeavour is a properly executed titanium watch. Its angular, faceted case and H-link bracelet weigh a mere 93 grams when sized for my wrist. This is in stark contrast to my only other titanium dive watch, the Tudor Pelagos, which weighs a hefty 138 grams. Both are lighter, however, than the fully steel Nodus AvaMatick, which comes in at 160 grams.
Case
RZE also goes the extra mile with their watches, imbuing both the Endeavour and the Resolute with a scratch-resistant UltraHEX coating with a hardness of approximately 1200 Vickers. While this should go a long way towards assuaging people’s concerns about how easy it is to scratch titanium, I’ve personally never shared this concern and simply consider it to be a bonus.
On-wrist Comfort
None of this would matter, however, if it wasn’t comfortable on the wrist. Fortunately, excellent case dimensions and lightweight construction make for a very comfortable fit on the wrist. The case sits well even on my small 6.3” wrist thanks to the sloped, angular lugs (which are also drilled, another plus point for my fellow strap addicts out there). The bracelet itself tapers from 20mm at the lugs to 16mm at the clasp, and has sufficient inter-link articulation to make for a great fit.
The reinforced, faceted case naturally leads the eye towards the dive bezel; a relatively simple one-piece design with coin edged finishing along the sides for grip. With fully demarcated minute markers terminating at a lumed triangle at 60, the bezel adds to the tool watch feel of the Endeavour without detracting from its clean design. While the bezel is just a smidge misaligned on my review piece, RZE has assured us that this is a problem caused by the pre-production nature of this unit, and that it will not be present on the final product.
Dial
Moving to the dial, this is quite simply the highlight of the watch. The grained, textured dial comes in 4 colour variations: Medallion Yellow, Polaris White, Pacific Blue, and Frigate Grey, which is the one I have for review. Regardless of the variant you choose, however, the dial hides a number of small details that would please any watch enthusiast. For example, a series of printed markers runs along the edge, with simple hash marks for the minutes. This is relatively routine, but they are broken up by small lumed circles at every 5 minutes, and a small triangle at 12.
The hour markers are another example, appearing at first glance to be relatively simple, lume-filled batons, with a double-width one at 12. But look closer and a few details emerge: the batons at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are just a smidge shorter and thicker than the rest. And these three markers, along with the cardinal one at 12, are all divided: a central 2/3rds with white pigmented lume, while the outer third has a touch of bluish-grey lume.
This hints at the final detail hidden in this watch, and one you’ll only notice in the dark: two-toned lume. While the peripheral minute marker circles, outer third of the cardinal markers and seconds hand have a green glow, the remaining hands, hours markers and bezel triangle glow blue. Two toned lume is something that I’ve always enjoyed, and this is one of the best executions I’ve seen in terms of how aesthetically pleasing it is.
Movement
However, RZE has hidden one last surprise, one that cannot be seen but only felt by its operator. Within the Endeavour, they have opted for a rather left-field choice for the movement: the Seiko caliber NH38A. While these movements come with an open-heart display, RZE chose this movement simply because this movement does not come with a date. This eliminates the phantom date position on the crown, so the crown will only click once for you to set the time. As this is a personal pet peeve of mine, I hope other brands will take note and use this movement on their no-date watches.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the RZE Endeavour is a pretty fantastic watch for its price point. Available for pre-order now for 555 SGD (just over 410 USD) over on the RZE website, you’re getting a fully-hardened titanium dive watch with an angular, modern look and great attention to detail throughout. If you’re looking for a titanium dive watch that you can wear as a daily wearer, you won’t go wrong with the RZE Endeavour.
For Team Matick,
KC
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