KronoReview: Casima Charisma Stainless Watch

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers
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Thank you for checking out my latest watch review! In this review, I will be looking at a Stainless Casima Charisma, Model 5114, 42mm, Day/Date/24 hour quartz watch, BG price of $47.99.


^ Website Pic ^

The BangGood listing picture above features a decent looking product…a product that looks somewhat suspiciously like an Omega Speedmaster…not necessarily a bad thing.

FYI…this ‘Mushroom Brand’ (one of several brands that seem to spring up everywhere) Casima 5114 watch is available in two versions…with a Stainless Steel bracelet, or a black leather strap. I will be reviewing the SS band version. I received this watch gratis from BangGood for review.




^ A few of my own pics from lightbox ^

From what I can determine, the company that owns Casima Watches is the Shenzhen IDS Watch Co., Ltd. . This is their Alibaba site, which was the only website I could find for them.

The specs as they appeared, verbatim, from the BangGood Listing :

Specification
Brand: CASIMA
Model NO.: 5114
Item Type: Wrist Watch
Movement: Quartz
Case Shape: Round
Dial Window Material: Glass
Band Material: Leather / Stainless Steel
Clasp Type: Fold Buckle / Needle Buckle
Style: Casual, Business
Gender: Male
Dial Display: Analog
Water Resistance: 100M Waterproof (Swimming, diving within 10 meters, but don’t operating in water and don’t bathing in hot water.)
Features: Time Display, Date Display, Week Display, Luminous, Waterproof
Dial Diameter: 4.2cm
Case Thickness: 1.05cm
Band Width: 2.2cm
Band Length: 22cm
Package Included: 1 X CASIMA Watch
Notice:
1.The picture is only for reference, please consider carefully before purchase.

KronoReview:

First…the unboxing:


^ Box with my new favorite EDC knife, the Ganzo G753 Axis-Lock folder. ^


^ The Casima came in a very well padded/bubble-wrap envelope, with outer cardboard box wrapped around a nice inner retail box. It was VERY well protected. ^

CASE/CROWN/CASEBACK/LUGS: The Stainless Steel case is 42.25mm, and the overall height is 10.5mm high, a pretty comfortable size for me (I have a 7-3/4” wrist). The top and sides of the case are polished. The crown is properly knurled and easily gripped, and sports their embossed logo on the side. The pusher at 2 O’clock controls the day of the week, and the pusher at 4 O’clock controls the date. The screw-down case-back requires a standard 3-point or 2-point adjustable tool for removal. There was a singe black o-ring seal underneath. The depth rating is 10 ATM, but I would probably avoid anything beyond hand-washing with this watch.

BRACELET/CLASP: The solid link, 20mm Stainless Steel oyster-style bracelet has eight removable links for easy adjustability. The end links are also solid. The center links of the bracelet are brushed, and outside sections are polished. The double push-button, locking deployment clasp is of a decent quality, has 3 positions for micro-adjustment, and has the Casima logos present.


^ You can see a mark on the buckle. I believe this was adhesive residue from removal of the protective tape. This residue was easily removed using a Magic Eraser. ^


^ Adhesive removed. ^

DIAL/HANDS/INDICES/FUNCTIONS: The black dial has raised, baton indices fashioned in angled chrome. There are also vertical lines running down the entire dial. There is no traditional date-window. Instead, there is a date sub-dial at 6 O-clock. A day sub-dial is at 3 O’clock, and a 24 hour clock sub-dial is at 9 O’clock. There are no numeric markers on the indices, and there are seconds and micro-seconds hash-marks between the indices. The Hour, Minute and Second hands are sword-style designs that are also chrome in color. Lume exists only on the Hour and Minute hands…and not very much of it. There is an internal, black tachymeter ring with white numbers & letters. I found that^ it was a challenge at times to quickly tell the time, and it was definitely a challenge telling the day and date due to the small numbers on the sub-dials.


^ Another lightbox pic, with some photo editing (using paint.net) to whiten-up the edges ^

MOVEMENT: Japanese Epson VX9JE quartz, no-jewel, quartz movement. I verified this through removal of caseback and internal inspection.

CRYSTAL: The Casima 5114 crystal is flat, and purported to be “Hardlex”. I am unable to verify this. The crystal does extend above the bezel ever-so-slightly, perhaps .2mm, and I am confident in saying that there is no anti-reflective coating.

*BEZEL: *Very standard, non-prominent, non-rotatable, un-numbered, polished Stainless Steel bezel.

PROS:
Japanese Epson (Seiko Company) VX9JE quartz movement.
Sony battery.
10 ATM water resistance.
Styled like an Omega Speedy.
Day/Date/24 hr. displays on sub-dials.
Tachymeter ring.
Attractive fit and finish.
6 point, screw-down Stainless Steel caseback.
Moderate-feeling Stainless bracelet with solid end-links/bracelet links. 8 removable sizing links.
Double pushbutton, locking deployment clasp.
Flat ‘Hardlex’ crystal.
Lume on hour and minute hands.
Retail box.
Choice between leather strap and Stainless Steel bracelet.

CONS:
Legibility, especially of the sub-dials.
Insufficient lume on hands, and no lume whatsoever on dial.
Cheap sounding bracelet, although it wears and looks fine.
Styled like a chronometer, but no chronometer function.

ACTUAL DIMENSIONS:
Width (including crown): 45mm
Case Diameter: 42.25mm
Lug to lug: 51.5mm
Bracelet width: 22mm
Crystal: 38.5mm
Overall Height (top of crystal to bottom of caseback): 10.5mm
Weight: 136gms
Battery size: SR927SW

RATING:
Cost: 4
Looks: 3
Durability: 4
Function: 3
Comfort: 4
Average: 3.6/5

In conclusion, the Casima Charisma 5114 is an OK looker, and a decent feeling watch. This is the first Casima watch I have used, and it seems to have reasonable functionality for it’s cost. The utilization of a Japanese quartz movement, paired with usable (if somewhat challenging) functions, makes this watch a consideration, especially for the low cost. Overall, a reasonable watch for a reasonable price.

Thanks,
krono

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OP edited…added price to review.

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Thanks for the review krono.
What does the no Jewel mean and what is the disadvantage?

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Thanks for the review Krono. A jewel bearing is a plain bearing in which a metal spindle turns in a jewel-lined pivot hole. The hole is slightly larger than the shaft diameter. The jewel material is usually synthetic sapphire or ruby. Jewel bearings are used in precision instruments where low friction, long life, and dimensional accuracy are important.

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Southland has it right.

Many quartz movements do not have ‘jewels’ in them. Why? As far as I can tell, there are mainly three reasons:

  1. Quartz movements are lower in cost.
  2. Quartz movements have fewer moving parts than automatic or hand-wound movements.
  3. Jewels (automatic movements in general) should be regularly oiled/cleaned (typically every 5-10 years), and people expect quartz watches to be relatively maintenance free…except for, perhaps, battery changes.

Side note: You will typically see 17+ jewels on autos and winders…even the more budget friendly Chinese movements. Typically, the more jewels, the higher the movement quality…but not always.

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Thanks for the reply’s. Interesting about the maintenance on the jewels.

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Krono, what would you say is the best quality chinese auto chronograph right now? And are there any with trits?

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Regardless of price? Bang for the buck? Under a certain pricepoint?

As far as trits…hmmm…I’ll have to look into that.

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Well, aside from the tourbillon’s. So yeah, maybe bang for the buck, but sort of regardless of price

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Let me think about that and get back to you.

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Any opinions about Luminox watches? I’ve heard everything from how you can run over it with a hummvee, deep-fry it, blow it up, etc., and it’ll come out without a scratch, to how pieces just spontaneously fall off. ??

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The steel ones are tough, stay away from the plastic/carbon fiber or whatever they are made of, the lugs are prone to break.

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Absolutely. I’d only go with metal-cased ones anyway.

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i think luminox is the

of the watch world….

i’d just say get a g shock, that is what army guys REALLY use … not these things

if you get metal, do not get black, it shows scratches

wle

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Oh, I love Casio watches. Still got one that I got for myself as a b’day/Christmas present (forgot which) back when I was in school, and still have it to this day… somewhere. When I stopped wearing watches at all, I put it somewhere “safe” and now I have to go through an archæological dig to find it again.

Whatever’s the older version of the A168W-1 but with the small incandescent bulb on the leftmost side, not the EL-backlit one today. I even remember which side because the bulb would do a nice job lighting up the hours, when I wanted to see the minutes instead. :stuck_out_tongue:

Still, that watch took a beating and even though it looks a bit weathered with scuffs’n’scratches, it never failed me even once.

Yeah, I might do just that. Some of the G-Shocks are more than a little pricey, though.

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Wrong on the steel Luminox, I swung my arm back and hit the face of one dead center on the corner of a brick wall. Expected to see the face broken, nothing, not even a scratch. The metal black watches are stainless steel impregnated with PVD. The PVD is actually absorbed into the metal. Rolex also uses PVD, good enough for me.

Rolex Daytona

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Just saying, black metal will show scratches, before silver.

Rolex, PVD or not.

wle.

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Automatic chronographs, from my understanding, are fairly complicated watches. Therefore, reliable Chinese Chronograph movements are probably a challenge to come by. Sea-Gull would arguably be the best, if not, one of the better movements to tap for a Chinese chronograph….especially if you are looking for bang-for-the-buck. Sea-Gull does make their own watches, but I believe they are somewhat limited, depending upon where you live. I have no experience with the complete watches, but the watches I own (all non-chronographs) with Sea-Gull movements have been pretty rock solid. I believe their ST1940 Automatic Chronograph movement has a pretty good reputation, but I do not own one.

They also sell their movements to other watch manufacturers…much the same way some Swiss and Japanese manufacturers do. Therefore, I would look at a smaller case manufacturer that buys ‘raw’ Chinese movements, mods &/or adjusts them properly, and installs them in their own case.

One such manufacturer that I am aware of is the Perpetual Watch Company. Note: I am not familiar with their watches. I am only using them as an example of what I am talking about…although I must admit that their watches look fantastic for the pricing. Just gaze at this purdy Tourbillon ($1,000-$1,450):

Or this Power Reserve timepiece ($200):

And one model of their automatic Chronographs ($500-$600):

And just look at the internal beauty of this hand-winding Chronograph ($500-$600):

A cursory look at some online reviews for Perpetual say the watches are very nice, but customer service can be lacking. IOW…your typical Chinese level of customer service…lol

As far as a quality Chinese Automatic Chronograph with Trits…I don’t know of one nor can I seem to find one.

Cheers,
krono