Continuing the trend of low/medium range affordable dress watches is the Stuhrling Original Men’s 490.3345K14 Cuvette II. Stuhrling has a phenomenal track record of creating fantastic low-to-medium range casual and dress watches, and the Cuvette II continues and adds to this great reputation. The watch is well-made, keeps near-perfect time, and looks at least just as great as watches that cost a few-hundred-dollars more. So, without further adieu, let’s dive in and take a close look at this piece!
490.3345K14 Style & Comfort
While I normally don’t like brown/gold combinations, I do think that the particular shade of gold on the 490.3345K14 is better than what I’ve seen on other watches. It’s a lighter tone and makes the body, especially the bezel, look really high-class. I also like the size and weight of the watch, which gives it a very high quality feeling.
Based on the pictures you wouldn’t think it’s a big or heavy watch, but I can assure you that you’ll be surprised when you put it on. It feels quite solid and, even though I think the band is a bit stiff out of the box, its weight is something I really liked when i first strapped the watch on. The band is also bigger than what I thought it would be, but after wearing it for about one week it felt amazing on the wrist. I have small/medium sized wrists and it fit pretty well without having to loosen it too much.
The 490.3345K14 Cuvette II has a beautiful dial and it would be a travesty to not mention it in the review. While it isn’t necessarily quite as legible as other Stuhrling watches on the market, it’s certainly more eye-pleasing than most of them. The unique rose-toned dial is outfitted with gold-toned roman numeral hour marks and it emanates class. Adding to this unique aesthetic is the crown. The crown has quite a low profile while also allowing for a pleasant time adjusting experience. Many watches also tend to have issues regarding the date window on the dial being too big, but the Cuvette II has the perfect-sized window and isn’t too large to be bothersome or too small to be illegible.
Performance
Additionally, it keeps time really well. Other people have complained that the watch gets off time easily or simply quits working, but I haven’t experienced any of these problems. It has a Swiss quartz movement so I really don’t know why people are experiencing issues like this — I think it might just be a fluke on their end. It’s definitely accurate and I can’t even tell what the error time was after three weeks, but it was really miniscule if there was any all.
Surprisingly enough the Cuvette II is also a little bit water resistant, which is somewhat uncommon for a dress watch. It’s recommended to not exceed a whopping 165 feet! I’m not quite sure how this particular watch has been pressure tested but I’d be quite intrigued to know the testing process that Seiko used. It does have a leather band so you may want to avoid prolonged water exposer anyways, and perhaps only limit its exposure to the occasional hand washing or rain.
Final Thoughts
To wrap this all up, I think the Stuhrling Original men’s 490.3345K14 Cuvette II is a phenomenal addition to the Stuhrling watch family. A common theme in the watch market lately seems to try and deck out the dial and bezel with as many fancy features and accents as possible, so a watch like the Cuvette II is a great reminder that simplicity is often more beautiful and sophisticated than added fluff. This timepiece has virtually everything you’d need in a quality dress watch — the case, glass window, bezel, crown, and leather band all culminate into a formidable piece of timekeeping technology.
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