Photography has some of the most passionate followers. When they take up the camera as a tool, as a passion, it becomes their life. They cannot go anywhere without it. It will always be around their necks or inside a bag designed specifically for them to be carried around.
Again, they do not go anywhere without it, or anything that can easily resemble it.
Tacs designed a timepiece that shares the same kind of passion that photographers have for their cameras, going all in to bring the public a watch that is worthy of such passion by avoiding cutting corners and paying attention to every detail that needed consideration.
This is what they did with the Tacs Nato Lens. This could easily be the first of its kind, making it a definite must-have, especially for those who are passionate about photography.
The Look
The first thing you will notice with the Tacs Nato Lens is its dial. Taking a page from where it was inspired from, its face is designed to look like the lens of a camera. Even the ridges that you normally see around a camera’s lens was put into its design. As a result, you are given the feel of having a camera on your wrist. The rotating bezel further highlights this fact giving you the feeling of zooming in and out for a shot.
In addition, the bezel is ridged all the way around which serves the purpose of making it aesthetically look like the lens of the camera. Although, it could also serve a purpose. It can be excused as a design feature that will help strengthen your grip of the bezel.
Furthering its similarities with a camera, the Nato Lens normally comes with two different kinds of straps. The denim strap seems like a standard. The second strap that comes without, however, could come in either a brown leather piece or a black Nato strap, and either of the three seem to be a perfect fit for the timepiece. In fact, the latter two makes it look more like a camera with the materials that were used.
However, there are some who have qualms with the denim strap. The critique is not with its comfort because, in fact, it is very comfortable. It is the way it was made with a quote saying, “Unique is Simple”. Others think that it made the strap a little bit cheap, which is not representative of the timepiece itself because it is anything but cheap.
Moreover, the dial does not have any indices to specifically indicate the time. Rather, you are only presented where the 12 o’clock mark would have been, and the six o’clock mark indicated only with the word six. Everything else is a rough estimate.
Tacs, on the other hand, decided to counterbalance this feature, or lack thereof, with the watch’s ability to tell time even after dark. They think you will be bringing it everywhere you go, at anytime of the day. That is why, they designed the hands to glow even in darkness, making it the perfect companion for a night of taking pictures.
Functionality
The most frequent question that is asked regarding the Nato Lens is whether or not it can take pictures, taking into consideration how it is designed. The answer to that is a resounding no, unfortunately.
The camera lens design is simply for aesthetic purposes. Moreover, aside from the standard built-in dial, Tacs also offers a fish-lens style dial which gives your watch a different look to its already unique appearance, for a watch.
Mechanism
It has been compared to Tacs’ other watch, Automatic Vintage Lens II, or easily known to the public as AVL II. The similarities between the two is quite astounding. You could even say that they are identical twins. However, they are not.
The biggest difference between the AVL II and the Tacs Nato Lens is their movement. Unlike the former, the Nato Lens run on a quartz movement. This makes it easy for you to wear at any time without the hassle of setting the time over and over again. Additionally, this also makes it the perfect timepiece for daily use, unlike the AVL II’s more high-end specifications.
The Nato Lens is being sold at a price ranging between $220.00 and $270.00. Whether or not it is worth the price is up to you. At the end of the day, it is a beautiful timepiece to look at, and can easily become a collectible. However, just like how others feel about the denim strap, this could be seen by others as a novelty piece that makes it very difficult to take seriously. However, if Tacs was trying to craft a watch that caters to the fancy of photographers, they definitely pulled it off with this one.
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