The Zelos Hammerhead stays on its own track when it comes to the use of luminescent materials too, as the hands, indices and also the lumed bezel and crown feature green-ish looking C3 type lume, while the minute track around the periphery of the dial is lit up in cold blue by BGW9. Being a total sucker for good lume (the more the better), this colorful layout is most appreciated. Something to note, though, is an unexpected inconsistency between the brightness of the green lume seen on the indices and elsewhere: the bezel’s, hands’, and crown’s markings are as bright as any C3 Super-LumiNova (I compared to a much more expensive watch’s C3 and they both faired the same), while the lume of the indices is of noticeably lower quality – both the brightness and the consistency of the color/paint is inferior when compared to the bezel. It’s still legible, alright, but the inconsistency is easily noticeable and hence something we should mention.
Wearability remains great thanks to the sub-50mm lug-to-lug size, the screw-down crown at four (a large crown one could expect to dig into the side of the wrist if it were placed at 3), and the rather stiff rubber strap that handles the considerable heft of the bronze case quite well. The 22mm lug-width should make it easy to fit aftermarket straps – as I have, by adding this dark leather “zuludiver” that works brilliantly with the bronze case. I could have even swapped the buckle and strap holders had I really wanted to, but the steel hardware works fine with some of the dial elements, so they could stay. It is here where we’ll add that the Zelos Hammerhead comes in a great little watch travel pouch packed with three straps – a very neat addition to the already strong value proposition. There is a gray and a brown leather strap as well as a perforated rubber strap. You do get just one piece of bronze buckle, so you will have to swap that with every strap change – but there is a strap changing tool also included. Thumbs up for these extras.
Should you find the bronze case a bit over the top for your taste, Zelos has produced four versions of the Hammerhead in steel and has kindly sent us one of them to include in this review. All four steel Zelos Hammerhead watches come on a – I dare say, “weapons grade” – steel bracelet with either black, gray, or blue dials with a ceramic bezel insert, or a grey dial with a Damascus steel bezel insert. It was this latter one that we got, with one of the more unusual rotating bezels I have seen. Needless to say, the uni-directional rotating function of the bezel is good only for changing the looks of the watch (slightly…) by rotating the pattern of the bezel. Damascus steel is a cool metal-layering process that we have explained more than a few times, so I encourage you to read about more watches made with Damascus steel here.
What you need to know about the Zelos Hammerhead in steel is that it weighs a ton and looks fantastic on its bracelet; a three-link bracelet that is definitely among the very best in this price segment. The links are all solid with beautiful polishing alternating with brushed elements, and the ends of the bracelet are held together by a steel clasp that stays relatively thin while also incorporating an adjustable and rather long diver’s extension. Handy stuff for that time when your wrist expands due to heat or high humidity.
All Zelos Hammerhead watches are equipped with the same automatic movement, the Seiko NH35. It offers hacking and hand-winding so it is, of course, more high-end than what you find in indie watches priced a bit below the Zelos Hammerhead. It clearly isn’t going to be super accurate – prepare for around 8-10 seconds per day to be a realistic performance figure when the watch is worn – with about 40 or so hours of power reserve (so you’ll either wear the Zelos Hammerhead daily, have to wind it regularly, and/or keep it on a watch winder). Hidden behind a solid steel case-back on all eight Zelos Hammerhead models, it’s a fine workhorse movement that is a solid find in this price segment.
Clearly, a lot of commendable effort and attention has been dedicated to creating the Zelos Hammerhead, from the neat dial details of the lumed elements and interestingly finished segments of the bronze or steel cases all the way to the massive steel bracelet and various bezel and dial options.
All in all, the Zelos Hammerhead is a terrific desk-diver (that you should be able to take 1,000 meters below the surface, if you insist), and with the meteorite dial and bronze case Zelos has really hit it out of the park by filling the niche of affordable bronze divers. If you are okay with wearing heavy-ass watches, you’ll love how both the bronze and the steel versions feel on the wrist, while the massive bronze case and bezel will make you want to wear it even more just to work on that patina.
The Zelos Hammerhead in bronze with the meteorite dial costs $749, though bear in mind that the bronze cased version with either the black dial and ceramic bezel, or the blue or grey dial versions with bronze bezels run for just $529. The all steel Zelos Hammerhead watches on the weapons-grade steel bracelet start at $429, the Damascus steel bezel version costs $599, while the steel watch with meteorite dial and ceramic bezel will cost you $629. If you see a version sold out on the site, Zelos being a small brand with limited manpower, you may still want to reach out to them to see if they have some left in stock. zeloswatches.com
Necessary Data
>Brand: Zelos
>Model: Hammerhead Bronze
>Price: $749 as seen here, $529 in bronze with regular dial
>Size: 44mm wide, 49mm lug to lug
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Sometimes.
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Dive watch enthusiast.
>Best characteristic of watch: Well made and exceptional value.
>Worst characteristic of watch: Antireflective coating should ideally be higher quality; wish the great lume found elsewhere was also applied to the indices.
