The Lacz Denton Submariner Homage Watch: Review

          

 Importance of Homage Watches

    Within the watch enthusiast community, there are different camps of thought regarding homage watches. While some find homage watches to be blatant copies of high end luxury watches with no originality, still others understand that the “copy” may well be the closest they can get to having that watch on their wrist. With the economic struggles of modern society and the inaccessible pricing of most luxury brand offerings, I personally believe that homage watches, when done properly, are necessary to both scratch the itch of feeling like you have a luxury watch, and also saving money in the long run.

A Rolex Submariner Overview

    There is really no argument against the importance of the Rolex Submariner in the great story of horological history and innovation. When the Rolex Submariner was introduced in 1954, it revolutionized the whole market as a durable, ascetically pleasing divers watch that is not just reserved for the diving suit. In fact, you are more likely to see a Submariner on dry land on the wrist of people who almost never, if ever, go diving! The look is so classic and recognizable now that many brands have either used it’s design as inspiration for their own divers watches, or tried to directly mimic it (within copyright law) to get their own piece of the Submariner pie.

Lacz Denton’s Homage: A Good Homage?

While surfing watches on Amazon.com one night, I came across a smaller watch brand that I had never heard of before called Lacz Denton Watch Company. I saw the LD-9104 model, in black but also found a “Hulk” and “Starbucks” version amount others. Their logo and specifications basically matched the better known Pagani Design; a sapphire crystal, 40mm case size, ceramic bezel, Mercedes hour hand, and a date window cyclops. The only real difference I was seeing was the movement inside the watch. Sporting a less than impressive Miyota 8215 automatic movement is really the only true weakness of their model as opposed to the Seiko NH35 movement in the Pagani Design version. Also the Lacz Denton was approximately $10 more than the Pagani on Amazon! Why? Maybe since it is a newer brand? Who knows.

So let’s talk specs for the Lacz Denton Submariner homage watch. Constructed of stainless steel, this “true to the watch it copies”… copy is a comfortable 40mm in diameter. The case thickness is about 12.5mm, with a sapphire crystal, ceramic bezel insert, lume, and a screw down crown with 100m WR and solid end links.

(+) So far, this is a solid watch for the money, as you don’t even get a sapphire crystal on most well known brands at twice this price. There is a noticeable weight to the watch, and it feels like it is build very well. Everything lines up, including the my bezel and indices, but I have heard of others who were not as lucky. The bezel has NO BACKPLAY in the least, which I applaud Lacz Denton on. From a distance this really does look like the real thing, mimicking the Submariner almost to a “T”.

(-) So those are the positives, but no watch is perfect. What are some cons to the LD-9104 (Black) model? For starters, there are surprisingly not many. The first is the Miyota 8215 movement. Had they even put in a Miyota 8215a movement, that might have made this watch a bit more appealing. Notorious as a loud movement, in that the rotor winds the watch in only one direction and spins like space junk in the other seemingly endlessly is annoying at times. Said rotor is also painfully plain with no decoration in the least. The second con, in my opinion is the clasp. While the bracelet is great, with solid end links, the clasp is difficult to open or adjust. You feel as if you might break the watch (and I did) when you try to access the micro-adjustment mechanism. I had to replace the factory spring bar, which snapped in half while engaging the mechanism exactly how I was told to by Lacz Denton. For those of you who don’t already work on watches and don’t already have those tools available, this may be risky. The date window cyclops is also a bit underpowered and I would like to see that addressed in newer iterations of this model.

Conclusion…

So with all of these factors put into consideration, would I recommend this Lacz Denton Submariner homage? Absolutely! For $99 and having multiple color variants, this is a solid clone for the money and I do not regret buying one. I think the average person as well as a watch collector would enjoy this piece for what it is. If you want to feel like a rich person but have a middle class income, you can’t really go wrong with this watch. I will include a link so you can check it out for yourself and buy one. I am no longer an Amazon Affiliate, but if you pick one up let me know in the comments!

Links and Attributes

Click Here > Lacz Denton Homage Watch

*Image from Lacz Denton Watch Company’s Amazon listing page.

*Watch being reviewed was purchased with my own funds, no compensation was given by Lacz Denton for this review, and all specification information is from Lacz Denton’s descriptions and personal observation. Written by TheDPud for TheDPud.com to be used for purchase decisions.