This is a review of the Pulsar G10 watch that won the contract to provide watches to the British Ministry of Defence back in the late 1990s. Sadly, this contract was short-lived as there were several problems with the watch. This is the short hand version of the Pulsar G10 watch. There is a long hands version.
The watch has the following functions: Hours, minutes, seconds and date complication. The case is made of stainless steel and has a matte bead-blasted finish. The finishing is fair and the case is well made. The watch, I believe is made in Hong Kong.
The case measures 36.5 mm in diameter and is 7.5 mm thick. The lug-to-lug measurement is 41.5 mm and the lug width is 20 mm. The case is larger than the bezel. The bezel itself, comes in at 34 mm in diameter. The lugs are straight but it does not affect the wear comfort of the watch. The watch has fixed bars, which is common for military issued watches.
The case has a 'flat' portion between the lugs and part of it is angled. This is to allow for a better fit and prevents the one piece strap from rubbing the case and damaging the strap.
The crown is at the 3 o'clock position. It measures 4 mm in diameter and is 3 mm thick. The crown is polished and it is unsigned. It is easy to use as it is large and there is a 'notch' between the case and the crown to facilitate grasping of the crown. The crown has three positions, 'in' for normal use, position 1 (pulled out) for quick date adjustment and position 2 (pulled out further) for time adjustment. The crown is of the non screw down type.
The crown is one of the problems with the watch and caused its eventual withdrawal from service. The crown is known to fall off in the field.
The case back is of the snap back case design. It has the same finish as the case. It can be pried open aided by 2 notches set at the 12 and 6 o'clock position. Unlike normal watches, which are fitted with rubber gaskets, this watch is fitted with a Teflon gasket. This makes removal and installing the case back very easy and removes the need to lubricate the gasket. The markings on the case back includes the NSN (which is 6645-99-605-2627), the broad-arrow and the issue number/ date. This watch was issued in 1999. These are the military markings. Around it we find the 'Pulsar' signature, movement number, stainless steel, water resistant and the Pulsar serial number.
This watch has been civilianised, i.e. the military markings removed.
The water resistant rating of the watch is very low, some saying it is 3 ATM, while others say it is 5 ATM. I have tested the watch to 6 ATM.
This watch is powered by the Seiko Epson sourced V732C movement. This is a 9.5 ligne movement. It is 2.5 mm thick and share the same hand size as the 7N32 (65/110/20) which powers most of the Pulsar G10. The V732C is a 1 jewel basic 3 hand movement with date complication.
The dial is matte black. It has the railroad track minute marker. The hours are marked with Arabic numerals except for the 12 o'clock marker which has the traditional triangle and at 3 o'clock due to the date window. The dial is uncluttered and it makes reading the time easy.The dial is signed 'Pulsar' just below the 12 o'clock triangle. Below the 'Pulsar' sign, we find the 'L' inside a circle. This indicates the type of luminous material used. In this case it is Luminova. Just above the 6 o'clock marker we find the legend 'Quartz' and in small print below the 6 o'clock marker, we have 'Movt Japan' and 'V732-OZOE R2'.
The date is displayed via a cut-out at the 3 o'clock position. There is a white outline around the cut-out to enhance the window. The date is black on white. It would be nicer if it was the other way around. All the numbers are luminous as are the the hours dots and the rectangles at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions.
The hands are of the needle design. The edge of the minute hand are coated white while the hour, gray. This is to reduce reflection. The sweep second hand however, is polished stainless steel.
All the hands are luminous. The minute hand does not extend all the way to the minute markers. The sweep second hand is just as long. The hour hand does not extend to the Arabic hour markers as well. However this does not make time telling at a glance difficult.
The watch is fitted with a mineral crystal. It sits flat and flush to the bezel. The crystal does not have any anti-reflection coating. The crystal is another reason the watch was withdrawn. The crystal is known to 'pop' out on the field.
These watches are issued with the NATO or Zulu type strap. This watch is currently fitted with a gray Bambi (Japanese brand) Zulu strap.
Polished hardware.
Heat sealed holes.
Looping the strap through the fixed bars.
Overall, the watch is small, but it's large enough for daily wear. It is all dial and very comfortable when worn. I like the watch very much. I have 3. I have had some issues with these watches, water intrusion being the main complaint, but one that is easily solved. Dirt and grime gets caught around the crown and case back, thereby allowing water vapour to get inside. A good cleaning is all it take to solve this problem.