Ratio FreeDiver Professional Sapphire Blue Sunray Dial Automatic RTF019 500M Men's Watch

Using for surfing and paddleboarding. Good clear vision and easy to read even when wet in dull conditions Nicely made and looks more expensive than price.
Being an ex diver I would have some reservation for cold water diving as strap is a little short. I have slender wrist and maximum wetsuit sleeve is 4mm which it fits, however a bit short for a thicker wetsuit sleeve. Great with slender wrists though as do not have a lot of extra strap flapping around and strap is very comfortable. Other observation is bezel is a little stiff and not easy to grip, haven't tried yet but would probably be difficult to operate with wetsuit gloves or particularly mitts. However, not really a problem these days with dive computers doing all the work for you, so not really needed generally.

Eye pleasing design and quality at a highly competitive price. Arrived 3 days early so very satisfied customer. So much better value than a comparable specification branded watch.

Very impressed with this watch. It ticks all the boxes for a tool watch. Sapphire crystal with antireflective coating, a sturdy stainless steel case and a screw-down crown. It provides 200m of water resistance which is good for most any water application from showering to swimming in a pool or the ocean. The signed band is a sturdy rubber diving band in 22mm size with stainless buckle. I found the case size perfect for my wrist. There is some confusion about the size because the description says 40mm in one spot and 42mm in another. The watch is a 40mm size, which is perfect for me. I'm not a fan of the giant wrist clocks that are popular today. I also found the lume to be quite bright after minimal exposure to the sun but can't vouch for how long it lasts. All in all a great entry level dive watch. Very much worth the money.

Very nice old school watch. LOVE the dial color. Has lasted through a few trips to the river, so it's actually waterproof. As far as I can tell, it keeps perfect time. Strap is a tad small, but that's because my wrist is massive. All in all a very nice old school diver's watch. A+

I received this as a Christmas gift last month and overall, I’m happy with the watch. It has a nice look to it with some unusual design features. I have a small collection of mostly dive watches and this one fits in pretty well in the wear-to-work rotation.

Nice satin brushed stainless steel case. The pattern direction moves from crystal to back in vertical lines. The crystal is crowned with the same radius as the bezel and sits flush with it on the case. The bezel has nice grippy portions of knurls to grasp for turning it and rotates cleanly and accurately. The engraving is legible on the bezel and there is a small pip of lume at the 12 o’clock position.

My dial has a nice blue that pairs with the lume coloring and other indices and the date is centered and readable. Regarding lume brightness and activation life, it isn’t that great and seems to fade out in about 3 to 5 minutes after a 30-second close-up blast with a high-powered flashlight.

The crown actuates precisely and the threads are smooth and easy to engage after setting the watch. All of the usual crown duties are performed well and cleanly. I suspect that this VX movement is pretty nice.

Weight, height, and overall size are well suited for a 7” wrist without bringing clumsy bulk. But if you have larger arm dimensions this watch may look a little small on you.

It keeps time well, and the whole mechanical side of the timepiece seems and feels well crafted.

Now for some odd things. The sweep second has a large lumed “tail” to it but the tip is a very thin needle with no lume. Thus, when looking at it, if you don’t see the entire thing, you will be 30 seconds off, especially in the dark. Not a big deal for me but it could bother someone.

The band. It does have a nice look and seems to hint at some 70’s design aesthetic until we see the underside. There are patches of pointy, knurly nubs molded into it extending outward from the spring bars about an inch or so. My wrist found these most irritating. After some time wearing it, the result was that a portion of arm hair was sacrificed and the tips of the “nubs” wore down enough to make things comfortable for now.

The area where the tang goes through to engage the strap has linear slots molded into it that catch the tang and lead you into thinking that you have the tang in the correct hole but you do not; it’s likely caught in a slot making you have to look exactly where you are poking the thing 50% of the time.

The faux “holes” molded into the top surface do not go through to allow for breathability but capture dust and fuzz magnificently instead.

The spring bars have such a minuscule groove in them for removing them that were too small for my spring bar removal tool to actually grab onto. I had to use a razor blade to spring them free instead.

That being said about the band they are a “preference” sort of thing and you can replace them but on the other hand should one have to pay for weird design elements hoping that they’ll “work” out? IMO a little bit of peer review and product testing should have weeded out the imperfections and produced a better strap. I have to take a star off for this aspect of the complete package. To that end I have a drawer full of Zulu and NATO straps and put a nice black one on the watch -so far so good.

The rest of the watch is pretty nice and I would certainly look for another Ratio timepiece for my collection in the future. I do like the clean, tight look and feel of the case. It’s pretty much a perfect size for my wrist and It feels very nice to wear.