As of May 2009, I've owned this watch for a month, and I'll be interested to see how well this watch holds up over the years. It cost me around 100 bucks, and at that price, I don't expect perfection, but I'm hoping if I take care of it that it might last a decade. It certainly looks like it is of solid construction.
I spent two weeks researching skeleton watches on Amazon and other sites, and this watch stood out as being stylish and refined without being too expensive or too large, as others can be. Some other models have 2 or 3 extra dials for date, hours and minutes, but I really focused on enjoying the cleanest display of the inner workings, and this watch rose above the rest.
The outer number face is a handsome, brushed ring that looks elegant and manly, and leaves lots of room to enjoy viewing of the inner works. Unclear in the pictures, the backside of this case is glass, so you can see all the way through, which really pleased me. The front viewable works is 31/32", and the back is 3/4". I was very pleased with it's size, very similar to digital watches, just shy of 1 5/8" diameter.
The band is a wonderfully soft leather padded affair, even though my experience with leather is that it doesn't age well and ends up odorous no matter how careful you are with it. Yet it really does fit the overall look and I may begin a new policy to replace it exactly when it does expire.
It seems that the automatic winding works very well if you wear it continually. If you take it off you have about 40 hours before the spring unwinds, but you can't expect any more from mechanical movements.
My only criticism is that the Kenneth Cole signature is printed on the glass front, slightly obscuring the spring winding. It just ever so slightly blemishes the perfection of the face.
For me it's the perfect watch, a wonderful fit for dressier occasions, without being overly precious. The gunmetal face is wonderfully masculine and understated, while the movement is shiny and captivating, with one gold wheel drawing your eye with its accelerated movement.
An exceptional watch that perfectly bridges the gap between casual and dressy. I look forward to re-reviewing this watch in a year to see if it holds up to my expectations. I sincerely hope that it does. Kenneth Cole New York Men's KC1514 Automatic Gunmetal Dial Leather Strap Watch
I bought this for my boyfriend's birthday. He loves skeleton watches so I search every store and all over the internet, everytime I saw this watch I had to stare at it. Especially when it arived it took me forever to wrap it because I couldn't take my eyes off it! He loves it. He was really impressed with it and gushes over it everytime he shows his buddies. I highly recommend this watch, and for this price, its a steal.
Got one as a Christmas present. Fully wound it and wore it but it intermittently stopped & lost ~30 minutes a day. Took it back to the store for a replacement, ran fine at the store but then the second hand ran but the hour/minute hands didn't. Got my money back. I liked the looks of the watch.
I like the style of this "skeleton" watch quite a bit. It's simple and to the point functionally but getting to see the inner workings is definitely eye candy for a guy. Unfortunately, this watch has several severe faults that have made me question my purchase.
First, this is listed as an automatic movement watch, but that's being a bit generous. Though it does have a pendulum power generator mechanism in it, you cannot expect it to power the watch for very long. Essentially think of this watch as a mechanical watch. If you let it sit unworn for more than 24 hours, the power runs out and you have to set the watch again. This, thankfully, is a simple and quick process, but it's annoying to have taken it off the day before and find that 36 hours later the watch has completely stopped for lack of power. While you wear it, it will continue to work fine, though, so that aspect of automatic is acceptable. My Seiko, though, will run for months on stored power from a single day's wear, and it cost about as much as this watch. Fortunately, you can wind the stem (10-15 times) to get it going right away rather than having to shake the watch around for a while to generate power.
Next, as one other reviewer mentioned, "Kenneth Cole" is emblazoned in white script letters on the face of the watch. It is over the skeletal area, so it's not as obvious to a casual glance, but upon looking at the watch and admiring it, it's very poorly placed and way too large to the point of obstructing the view of the mechanicals. Somewhat defeats the purpose of having a skeletal watch.
Lastly, and this is the only one that can be fixed, the included black band is very short. My wrists are not particularly large, and most metal bands require 2-3 links to be removed for me to wear it. This band, though, requires me to wear it on the very last hole and even then it's a bit too tight/uncomfortable for me. Fortunately bands can be replaced. I just have to go through the trouble of finding one to replace this one with. I'm not sure why they put a ladies' length band on a men's watch (I'm guessing).
This is a light, inexpensive, and mostly functional watch that will go well with a lot of outfits, both dress and casual. I just wish they had put a little more effort into the execution.
Just got this watch and really enjoy it. I paid $100 at Macy's for it even at 25% off so the deal here is good. The skeleton workings are very neat to look at- there is a gold gear on the bottom that turns perpetually and the workings on the back are also visible. If I had to do it over again I may have opted for one of the identical models but with a larger face to make more of an impact, but that's probably personal preference. It should also be noted that the Kenneth Cole name and "New York" are printed on the glass face in black which is not directly in the way of anything on the watch but do distact the eye briefly. In response to the comment that said he had 2 that were broken out of the box even after he wound it: This is not a wind up watch but rather operates on movement therefore he either has a different watch or may have damaged in his attempt to wind it. Another customer noted the roman numeral IIII instead of IV. The "4" does appear as IIII, however this is common for watches and clocks. Arguments suggest that it gives the numerals greater balance,mirroring the VIII on the other side while some other's say it's a throwback to earlier Roman numbering, but you can look that up with a google search. - Automatic Movement - Skeleton Automatic - Kenneth Cole - Dress Watches'
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