I have had Zelos on my radar for a while. I am also a collector of other edc items and am a fan of the material titanium, having collected; knives, tools, wallets , flashlights and pocket trash made out of titanium. I am a fan of the materials lightness, strength, the way it patinas and the way it generally looks very toolish and as if it has a purpose, possibly due to the difficulty with polishing it.

However, I was not sure about buying a Zelos watch as I was having trouble finding an authorised dealer in the EU that sells them, and the import costs from Singapore to Sweden are quite high. I did try a wide range of other titanium watches from brands such as: Citizen, Boldr, Certina Bertucci and others, and for some reason or another I just didn't take to them often, I felt, because of issues with the material. Then I found my Vilhelm Prism and Vilhelm is a brand that was set up with help from Elshan Tang. I consider myself someone who is quite conservative with his watch choices liking almost solely round cases but I was really taken with the Vilhelm and it made me decide to take another look at Zelos.

Specifications

• Diameter 40mm

• Thickness 12mm

• Lug to Lug 46mm

• Lug Width 20mm

• Sapphire Crystal

• Water Resistance 200m

• Screw Down Crown

• Material Titanium with a Ceramic Bezel Insert

• 120 click unidirectional bezel

• Seiko NH35 Automatic Movement

Brand

Zelos is a Singaporean based microbrand created by Elshan Tang in 2014 and the name was taken from the name of the Greek deity of zeal and passion, quite appropriate as a way of reflecting the ethos of the brand. The brand set out to create something different using innovative material and innovative designs. The brand is well respected by the watch community for their original designs and remarkable value for money.

Well known for their use of different material, most notably titanium, they have also made use of bronze, carbon fiber and Stainless Steel. Zelos are now sold globally mostly directly through their website, but there are some AD's who do stock their range now, and they are known for their excellent customer service, but I am not able to comment on that as I purchased mine from an AD. Another thing that the brand is known for is the packaging such as the very nice metal or faux metal (never got round to checking) travel case this came in.

Positive Points

As I was hoping for the case is an original looking case, it has unusual angles and lines everywhere and looks nothing like my other watches. I enjoy having a bit of variety in my collection, and, along with the dial colour (more on that later) the case shape added a nice bit of variety to the collection.

As well as the case being an interesting design the watch is very well made. The brushing of the case is very nice the case looks as though it will have some sharp edges that might cut into your wrist but they were rounded off enough for that to not be an issue.The bezel has a pleasing 120 click unidirectional movement and on mine there was little to no backplay. The crown is nicely signed and very easy to work.

Unlike some of the other titanium watches such as the Certina and Citizens, the watch felt very well made and not at all flimsy. The bracelet felt very well made unlike the Farer one which, even though the watch felt good the bracelet felt cheap and flimsy. Also while weighing 115g this watch could not be considered heavy but there is enough weight there to give the watch some heft, something detractors of titanium often complain about. All this and the watch sports some decent lume as well.

Negative Issues

Despite what I said in the previous section about the quality in the watch's construction, I did not find this watch to be very comfortable. The balance in the watch would always feel a little off, whether because of the angle of the lugs or the rigidity of the metal, which meant that the watch constantly felt unbalanced. I try playing with the bracelet and even putting the watch on a strap, but the I just couldn't get the balance to feel right. Now, I am willing to admit that anyone with a thicker wrist than me (for reference my wrist is currently 7inches and at the time was thinner because of health issues), this may not have been an issue as the curve of the lugs might well conform better to a thicker wrist.

I was also not a fan of the dial. The description of the watch claimed that the salmon dial was a sunburst one, and it was but it just looked a little washed out to me and unfortunately I just did not take to it.

Conclusion

This is a tough one for me because I did sell this one, so it was not a keeper for me, however, I don't believe that in this case that should affect my review of this watch too negatively. As I mentioned earlier a large part of the problem for me, was that the watch did not fit me very well and as I said it is entirely possible that this may not be an issue for someone with a larger wrist than me. Also I did not take to the dial colour, however this watch does come in a few different colourways and it is entirely possible that another coloured dial may work better.

So in conclusion I'd say that I would not recommend this watch for anyone with a wrist of similar or smaller size to mine, and not with the salmon dial. However, as with all my recommendations I do believe that you should make up your own mind, and use my reviews simply as a guide, but if you do like the look of this and have a larger wrist, it might be worth a look.