Tick tock goes this my first watch! (Timex T890224E)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Timex T890224E
Date:	21/07/09 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: inexpensive and looks nice

Disadvantages: casing not most resistant

I have a five year old daughter who seems to be growing up at an alarming rate. She is learning all kinds of interesting things at school, but has yet to grasp the concept of "far too early to get up" it seems. However she is keen to learn the time, and I bought this watch which is called a "time teacher" hoping it would be good first watch. If it couldn't teach her that five o'clock is no time for the day to start I figured at least she would know I wasn't lying about the ungodly hour she starts the day at times. I plan to return the favour when she is 16 or so.

What you get:

This watch came in a rather unassuming red box for a quite inexpensive £10.38. It came with instructions which informed me that the watch had a backlight once the winder is pressed. The strap is made of a stretchy elastic and brightly patterned as you can see from the picture. It doesn't fasten and unfasten with a buckle as such - there is a metal adjuster that holds it together so it can be lengthened and shortened. No need to unfasten it to put it onto small wrists it slips on and off - the elastic strap can best be described as bra stap like (!), but once on it looks quite smart in a designed-to-appeal-to-girls-who-like-pink way.

The face is divided into two halves and printed with "past" and "to" and the traditional numerical face also has the increments of time "five" and "quarter" etc printed on it, the actual hands having "hour" and "minutes" on them. Everything is clearly laid out and easy to read. A nice touch is the fact that the second hand has a little flower opposite it and this goes round and round.

The metal casing of the watch is quite light and though it isn't the thinnest of watches - it is just under 1cm thick, it is quite comfortable to wear this. I know this as I had a little try and also if there was the slightest discomfort my daughter would have been sure to mention it repeatedly - bless her she could give the princess of the pea in bed fame a run for her money.

The whole thing weighs 300 grams and has a one year guarantee.

Opinion:

This has proved to be a great first watch and my daughter is delighted with it. The face hasn't got any bashes yet though I think the casing may not wear well faced with the rigours of the playground, it does seem to be prone to scratches, I think it may be sprayed plastic rather than solid metal.

The watch does tick quite loudly compared to my watch, but not in an unpleasant way. The backlight works suprisingly well in the dark and is a great little feature.

I like the fact that it will enable my daughter to learn the time "properly" as opposed to with a digital display. She is already starting to understand the hours and can recognise "past" and "to", though sadly no progress on the early start thing, I don't blame this watch for that! I am sure she has inherited that from her father's side, ironically his great grandfather was a watch repairer still working in his 90's by dint of a general love of watches and whisky I think. Anyway, suffice to say this watch does as the title would suggest and allows your child to learn the time.

Overall:

For the price you pay this is a great little starter watch that is girlie enough to please my daughter and not too garish for my taste. There are other designs available in this range including some for boys. I think it would appeal to little girls from 4 up to about 10.

Recommended, unlike my regular 5am starts....

Summary: a great little first watch