Review: Blast From the Past With the New Q Timex

Timex is a brand with deep archives, so it’s no surprise that given the trends of the industry today, Timex has been tapping into those archives for inspiration (and doing so quite successfully I might add). Their latest in neo-vintage reissues is the Q Timex.

Let’s start with a bit of background. For much of its life, Timex was known primarily as a maker of affordable and reliable mechanical watches, and the brand first entered the quartz market back in 1972. By this time, quartz was considered new and cool, and it was gaining considerable market share, so Timex’s quartz watches wore their quartz branding proudly on their dials with a prominent “Q” logo. The Q line created a number of interesting and varied styles, and it also had its fair share of interesting movements, among them quartz-controlled balance spring calibers like the Model 36. The original diver-influenced Q Timex — the watch that inspired the one we’re looking at today — was released in 1979.

The reissue here appears to be a relatively faithful recreation of the historical model, with many of the small, period-correct details that made the original so very cool. Of course, Timex is known primarily for making quartz watches today, so it’s not a significant shift for Timex to bring back the Q, nor is Timex bringing back any of the unique calibers common to the period. What they are bringing back, however, is late ’70s/early ’80s styling that works damn well in 2019 because vintage mania is here to stay. Furthermore, I’d argue that the execution here in terms of fit and finish feels like a step above typical Timex fare. Let’s take a closer look.