Audaz Gallant Watch Review

I had not heard of Audaz before they reached out for a review. Out of all their models, the Gallant called out to me most. Decent specs, solid design, and a reasonable price at $349 made it quite a compelling case.

Even more so when you can shop on the Audaz website using the code “WATCHITALL20” to get a 20% discount on all their products, making this watch $280 or approx £190. Let’s take a closer look to see if it’s a good deal for that price.

The specs

• Price: RRP $349, $280 / £190 with code WATCHITALL20
• Dimensions: 44mm diameter x 13.5mm height x 54mm lug to lug
• Lug width: 24mm
• Crystal: sapphire
• Movement: Seiko NH38
• Water resistance: 10atm
• Warranty: 2 years

The case

At 44mm in diameter, this is a watch on the larger size. The jet black dial and strap, offset with the polished elements on the dial, mean that the Audaz Gallant has a lot of wrist presence and catches the eye.

The case is a large cushion shape, and is all brushed finished bar the top shoulders of the lugs which are polished. The lugs angle down quite a lot resulting in a comfortable wear – as it wraps around the wrist well. Still, I don’t think it would be suitable for someone with a smaller wrist than 7″ unless the specifically liked larger watches (my wrist is 7.25″ for reference).

The bezel has a decent blasted finish, with all the markings polished at a higher level. The action is a little stiff, but useable. 

The screw-in caseback features an exhibition window with a blue coating and the Audaz logo applied on the underside. The watch specs are deeply engraved and painted surrounding this – which are actually pretty impressively done. 

The push-pull crown has the Audaz logo deeply engraved which looks neatly done. The grip is aggressive to match the watch in general and is great to use. 

The dial

The main feature of the dial is the impressive looking open heart at 3. It’s lined up perfectly with the movement and looks much better in the metal than the pictures portray. They’ve also applied a very smart and well machines polished ring surrounding it, allowing it to really catch the eye when the light hits it right.

The dial has a very subtle wave texture – think Omega Seamaster but flatter. I always like to see a texture, no matter how subtle; so this is more than welcome. 

Located  at 12 is an applied logo – an “A” with wings. A nice idea – although I don’t think it’s quite been executed well enough. The metal used seems a bit on the thin side and thus cheapens the look of the watch a little. 

The applied hour markers have a polished border and are filled with lume. They are shaped as thick trapezoids at 3,6 and 9, with circles in-between. The lume is surprisingly strong and charges very quick. Usually on cheaper watches the lume is one of the things that gets left behind, but I’m glad to say that’s not the case here.

The hands have a polished border, much like the hour markers, and are also filled with lume. I like the shape of them, quite chunky and angular.

The movement

The movement powering the Audaz Gallant is the Seiko NH38. Specs include: a hacking seconds hand, hand winding plus automatic, 24 jewels, 41 hour power reserve, and runs at 21.6k bph (6 ticks per second).

It’s an excellently reliable and robust movement based on the Seiko 7s26 calibre. It’ll last for many many years without the need of a service as is usually the case with everything Seiko makes. But it does look a bit plain and industrial (but we can’t have everything).

The strap

The strap is suitably sized for a 44mm watch at 24mm wide at the lugs (much like a Panerai). This adds to the impressive wrist presence the Gallant has. 

The leather is pretty good quality, probably not quite as supple as I would have liked – it starts off quite stiff – but hopefully it’ll break in after some time. I suppose the thickness of the leather doesn’t help the rigidity, but the strap on the Steinhart Nav B-Uhr Vintage is equally as thick and is simply beautiful. 

The black top is offset pleasantly with good quality, contrasting white stitching which keeps things a bit interesting. The underside is a creamy colour with stamped details – again supplying a bit of contrast. 

The strap only has one keeper loop, but it’s super thick and works just as well as two smaller ones – and I actually quite like the aesthetics of it too. 

The buckle is a tang buckle – and I’m sure they’ve tried to do something unique with the design and shape, but unfortunately it’s not working for me… I think a pre-V buckle would have looked great here. It’s very rounded and I don’t think it matches the watch. It has the Audaz name deeply engraved on the top, and despite the appearance it’s easy to use and does the job you’d expect it to. 

Final comments

Don’t forget to shop using the code “WATCHITALL20” to get 20% discount on the Audaz Gallant making it $280 or approx £190. For this price of under £200, it’s right on point to be a competitively priced automatic with sapphire crystal that’s impressive. The only negative I have of it is that the Audaz logo applied at 12 could be a bit thicker and higher quality. I’m also not too keen on the appearance of the buckle, but that’s just personal preference. 

Apart from that, Audaz have done a good job in creating a well built, unique and affordable timepiece.