Synoke 9619

When I began my Cheap Heat project, I did the sensible thing and unpacked all of the watches, threw out the instruction manuals, and put them all in a shoebox that sits on my shelf. Ever since they all arrived, every day at approximately 5:45 pm, an alarm goes off. By the time I get to the shoebox the alarm has silenced and all the watches are staring at me innocently. So I devised a plan to catch the offending watch. In my last review I compared myself to the tame racing driver on the show Top Gear - today as I write to you as Elmer Fudd.

Yesterday, at 5:30, I took the shoebox down, opened the lid, and stared with eager anticipation. When the time came and the alarm chimed, I gleefully grabbed the watch and held it triumphantly, in an action not completely unlike Gollum snatching a fish from a river - and that is how, for better or worse, I became acquainted with the Synoke 9619.

The Synoke 9619 cost me exactly $3. For that price, I think I can find it in my heart to forgive it for its prankster nature. It is available in a variety of colors, and I opted for a transparent frosted green case with a black strap. From a looks standpoint, it is a clear homage to the Casio AE1200 “Royale” although functionally it does not replicate the same features. 

The dimensions of the Synoke 9619 as listed on the product page, give it a diameter of 44mm - but that measures from button to button. The case is actually 42mm like its Casio counterpart, its lug to lug measures 47 mm and it is topped by flat acrylic with a height of 14mm. The case is molded from hard ABS plastic and is translucent aside from its black bezel. The straps are plastic and flare out from the case before tapering down. I thought it would be more comfortable on a NATO strap and I was barely able to squeeze one in through the 18mm lugs. Once on the fabric strap, I found the watch was more enjoyable to wear and it was very light on the wrist. 

The buttons are metal and the caseback is stainless steel. The water resistance is listed as both 3 bar and 50 m on the product listing which are not equivalent measurements. I would honestly be shocked if it was only 3 bar even at this price, as that is not even considered handwashing safe. I will update if I have any issues.

In the top left corner where the Casio would have the analog time display, there is a bullseye second indicator that pulsates in a pattern that makes no sense from any sort of functional timekeeping perspective. To the right of the strobing circle is the day of the week and indicator for alarm/chime functions instead of the world timer map of the Casio. The time and date are displayed along the lower half of the watch, and there are no issues with the LCD display and legibility.

The Synoke watch has a different module configuration that the previous Skmei watches I have reviewed - for example, there is no countdown timer, which I think is one of the most important features in a digital watch. There is also no 2nd time zone. To change the time requires cycling through the modes and I had to google the instruction manual I threw out to figure out how to set the watch to military time. 

In the watch world and in life in general, comparison is the thief of joy. I have been comparing this watch against both a Casio that retails for 5x-10x the price of this watch, and to its peers. However, the Synoke 9619 can do something that none of these watches can do, indeed something I’ve never seen any other watch do. 

he Synoke has a backlight, and this is where you get your money's worth. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, The Synoke lets you change the backlight to one of six different colors - blue, red, yellow, green, purple, and white. If that isn’t enough - there's a “rave” mode where it rapidly cycles between the colors, and that is just fun - and that is why I am here after all. This watch ended up in my shopping cart because of its price, not because I actually read its list of functions. That quirky feature completely sets it apart from both its closely priced Chinese competitors as well as the Casio Royale, and for that reason I hereby declare this watch to be “Heat” and it is safe from the sin bin.