Review: Maratac SR-9015L and Mid Original Pilot Automatic Watches

Sometime last year, I needed a new wristwatch. It wasn't an urgent thing, but I was looking around. Then I got an advert from County Comm with a special for one of their automatic watches: the Maratc SR-9015L.

I'm not going to pretend I understand the name. I saw the price and thought, "hey, looks good". I'd met someone with a Maratac automatic watch and was given a lot of complimentary spiel, so I bought the watch without a thought.

For the last five months or so, the SR-9015L has been riding on my wrist. It's a bit of a beast, as watches go. It's big, with a large face and a crystal back so you can see the watch interior hard at work ticking away. As an automatic watch, it's something you kind of have to wear to keep it working. It apparently runs about 40 hours between the "indirect drive" getting its action on.

If I have a complaint over the SR-9015L, it's the bezel on the rim. A rotating bezel comes on the watch and I have to say it's not an addition I find any real use for.

Weirdly-enough, the bezel is actually kind of a distraction for me. So when the Mid Original Pilot Automatic Watch came on sale, I decided to get one.

The Pilot watch is pretty much the same as the SR-9015L, at least superficially. It's an automatic watch with glowing elements so you can read the watch in the dark. It runs about 40 hours between any movement of the "indirect drive" to get it to tick along. While the SR-9015L has a big, red second-hand that ticks the seconds away, the Pilot watch has a small sixty-second circle within the indicator for minutes to count the seconds down. Kind of a beast if you're farsighted.

The Pilot watch also doesn't have a bezel.

Overall, I'm quite happy with both watches. I'll admit I wish I'd gone for the large Pilot watch. It's a bit jarring to go from the large face of the SR-9015L to the smaller "Mid Original" pilot watch. Still, the Pilot watch is a bit more discrete, and I have no trouble reading it.

Both watches keep good time and ride well on my wrist. Definitely worth the price.