The Sketchy Boyz Watch Club x Brigade SC74 collaboration piece has been a pleasure to test and is a piece that will be sticking with me for a long time, if not forever, which is not something I can say about many watches or gear in general.

Starting off, I want to give you a little rundown of the basic information on the watch. It is 40mm in diameter, 12.5mm thick, and 48.5mm lug-to-lug. It features a 120-click unidirectional bezel, 200 meters of water resistance, 20mm lug width, a double-domed sapphire crystal, and BGW9 Super-LumiNova lume. All of this is run off an SW200 movement.

Size, Comfort, and Wearability

The size of this watch hits right in the perfect spot where it is easy to wear as a daily piece. At 40mm, it is right in that sweet spot for my 6.75-inch wrist. The watch doesn’t look too big, but also isn’t so small that it becomes hard to live with when it comes to actually reading it.

Wearing the watch day-to-day is a bit of a treat. The destro case helps when doing work with your hands because you don’t have the crown sitting close to your hand and poking up against it. Bumping this thing against walls or objects is also much less of an occurrence than with most divers I wear thanks to the 12.5mm case thickness.

Sized for my wrist on the factory bracelet, the watch comes in at 4.8 ounces. That is a very manageable weight and far from being heavy enough to cause any unneeded fatigue on your arm. Add in the fact that this watch is an absolute strap monster thanks to the 20mm lug width, and you can easily get that weight down by throwing it onto a single-pass nylon strap. Strap changes are also made easy thanks to the drilled lugs.

Add in the 200-meter water resistance and screw-down crown, and you never have to worry about anything you are truly likely to ever put this watch through. It is one of those watches that can go from work to a casual dinner or a day at the beach without really needing to think about whether you have the right watch on.

Design and Dial

The design language of the SC74 is no doubt inspired heavily by watches like the Tudor Submariner Snowflake and the Tudor Black Bay 58 lineup, but it is done tastefully enough and with enough of its own personality that the watch is able to stand on its own two feet.

The blue that was chosen is a very nice, clean blue that looks good on both the dial and bezel. Some brands have been playing around with changing the hue of their blues, and I think they are getting uglier and uglier. I like that this is a more muted grey-blue color as opposed to a lighter, brighter blue. It helps the watch go under the radar more than others.

The dial is finished well and has minimal markings, which helps keep a clean look overall. Personally, I prefer a dial not to include a bunch of extra information, and the only thing I think Brigade could have done away with is the “200m=660ft” marking. This isn’t something I feel only about this watch, but watches in general. I feel like it is information that just isn’t needed on the dial. I would hope that if you buy a watch, you know the basic specs of it and don’t need to be reminded every time you look at the watch.

The decision to use the square indices is chef’s kiss. They look good and are applied cleanly. The decision not to use polished outlines around the markers is even better. To me, polished surrounds are one more thing that can make a dial feel too busy.

Overall, this watch is beautiful, bringing elements of the past into the modern world. Some things were just better in the past, and this is a prime example of showing that sometimes past watch designs were simply better.

Construction and Finishing

Construction of this watch is done very well. Everything is put together well, and the case finishing is done to what you can tell is a high-quality standard. The finishing is consistent across the entire case, and all the edges are well cut with no sharp points that could irritate or hurt you.

The crown guards are done well without protruding too much. The drilled holes in the case are cut perfectly, cleanly finished, and the right size to fit a spring bar tool. There are no spots that look like the case was just said, “Ah fuck it, that’s good enough.”

The dial is finished evenly across the board. All the markings and indices are applied evenly, and the writing is cleanly done without looking hastily applied. The lume application on the indices is even and looks plentiful. It glows a good-looking blue and lasts longer than could realistically be asked or needed.

The chapter ring is aligned perfectly and lines up as it should. The snowflake hands are done well and polished nicely, and they get the same treatment of lume as the indices.

Bezel and Crown

The bezel uses an aluminum insert, which I am very happy they decided to go with. The bezel is finished in the same blue used on the dial, and the markings are done well and look crisp. The lume pip seems solidly installed and glows perfectly in the dark.

The use of an aluminum bezel means a more matte finish and that it will show signs of use over time, which I prefer. It tells the story of the watch and isn’t going to shatter like a ceramic insert would.

The action of the bezel is good and tight. It isn’t going to be easily knocked out of place, and it is audible enough without being so loud that it becomes annoying. There is no back play present, which is great when you are timing things. The bezel alignment on my example is also spot on, which is something that should be expected but is still worth mentioning when it is done right.

The knurling could be a little deeper for my liking to aid in operation, but it is still acceptable. It is just a little tougher to use with gloves.

The crown is textured nicely for easy use and is a good size that hits right in the sweet spot of being useful without becoming overly large. Screwing the crown in, you can feel that the threads are done well and are likely not something you will need to worry about stripping out long-term.

Bracelet and Movement

The bracelet itself is done well, even though it isn’t my favorite style by any means with the rivet look. Honestly, the bracelet is probably the weakest part of the package for me, but a lot of that comes down to personal preference and the fact that I would rather have this watch on a strap anyway. The pins are also a type I hate, being a rivet screw pin with a tiny screw that threads on the other side. This makes it a pain in the ass to work with and is something you will want to check often to make sure everything is tight.

The movement is well regulated, with my example running +4 seconds a day on my timegrapher. Not exactly chronometer spec, but at the end of the day, does that really matter to the average person? No, it does not, and it fits anything I could ever need it to.

Living With the SC74

Overall, the watch is designed, assembled, finished, and sized well, but what is it really like to live with?

It is awesome.

When wearing it, you feel like you have a solid tool on your wrist. Something that will take anything life throws at you and feels like a reliable companion. Looking at the watch on the wrist is a pleasant experience. The AR coating they use on the double-domed sapphire makes the very legible dial easy to read even in the most extreme lighting conditions, and at night it is just as easy to read thanks to the well-executed lume use and application.

The destro case is perfect if you are someone who works with their hands often.

The watch is something that easily goes under the radar in normal day-to-day life, and when it is noticed by someone, it is normally because of the cool factor. People talk about the destro case, the color, and the overall understated look, and at night they will compliment the lume. It has the coolness factor without screaming, “LOOK AT ME.”

Adding to the coolness factor is how good the watch looks on different straps and the bracelet. It looks good on everything from the factory bracelet to the Sketchy Boyz Watch Club 11B “The Hill Strap” to a rubber band. Between that and the 20mm lug width, you can change the personality of the watch pretty drastically without taking away what makes the SC74 the SC74.

The final coolness factor is one that you will likely only know yourself or share with others who are familiar with the piece. There is an S.B.W.C. logo and “SC74” engraved on the caseback, reminding you that you have a special piece. It is something you get to keep to yourself with the watch.

To me, that is the ultimate cool.

Spending time with this watch, I have tried to find any major negatives or anywhere that it would interrupt my life, and I cannot find any. For me, this has become my watch. The watch that my friends, family, and even normal acquaintances are quickly associating as being the Jordan watch.

It has been hard to put anything else on my wrist, and I find myself coming back to this watch more often than any of the other nine watches that are currently in my collection. It has been comfortable to wear and has just been easy to deal with.

When I sold my Black Bay 58 a month or so ago, it was in anticipation of finding one of these, and I have kicked myself in the ass a little bit since doing so. I was worried that I had made a mistake.

Now that I have spent some time with this watch, that is not the case at all.

This is a worthy replacement.

Final Thoughts

For around the $1,000 price point, you have a lot of competition from larger manufacturers, other independents, and microbrands, and the SC74—and the entire Subcommander line—deserves to be at the top of that conversation.

You are getting a real tool watch with the specs to match that is done at excellent quality levels from an American-made company that backs its product and doesn’t just end the relationship as soon as you send them your money. You get something that will likely outlast you and the next generation, and probably be around beyond that even.

To end this, I have no other words than to say I tip my cap to Brigade and Sketchy Boyz Watch Club for taking a sick design from Brigade’s lineup in the Subcommander and making a subtle but great collaboration that blows your socks off and punches well above its weight class.

Disclaimer: Land Diver Society shares a friendly relationship with the founders of Sketchy Boyz Watch Club and its moderators. Brigade and L.D.S. share no business dealings or relationship at the time of writing. The watch featured in this review was purchased second hand with neither S.B.W.C or Brigade being aware that the watch was being purchased for the purpose of review. L.D.S. has not provided prerelease information for any party. This review is our true uninfluenced thoughts on the watch.