ADI Watch Review

Update-I have located a U.S. online dealer for Adi watches. They are called IsraeliProducts.com. Look under Clothing & Accessories for their selection of Adi watches.

As reviews go, this one was not easy to write. Most watch companies make some effort to market themselves to the outside world. That process greatly eases the task of researching a watch company. Adi, on the other hand, seems completely content in limiting itself to its domestic market. That is a shame in my opinion because they have a number of interesting models that, I think, would do well beyond their home market.

Adi, you see, is the only manufacturer of watches in State of Israel.
To make things more interesting, they are not produced at just any factory. Instead, Adi watches are made on a kibbutz, a sort of hybrid between a commune and a collective farm. Some kibbutzim (the plural of kibbutz) have branched out into light industry. The Kibbutz that makes Adi watches, called Yavne, is one of those. It is located south of the city of Tel Aviv between the cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon. The company has a website that is entirely in Hebrew, unfortunately. Their watches are sold at some jewelery stores in Israel including one at Ben Gurion Airport where I found the example pictured above. As far as I can tell, the only sellers of Adi watches outside of Israel are online and appear to be sort of grey market in their approach. Update-I have found a US based dealer for ADI watches. They are called Israeli Products.com . I picked up the ADI IDF watch that I also reviewed there. No problems at all dealing with them. Good folks.

The Adi I picked up is one of their dress watches. Its design reminded me of a Nomos, at least stylistically. It measures 38 mm in width (40 mm including the crown) 8 mm in thickness and uses a 20 mm wide band. The case is stainless steel with a snap-on back and a black bezel ring. The crystal is domed mineral glass and the band has a signed buckle. Water resistance is rated at 5 atm and the hands and face have no lume. Internally, this Adi uses a Seiko quartz movement that has a date function and can be hacked. The stock band, also branded Adi, is croc grain leather of reasonable quality.

As you may have surmised by now, there is little about this particular watch that is remarkable. It is in all respects a typical modern quartz watch. It would make an excellent daily wearer for most people, which is really just fine. Adi does have some other, more interesting, models that are reputedly sold to the Israeli Army. (I have also read that Singapore's military has purchased 8000 watches from them as well. I had a link to an article about this but it went inactive I'm afraid).

All in all, I find this particular watch to be a well made men's dress watch that, like most quartz watches, should provide simple, trouble-free service for a long time. The only issue I have with Adi is their low profile. I think that there is a market for them outside of Israel that they should make some effort to reach. Even an ebay store would be a good start.