Review: Tense 'Summit Multifunction Watch' in dark sandalwood impresses

Tense Watches has been making stylish high-quality wooden watches by hand in Vancouver, British Columbia since 1971. Wooden cased watches have several benefits over metal ones, the most notable two of which are that they're extremely lightweight and made from renewable resources. Tense Watches further differentiates itself from other wooden watch manufacturers by creating their wooden watches out of 100% recycled or reclaimed wood.


Tense Watches sent us a review unit of one of their new Summit Multifunction Watches. We received the Dark Sandalwood Summit Multifunction Watch, one of 12 different styles of Summit Multifunction Watches by Tense currently available. All of the watches in Tense Summit Multifunction series display the date, day of the week, feature a 24 hour display, and boast luminescent hands. Both the crown and the push-button clasp are made from "premium quality stainless-steel" and prominently feature Tense's leaf logo. The bracelets are hypo-allergenic and can be adjusted in size. Additionally, all Tense Summit Multifunction watches feature an accurate Japanese Miyota movement. Tense stands behind their products with a two-year limited warranty which "covers defects in mechanism, materials, and workmanship."

We typically don't mention box cases, however, the Tense box's cover was made from wood. You could easily reuse this case or throw it in a bag to take your watch with you traveling. In addition to a nice storage pillow, It included a mini-screwdriver so that you could remove or add wooden links. Other watch brands don't typically do this, and one would be forced to pay their local jeweler to size their watch for them if they didn't own the proper tools to do so themselves. There was also a lens cloth, for keeping it crystal clear. It's another nice addition which isn't normally found included with watches at this price point.

The first thing we noticed when wearing the Tense Dark Sandalwood Summit Multifunction Watch was just how light weight it was. It has a 40 mm case size that's 11 mm thick, and its band is a slim 21 mm wide. The back of the wooden case is actually curved and not flat. This makes it much more comfortable than other wooden watches we've worn before. We cannot stress just how light-weight wearing a wooden watch is compared to a steel watch. At the end a work day this writer normally has to take off his steel watch because his arm feels tired. This simply wasn't the case with the Tense Summit Multifunction Watch, and we found ourselves wearing it right up until it was time to sleep.

Unlike some other watches it's easy to read the day, date, and time. We did find it quite odd that the face didn't feature wood or matching browns. This particular style draws attention with it's highly reflective face, which isn't necessary a bad thing. Some might prefer this other Dark Sandalwood Tense Summit Multifunction Watch, and it all boils down to a question of personal preferences.

Positives:
Light weight and comfortable.
Hypo-allergenic and adjustable band.
Accurate Japanese Miyota movement.
Made from 100% reclaimed and recycled wood.

Negatives:
Face doesn't feature wood and the blue second hand seems out of place.

Final verdict: Four out of five.

The Tense Summit Multifunction Watch in Dark Sandalwood has an MSRP of $209. While that may be pricier than some other wooden watches we've seen, after wearing it for a month we can feel the difference of quality between Tense and other less expensive brands. As of the time of this review's publication, there's an alternate style Tense Summit Multifunction watch in currently 20% off for $167.20. We think that the Dark Sandalwood style which we received for this review looks better though, and could be worn with a wider variety of outfits in both casual and business attire. In all the Tense Summit Multifunction Watch in Dark Sandalwood impresses, and would make an stylish gift for yourself or a loved one.