VAER C5 Dirty Dozen Ameriquartz – $299 – $419

UPDATE: Congrats to M. Galdeano who won the drawing for the VAER C5!

Enter here to win the 40mm VAER C5 Ameriquartz used for photos in the below review. It’s a simple email and name form, we don’t sell your info, and we won’t even auto-add you to our own email list. Dead line for entry is 11:59pm ET on Saturday, August 6th 2025. One entry per person. Winner will be notified by email, and once we get necessary info, we’ll send the winner the watch we used for the review below. Big thanks to the folks at VAER for sending along a watch for review and subsequent giveaway. As Dappered never keeps press samples from brands, we either have to send samples back, or pass them along to you guys. So yes, thank you to VAER.

Pricing note: Base price on Vaer Watches includes two straps (usually rubber and fabric). Price goes up from there if you instead choose one of the optional leather straps or a stainless steel bracelet.

• model: C5 Dirty Dozen
• size: 40mm width, 48mm lug-to-lug, 10.4mm thick, 20mm lug width
  • Also available in a smaller 36mm version.
• movement: USA-built FTS Ameriquartz 70200A
• water resistance: 100m
• crystal: Single domed sapphire w/ AR coating
• etc: Assembled in the USA. Screw down crown. Various optional stainless steel bracelets, some even with on-the-fly micro adjusters. Utilizes both BGW9 & Old Radium lume.

Some of VAER’s many strap options.
Final price depends on your choice.
(Strap options depend on model and stock availability)

Can VAER even be called a “micro-brand” anymore? Their maturation over the last few years has seen them create and produce an impressive variety of styles, price points & movements, all while providing in-demand details like quick release straps (& bracelets!), models with both larger and smaller size options, and even some American assembled watches running off American made movements.

They got cheap “imported” models. They got spendy Swiss Automatics. They’ve got divers, field watches, and sporty chronos. Small watches, bigger watches, and stuff in-between. Classics as well as colorful outliers. They’ve even teamed up with NODUS to provide an optional bracelet with an on-the-fly micro adjustment.

Micro-brand? More like a unicorn. They’re doing a lot of what no one else can. And their assembled in the USA Ameriquartz powered C5 & C3 Field Watches exemplify that.

American Assembled. Ameriquartz Movement.

The C5 is their heritage military inspired field watch. The classic design and impressive specs combine to make it a perfect GADA (go-anywhere, do anything) wristwatch, which can be dressed up or down, and especially excels in the realm of smart-casual “in-between.” It looks good on a fabric or rubber strap. It looks right at home on leather. And spend the extra coin on an optional bracelet, and you’ll have a terrific (quartz powered) alternative to Hamilton’s Murph… for ~40% of the Hammy’s price.

40mm diameter. Shown on a 7.5″ wrist.

At 40mm in diameter and 10.4mm thick, it’s a pleasantly mid-sized tool watch. Has some presence but not too much. And if you want to keep it seriously classic, their C3 is a more period correct 36mm option. The C5 40mm wears comfortably and not clunky. Each watch comes with a base/standard FKM Rubber “ocean” strap, as well as another strap of the purchaser’s choice. Some of those optional straps have a steep price for the upgrade (steel bracelet +$90, Horween leather straps +120), but there are also a couple of no-extra-charge options too. The single pass “recon” strap shown in our review is one of those. It’s a quality strap. A little stiff at first, but it’s smooth and comfortable and breaks in quickly. The brushed hardware is nice too, with slightly softened edges so there’s no pokey or sharp bits.

Each watch comes with two straps. The standard rubber on the left,
and a second strap (leather, fabric, bracelet) which is up to the purchaser.
All two piece straps have quick release pins for easy swap-outs.

The crystal is sapphire, water resistance is 100m thanks to the screw down crown, and the 10.4mm case thickness avoids the “chonk” some watches can come with. It’s not a razor thin dress watch, but it can absolutely fill that role when on an optional leather strap or stainless steel bracelet. If you’re traveling and traveling light (or just want one watch to do it all while staying put), the C5 is a terrific option thanks to its versatile looks and easy to swap in and out quick-release pin equipped straps and bracelets. Even the lume is cool. Or more accurately, lumes. Two different colors. The C5 and C3 utilizes both BGW9 & Old Radium lume.

Field watch looks, but with 100m of water resistance, 
a screw down crown, and a sapphire crystal, 
it’s good to go almost anywhere (wet or dry.)

One of the biggest selling points for many will be the “USA-iness” (not a word… yet). The C5 and C3 are assembled in the USA, and beating inside is the Mesa Arizona created Ameriquartz movement from FTS Manufacturing. American watchmaking is all but an echo from the past. So for VAER to commit a couple of of their models to not just American assembled but American run at their core, that. is. something. (Sidenote: To offer other, cheaper, “imported” models is just flat out brilliant business. Meet people where they are, right? Give people what they want.)

Assembled in the USA.
Even the movement inside it is American.

The C5 may have heritage looks, but VAER as a brand is thoroughly modern. While much of the watch industry is struggling to adapt to rising prices and whipsawing demand, VAER is producing really good watches at a variety of accessible price points, with the options (multiple quick release straps, different sizes, variety of available quartz and automatic movements) watch wearers are now understandably demanding.

The C5 is a highly capable and handsome example of VAER’s impressive attributes as a brand.

VAER D5 Meridian USA Auto 42mm – $629 + Premium NodeX Bracelet – $169

• model: D5 Meridian USA Automatic
• size: 42mm, 48mm lug to lug, 11.6mm thick/13.7mm thick with crystal
• movement: Miyota 9015. -5/+15 sec/day, 42 hr power reserve
• water resistance: 200m. Screw down crown
• crystal: Sapphire
• etc: Date window at 6. BGW9 A Grade Lume. 120 click bezel.
• also worth noting: 
  • Most stock straps and bracelet options are quick release for easy strap changes, although they do sell standard pass-through nylon straps which come with spring bars and a changing tool.
  • The Premium NodeX Bracelet (shown in this review) with the on-the-fly micro adjustment in the clasp is extra. But worth it, frankly.

Miyota automatic movement. Assembled in the USA.

In the last few years the smaller/newer brands have really been making the heritage/luxury watch makers look old and slow. And while VAER has been growing fast enough that it’s probably not right to call them a “micro” brand anymore, their steady rise has brought good designs, convenience factors like quick release pins on straps AND bracelets, and even some of their watches are assembled here in the USA.

The D5 USA Meridian Automatic + optional Premium NodeX Bracelet exhibits all of those impressive attributes. And while it’s not a cheap impulse-wristwatch-purchase off Amazon, nor is it without a few critiques, it has an immense amount going for it… all for thousands-upon-thousands less than a watch from one of the big luxury brands.

200m of water resistance.

Styling is very straightforward. The dial is simple. Black and white, with the visual variety coming by way of a mix of shapes for the indices. There’s a big triangle at 12 (which plays nicely with the triangle at the top of the bezel), a rectangular date window at six, circles at 2, 4, 8, and 10, and trapezoids at the odd hour marks. If that sounds like a lot of different shapes, that’s because it is. But as the coloring is black and white and nothing else, and all of those shapes are placed symmetrically with a twin directly across the dial, most will feel it works just fine. It is not, say, the Longines Hydroconquest GMT, which throws a circle at 6 and 9 but a rectangular date window at 3.

Blends some heritage styling to become its own thing altogether.

The overall feel is some sort of blend of Submariner and Planet Ocean. The knurled edge of the bezel and black and white scheme is a little Sub-like, but the body of the case and its sweeping lugs and chamfers feels more like a P.O…. albeit in a pleasant 42mm diameter instead of the Omega’s cumbersome to some 43.5mm. The sword style hour hand looks cool (and like an older Omega Seamaster), and all of the text on the dial is well spaced and unobtrusive. It’s a combination of styles for sure. But it becomes its own thing in the process.

Stock straps and even the bracelets come with quick release pins.
NodeX premium bracelet is shown on the watch above, and it’ll cost you extra.

Where the VAER really sets itself apart from other <$1000 watches is in terms of its versatility. All stock straps and even the bracelet options come with quick release pins. When combined with its simple black and white color scheme, you can easily bounce this thing back and forth between fabric straps, tropic rubber, a metal bracelet, or even leather. (If you’re not a super-traditionalist and you’re just fine with wearing a diver on a leather strap… as most of us are land-lubbers anyway.)

The NodeX push-button adjustment is well worth the extra cost for a lot of us.
The pinch-to-release quick release at the end-links is also well executed.

The available premium bracelet with the NodeX on-the-fly micro-adjustment is worth the extra cash. This is one of those areas where the big luxury brands are finally starting to catch up. With this push-button micro adjustment, you can easily adjust the length of the bracelet with zero tools. That matters for those who run hot or cold, lift heavy objects and swell up, and yes, on occasion slide a watch over a wetsuit (or rash guard).

Good guts. Exhibition caseback.

The Miyota 9015 automatic is mighty fine movement from Citizen, who clearly knows what they’re doing. It hacks and hand winds, keeps good time, and even has a pleasant Valjoux-7750-like “wobble” if you flick the watch just right. The movement helps make the VAER truly feel like a watch with guts. Good guts. And while Miyota labels the 9015 as “ultra-thin,” the 200m water resistance and domed sapphire crystal results in 13.7mm of overall case thickness. So while the movement may be “ultra thin,” many will have trouble easily sliding the VAER under a shirt cuff. If you want a nicely slim dive watch in this high triple digit/low-$1000s price range, try the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Pro 300. That watch has a height of just 11.5mm.

13.7 mm thick with the crystal.

Just two critiques, and they both have to do with the bezel. The action of spinning the bezel is oddly “crunchy” feeling. Maybe it’s just the unit I bought for myself, but I honestly prefer the feel of turning my dirt cheap Casio Diver’s bezel. That said, once in position it’s secure and doesn’t threaten to wobble or move off course, and I’ve quickly gotten used to how it feels. But here comes the second critique: The bezel can sometimes look a quarter to half a click “off.” So when that big arrow is put straight up to point at twelve… it often points at what would be 11:59:45. But that’s not unheard of at this price point (looking at you Seiko) and I also got used to that slight misalignment quickly.

Bezel seems a “lick” off?
(Still a very tasty watch.)

I get that some are gonna say “for $600+… get the bezel right.” I also understand not everyone will like all of those shapes on the dial, as well balanced as they are on the dial. But…

…The unflashy and handsome looks, great feel, supremely versatile quick release straps and bracelet, as well as the (available) extra-comfortable on-the-fly micro-adjusting clasp, all add up to a hard to beat combination. Especially if you also value brands who are making at least some of their stuff here in the United States.

VAER is definitely a watch company to (wait for it)… watch.

And their D5 is a hell of a fine flagship.