I've long admired certain vintage inspired dive watches from afar, like the Tudor BB Heritage 41, Black Bay 58 or the Oris 65, but never pulled the trigger over the nagging feeling that the vintage styling would be a double edged sword. Retro cool but also impossible to wear as "too much". Now I could afford to pay and see (I've got a smp chrono and Rolex 116034 in my collection) and one would argue that I wouldn't lose my money if I had to sell them on (done so on many occasions) but I still felt I might regret it.So like many others, I thought of buying a cheaper homage watch to "try it on first". However, I've felt awkward wearing the Chinese clones I've purchased before. They have great specs and build quality but wearing 1:1 clones felt weird. This is where the Invicta 1953 seems to be the best of both worlds.I've seen a YouTube reviewer complain that the watch was disappointing in that it was only halfway committed. However I might argue that's it's greatest asset. Its a vintage inspired watch that is still wearable because it's also modern. In some ways it's similar to the original eta Tudor heritage bb diver in that it's slimmer, cleaner and avoids the riveted bracelet. It's better sized than either the bb or the bb58 with a 40mm case and 20mm bracelet. And while it has gilt, it's not overdone, with a cool matte black bezel and all brushed finish throughout (more like the pelagos). Even the patina lume isn't really yellow patina but more like the greenish hue you can get on modern watches, so it's kinda both. It's a homage, but not to the bb, and draws inspiration from the same place the Tudor got it (old Rolex catalogue). As opposed to Pd or San Martin, Invicta is a brand that is known for its own designs (sometimes infamously), even if it started it's reemergence in the 90's by copying the Rolex sub. So I feel it's more akin to wearing the seiko sur (great grand Seiko homage) than to wearing my PD 1692. It also doesn't hurt that this particular watch has sort of a cult following as the "best Invicta watch ever made" which makes it a good conversation piece. All of which makes it that much more wearable day to day, which I've seen in practice so far.This doesn't mean it doesn't have it's downsides. Mineral glass is not ideal and the bezel, while 120 click and with really good action, might still be slightly askew. The bracelet is rattly but looks good all brushed and this also results in much lighter overall weight, even if it feels less luxurious (on my 7" wrist weighs 138 gms). Also has ghost date but I prefer the no date look and it's an nh35 which currently runs -1 sex/day on my timer. The clasp is also sharp and I literally took a file to it to soften the edges so I wouldn't scratch my child if I picked him up. And while not the best spec sheet for $125 vs the Chinese watches, it still beats most mainstream brand watches for value.I like it a lot and might even keep it long term. It's especially a great watch to wear these days when it's kind of dangerous to wear an expensive watch like a Rolex or an Omega.