Hands-On The RZE UTD-8000

It wouldn't be controversial to say that a love of mechanical watches is basically a prerequisite for writing at Hodinkee. I love mechanical watches, and the micron-sized obsessive details that come with the rabbit hole of Swiss craftsmanship, but once in a while, I’ll admit there’s a freedom that comes with throwing on a carefree tool watch with a crisp LCD. It could be a A$2,000 steel G-Shock, or it could be a A$60 Casio F-91W; what matters isn’t the price, it’s that they both offer a bulletproof peace of mind that’s exactly what you need on some days.

Generally speaking, while microbrand watches span the spectrum of vintage-inspired divers, dressy classics, and modern tools, there is a distinct lack of digital displays. The natural explanation is that Casio spans basically all budgets – from A$80 to A$8,000 – and you can't argue with the quality and reputation of a brand that created the digital LCD watch in 1974 with the Casiotron. The OG is still innovating in its sixth decade of digital excellence, but there’s a new challenger on the block that’s arrived as the tool-watch-focused indie brand RZE, which last year released its titanium-cased UTD-8000 for less than A$450.

Huiy Tang, co-founder and Head of Global Marketing, has been instrumental in building a reputation for RZE's durable, titanium everyday carry (EDC) timepieces, and we sat down for a chat. Based in Canada, he transitioned from a watch enthusiast to leading RZE Watches, which has introduced innovations such as its hardened UltraHex titanium cases. Going from mechanical and quartz-powered EDC value to the complex world of electronics was a bold move, and I asked Huiy how it started – in fact, how they dared.

"It started with our creative director asking why we don't do a digital watch," said Tang. "We have a lot of respect for G-Shock and Timex and the giants of the digital industry, but the real answer was that it just wasn't being done in the independent space."

This is true, and except for a couple of US-based brands offering retro-digital on a small scale, no one has ventured into the space of trail-tough alternatives to the ubiquitous G-Shock. "We realised that the idea of a rugged digital comes down to G-Shock," Huiy told me, saying that he found that other digitals from indie brands had either moved to not competing at all with G-Shock in terms of quality or testing, because it's just accepted that off-the-shelf digitals aren't going to be used that way. It is a hill that is simply too big to climb for a small brand, and the result is either clones or off-the-shelf modules, but no real-world shock testing or depth ratings.

"We wanted to chase something that was, as you said, titanium and affordable," Tang said. That's a tall order given the company he wanted to keep with his watches. "The thing we aspired to had to be [competing against] the G-Shock MRG or the MTG at least." These are the Top Guns of the G-Shock range, with price tags between A$3,000 and A$7,000. "Recognising that there was a gap in someone chasing a digital watch with rugged tool functionality, and in titanium, was a perfect fit for what we aspired to do."

Tang also pointed out that while RZE has focused on mechanical tool watches, the non-enthusiast everyman often looks for something simpler. "They want a genuine grab-and-go that is definitely going to be on and accurate, and light at the press of a button. That's the reason the Ironman or a G-Shock is a top seller for people. It's accessible, it's replaceable, and it works."

Getting to work on creating the UTD-8000 was a logical, if complex, step. One of the harder questions was how a small brand would comprehensively prove its digital watches were genuinely tough. "It's almost unheard of for someone to ask whether a watch will survive a thirty-foot drop. Either you go down the road of Unimatic or G-Shock, where you use labs and get access to regular trials, or you take the prototypes and do real-life testing."

RZE took the second road, and Huiy described the team dropping prototypes from waist height and head height, off a parking garage, and driving over them with vehicles. "That became part of the fun of the testing; we wanted to make it genuine. When we did the cold testing, I waited until it was minus thirty or minus forty in Edmonton and left the watch out for twenty-four hours to check the fade-out. I zip-tied it to my vehicle and drove at highway speeds for over an hour, in 100 kilometre per hour winds on a minus twenty day, to check the fade-out again."

That is the kind of testing that has led the RZE team to believe they can offer something comparable to the giants of the industry, while also offering something outdoor brands have long represented outside the watch community. "We knew we could guarantee our module for life," Tang continued. "Once we'd invested all the R&D into developing something we believed in, we wanted to stand behind it. If someone wanted a real daily tool and committed to this, we'd want to stand behind it. We want to continue to offer accessible, affordable titanium tool watches, whether it's the digital, the mechanical, or the solar version. RZE is about fulfilling the real tool watch for every person, whatever their need, and being versatile as their needs change."

Talking to Huiy Tang, it becomes clear that toughness was a founding part of the brand DNA, including the scratch-proof UltraHex coating over the top of the titanium case construction. This was a strong move in a retro-saturated 2020, but when Travis Tan, co-founder and former pilot, was developing RZE, he wanted to create an adventure brand, not just a watch microbrand. That meant a tool watch with an angular design language, centred on the lightweight advantage of titanium, but without the tarnish or patina you get from heavy daily use.

The UTD-8000 is its own beast, with a modern language and the faceted lugs that help it stand out from other digital watches, but it still has some subtle nods to OG digital tool watches that you might spot if you know your G-Shocks from your Suuntos. "It was deliberate," Tang said with a smile, "Travis, Kirk and I are all admirers of G-Shock, and we recognise their importance in the field. There's a lot of design language we looked at from them, as well as from Suunto or Timex, and a lot of digital watches we fell in love with, even the Nixon Regulus. We had to come in with something familiar for people, easy to use, something they recognise as part of our design language as well as cues from other companies that have been successful."

"It's exciting for people to have a quality digital watch they can enjoy timelessly," Huiy said. "In the way they would enjoy a mechanical watch, but where maintenance is out of the question." That is exactly what makes the UTD appeal to a fickle watch-buying demographic.

Arriving at some impressions of the RZE UTD-8000 on the wrist, while it might not share the solar power and hyper-accurate multi-band connectivity of a G-Shock, the feeling it leaves you with is substantial. The latest two iterations are the charmingly menacing UTD-8000-SBWC with a red display and black DLC case, and the fresh high-vis orange CKO. The latter gets its summer tint from Cerakote, a ceramic coating available in various shades, and this bold choice from Huiy and his team sets the coloured UTD apart from just about everything else in the market.

Functionality is intuitively easy, and one particularly interesting detail is the sheer size of its numerals. Like a G-Shock, this isn’t a flimsy little watch, measuring 43mm at the bezel and 42mm at the case, 13.4mm in thickness, and a solid-but-wearable 49.5mm lug-to-lug. I will divulge that I have an early model myself, and last year in the south of France it was pretty much all I wore except for a few dressed-up dinners. The elastic Velcro strap plays a big role in my desire to wear it, with a simple design looping around the six o'clock springbar for an easy, casual fit. My UTD hasn't got a single scratch on it, which says a lot for the UltraHex titanium surface treatment. 

The Cerakote is also very resistant to scratches, but the main draw of the new coated case in popping orange is that it owns its unique aesthetic. With the tonally matched rubber strap, it is a crisp take on a summer classic, and the price of this colourful version is rather good for a watch with a thin-film liquid ceramic-coated titanium case. The light function is great with the large screen, and RZE's proprietary module keeps time accurate out of the box, making up for the lack of multi-band and Bluetooth time-syncing. Sure, many of us might not make much use of the stopwatch or alarm functions, but they make sense for a watch aiming for this level of all-round functionality.

On value, the standard models with a beadblasted titanium case are A$435, and while the matching titanium bracelet at A$310 might seem pricey, it still stands out in terms of value thanks to details like an easy micro-adjustable clasp. The searingly bright UTD-8000-CKO, with its smooth orange visage, is A$585 and comes with a nylon Velcro strap and a soft orange rubber strap to dial up the tangy satsuma vibes.

None of this makes RZE a G-Shock killer, and Tang is careful never to claim it is. What the UTD-8000 does is prove that the rugged digital doesn't have to be the sole property of the Japanese giants, and that a small brand willing to zip-tie prototypes to a car in an Edmonton winter can produce something with genuine credibility, for less than the price of a low-range mechanical watch. With the collection about to expand further, the most interesting part may be what comes next.

Brand: RZE
Model: UTD-8000
Diameter: 43mm
Thickness: 13.4mm
Case Material: Solid Grade 2 Titanium with UltraHex™ Coating + Shock Resistance (BKP), Solid Grade 2 Titanium with DLC & Cerakote™ Coating + Shock Resistance (CKO)
Dial Colour: Silver, black, onyx
Indexes: Applied
Lume: LED Backlight (UltraGlow)
Water Resistance: 200 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Custom elasticised fabric strap

Calibre: Custom UTD-8000 Multi-Function Digital Module
Functions: Hours, minutes, running seconds, chronograph, alarm, auto-calendar
Battery Life: 3 years

Price: A$435 (BKP), A$585 (CKO)
Availability: Now
Limited Edition: No

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