Core Seven Sins Review

What does it mean if you wear the Core Seven Sins – a watch whose “date window” rotates through the seven deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth)? The obvious answer: you’re a Christian who wants a constant reminder of the behaviors that can doom you to the fiery pits of hell. Core owner Kerim Kfuri doesn’t see it that way. Well, not necessarily . . .

“It’s not meant to have a religious slant,” Kfuri tells TTAW. “It’s push and pull as you interact with these ideas. Pride? What does it mean to you? Embrace it or rebel or against it? Greed. Do more, or today’s the day I give to charity?” 

The idea that the daily sins display is areligious inspiration – rather than a fundamentalist fire alarm – is a stretch that would challenge a Yoga teacher. If the Seven Sinn’s sin window is a call to action, I’m thinking it’s the wrong kind. Gluttony? Screw my diet! I’m gonna murder that pint of Americone Dream. Sloth? Today’s the day I follow Bruno Mars‘ example.

What Mr. Kfuri is actually saying: “Don’t worry millennial nom-believers! Why you buy the Seven Sins is none of my business. Core isn’t run by a bunch of bible bashers.” But it is run by people who know how to stand out in a market crowded with low-priced dive watches.

The Seven Sins differentiates itself from your garden variety 42mm micro-brand diver by dint of its sinful exhibitionism and its delicious dial. Our Heavy Metal tester’s face has a flawless sheen – a cross between mother-of-pearl and Sub-Zero silver. It’s a class act that looks right in any light.

The Seven Sins’ applied indices, logo and sin window frame are all rendered in a more silvery silver. The contrast makes the Seven Sins as legible as large print Scripture, helped in no small measure by the the sapphire crystal’s anti-reflective coating.

Low light legibility is a non-starter. The Seven Sins doesn’t have a drop of lume. Not on the indices or the perfectly-sized 120-click black ceramic bezel. And definitely not on the hour or minute hands. And that’s because . . .

The hands form a switchblade, complete with knife edge and handle details.

The horological ode to West Side Story makes [some kind of] sense when “wrath” slides into the Seven Sins’ sin window. But the cutting edge design gives serious cause for concern when you read the advice engraved on the watch’s caseback:

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. Core borrowed the admonition from the title of psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp‘s self-help book, in which Koop copped to his professional impotence.

The most important things that each man must learn no one can teach him. Once he accepts this disappointment, he will be able to stop depending on the therapist, the guru who turns out to be just another struggling human being.

So kill the guru and get on with your spiritual journey! It’s an extremely stabby approach to enlightenment, but there it is. On your watch.

I wonder what the Seven Sins’ designer was thinking when he combined third century theology, a switchblade and a bastardized Zen koan. Core’s self-professed in-house “trouble-maker” Stephen Conti (above right) offers this insight into his creative process:

“Twenty-five years in the creative field, growing up with graffiti, punk rock, and a wise-ass attitude on a spiritual path has taught me that the mind is a terrible thing to taste,” Conti recounts (culturally appropriating the United Negro College Fund’s tagline “a mind is a terrible thing to waste“). “I hope this watch will destroy the duplicative notion of the current culture.”

Good luck with that. Meanwhile, the Core Seven Sins is a perfectly practical quartz-powered timepiece for Sinners who don’t care if their 14.77mm tall watch can’t shelter under a dress shirt cuff.

Thanks to its screw-down crown and caseback, the Seven Sins offers a full 300m water resistance. Anyone who enjoys wearing a soggy ballistic nylon NATO strap won’t be disappointed. Anyone who wants the second hand to stop precisely on the indices will.

Core also sells the Seven Sins with an unspecified Japanese automatic movement in a black-and-red color scheme, flying the watchmaker’s previous Sharp Bros. branding. It’s relatively expensive ($365) and projects a more menacing mien (red being the color of the Devil and all).

I prefer the cheaper ($249) metallic, red and especially the white quartz piece; it really makes the switchblade hands pop. The money saved by opting for battery power pays for a more appropriate and durable dive watch-style band.

Tool watch-wise, the Seven Sins is no Sinn, but it is a hardy, accurate, well-made, legible watch with a design that gives buyers something to think/talk/write about.

Mr. Conti ain’t saying what he’ll conjure up next. Assuming “Halicarnassus” fits in the window, what about the Seven Wonders of the World? Whatever it is, it won’t be expensive and it won’t be boring. For that may the Lord make us truly grateful.

Model: Core Seven Sins
Price: $249

SPECIFICATIONS:

Movement: Unspecified Japanese quartz, hacking seconds
Case: Brushed 316L stainless steel
Bezel: 120-click unidirectional ceramic
Water Resistance: 300m (1,000ft)
Crystal: AR-coated sapphire
Strap: Ballistic nylon NATO – 22mm lug width
Crown: 7mm screw down crown
Weight: 3.8 ounces

RATINGS (out of five stars):

Design * * * *
A four-star 42mm quartz dive watch with a fifth-star difference (seven sins display, switchblade hands and instruction to kill Buddha). Star deducted for disintegrating NATO strap.

Legibility * * * * *
Exemplary.

Comfort * * * *
Too tall for dress shirts but who wears those these days?

Overall * * * *
A quirky choice for quirky people who understand the need to have at least one weird watch in their collection – but still prize legibility.

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