Islander is what happens when a watch retailer gets tired of waiting for the brands. When Seiko discontinued the SKX007 in 2019, Long Island Watch built its own version with a sapphire crystal and a ceramic bezel, called it the Islander, and sold it for about $300. Six years later the microbrand has more than 200 references, and if you have been anywhere near the affordable end of watch YouTube or Reddit, you have seen one.
That is a lot of watches to sort through. Here is everything you need to know about Islander, who makes it and the seven models actually worth your attention.
Who Is Behind Islander?
Islander is the house brand of Long Island Watch, the online retailer founded in 2003 by Marc Frankel, a mechanical engineer who turned a watch collecting habit into a business selling Seiko, Orient and Citizen online. If you have ever looked up how to resize a bracelet, there is a good chance you watched one of his videos. His Watch and Learn series is where a lot of people learned the basics, and it is a big part of why the store has the following it does.
The brand itself launched in September 2019, and the origin story is as simple as it gets. Seiko killed the SKX, Long Island Watch sold a lot of SKXs, so Frankel had one made with the upgrades people had been modding into theirs for years. It sold, he kept going, and the catalog grew from one diver into field watches, dress watches, GMTs and a chronograph. Every model is named after a town or a landmark on Long Island, which is a nice touch if you spent any time in New York (I did for a dozen years, and I still had to look a couple of them up).
Where Are Islander Watches Made?
Islander does not say where the standard models are made, and I would not expect it to at these prices. It does label a few quartz pieces as "USA Assembled," which tells you the rest are not. What you get everywhere is a Japanese movement, either a Seiko NH or a Miyota depending on the model, with a Chinese Seagull hand-wound caliber in the chronograph. Every watch comes with a sapphire crystal, most with an anti-reflective coating, and the bracelets are solid link with screw pins and a micro-adjust clasp, which is more than you get from Seiko at twice the price.
The other thing to know is that Islander is sold almost entirely through Long Island Watch itself. There is no distributor and no retail markup, which is a big part of how the prices stay where they are.
The Original: Islander 43mm Automatic Dive
Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 14mm, Movement: Miyota 8205 or Seiko NH36 Automatic (depending on reference), Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Domed Sapphire with AR, Bezel: Luminous Ceramic Insert, Price: $329 USD
This is the watch that started the brand, and it is still the one most people mean when they say "Islander." The case is the SKX007's, down to the crown at four o'clock, which is the point. What you get on top of it is everything SKX owners used to pay a modder for: a domed sapphire crystal, a ceramic bezel insert that glows, a solid-link bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp, and a movement that hacks and hand-winds.
At 43mm it wears big, the way the SKX always did. If that was never a problem for you, this is the easiest recommendation in the catalog. There are dozens of dial and bezel combinations, and the day-date versions on the Seiko NH36 are the most SKX of the bunch.
The Islander 43mm Automatic Dive starts at $329 USD, with the double-domed crystal versions at $369 USD.
The Small One: Islander 38mm Automatic Dive
Case Size: 38mm, Thickness: 13mm, Movement: Seiko NH36 Automatic, Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Sapphire with AR, Bezel: Luminous Ceramic Insert, Price: $329 USD
The 38 is the same idea in the SKX013's case, and for a lot of wrists it is the better watch. It keeps the four o'clock crown, the 200 meters and the ceramic insert, and the Seiko NH36 inside gives you a day-date, hacking and hand-winding. For those of you who like small watches but want a real diver, there are not many options this cheap that come on a decent bracelet.
The Islander 38mm Automatic Dive costs $329 USD.
The Upgrade: Northport
Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 12.5mm, Lug-to-Lug: 47mm, Movement: Miyota 9015 Automatic, Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Sapphire with AR, Price: $449 USD
The Northport is where Islander stopped remaking the SKX and started designing its own watch, and it is the one I would point most people to. It is a 40.5mm diver with a 120-click bezel, a thinner Miyota 9015 high-beat movement and a fully brushed case and bracelet with negative end links, so the 47mm lug-to-lug wears shorter than the number. The dials are the draw. Gradients, ripples and textures in colors you do not see on many dive watches under $1,000, let alone under $500.
The Northport costs $449 USD on a bracelet.
The Dress Watch: Brookville
Case Size: 38mm, Thickness: 11mm, Lug-to-Lug: 44.5mm, Movement: Miyota 9015 Automatic, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire with AR, Price: $379 USD
The Brookville is a 38mm dress watch with polished facets on the case and hands, a Miyota 9015 and 100 meters of water resistance, which makes it one of the least expensive high-beat Japanese automatics you can buy in a dress case. The dials rotate constantly, linen, waffle, salmon, robin's egg blue, and the popular ones sell out. It is a good answer for someone who wants one of the dress watches under $1,000 on our list but would rather spend the difference on something else.
The Brookville starts at $379 USD on a bracelet, with the Calligraphy Edition dials at $399 USD to $429 USD.
The Explorer Alternative: Manhasset
Case Size: 36mm, Thickness: 12mm, Lug-to-Lug: 43mm, Movement: Miyota 82S0 Automatic, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire with AR, Price: $299 USD
You know what the Manhasset is referencing. It is a 36mm watch with a 3-6-9 dial, an oversized screw-down crown and a 43mm lug-to-lug, which on paper is as wearable as a field watch gets. The Miyota 82S0 inside is the brand's basic automatic rather than the 9015, which is how the price lands under $300. If you have been eyeing a 36mm Explorer and want to find out whether the size works for you before spending real money, this is the cheapest way to run the experiment.
The Manhasset costs $299 USD on a bracelet, or $229 USD on a strap.
The GMT: JFK
Case Size: 42mm, Lug-to-Lug: 47.7mm, Movement: Seiko NH34 Automatic GMT, Water Resistance: 200m, Crystal: Domed Sapphire with AR, Bezel: Sapphire Insert, Price: $449 USD
Named after the airport, the JFK is Islander's take on the GMT-Master, with a red and blue sapphire bezel insert, an embossed cloud dial and gold-tone hands and markers. The Seiko NH34 is a caller GMT, meaning the 24-hour hand is the one you set independently rather than the local hour, which is the compromise at this price. It still gets 200 meters of water resistance, a screw-down crown and one of the better bracelets in the lineup, with screw-adjustable links and a six-position clasp. Among GMT watches under $500, it is one of the few that does not feel like it is cutting corners to get there.
The JFK costs $449 USD on a bracelet.
The Chronograph: Bridgehampton
Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 14mm, Lug-to-Lug: 48mm, Movement: Seagull ST1901 Hand-Wound Chronograph, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Domed Sapphire with AR, Price: $469 USD
The Bridgehampton is Islander's first mechanical chronograph, named after the Long Island race track that closed in 1999. It runs the Seagull ST1901, the Chinese hand-wound column wheel chronograph that has powered most of the affordable mechanical chronographs of the last decade, visible through an exhibition caseback. The tachymeter sits under the crystal, which frees the bezel for a luminous 12-hour scale, and it comes on a bracelet with a leather racing strap in the box. At 14mm thick it is not a thin watch, but a mechanical chronograph with a sapphire crystal for under $500 is a short list, and most of the other chronographs I would recommend cost several times as much.
The Bridgehampton costs $469 USD. All four dials were sold out when I checked, so you may have to wait for the next run.
Are Islander Watches Good?
Yes, and for the money they might be the best. I cannot think of another brand that puts a sapphire crystal, a ceramic bezel, a Japanese automatic and a solid bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp into a watch for $329 USD and backs it with a retailer that answers the phone. If you want the most watch per dollar, this is where the math ends up.
With that being said, you should know what you are not getting. Original design is not the point here. The Islander 43 is an SKX, the Manhasset is an Explorer and the JFK is a GMT-Master, and the brand does not pretend otherwise. The sizes on the divers and the GMT run big, with the 43mm and 42mm cases wearing like it. And with more than 200 references, half the work is figuring out which one you actually want, which is part of why I wrote this.
I would also say the Northport and the Brookville are where Islander is most interesting. They are the brand's own designs, they use the better Miyota 9015 movement, and they show what the catalog looks like when it stops leaning on Seiko's old case.
How Much Do Islander Watches Cost?
Islander watches cost between $229 USD and $595 USD, with almost everything in the $300 USD to $450 USD range. Here is how the main models break down:
Manhasset 36mm: $229 USD on a strap, $299 USD on a bracelet
Mitchel Field: $249 USD
Islander 43mm Automatic Dive: $329 USD to $369 USD
Islander 38mm Automatic Dive: $329 USD
Brookville: $379 USD to $429 USD
Northport: $449 USD
JFK GMT: $449 USD
Bridgehampton Chronograph: $469 USD
Where should you buy one? Long Island Watch is the answer, and for most models the only answer, since Islander is its house brand and ships from New York. Windup Watch Shop carries a handful of the popular models as well. Prices are the same, there are no retailer markups to shop around, and the thing to watch for is stock. Popular dial colors on the Northport and Brookville sell out and come back in batches, so if you see the one you want, buy it.
All-in-all, Islander is the brand I would send a friend to when they ask what to buy instead of a Seiko. It just happens to be run by the guy who used to sell them the Seiko.
