Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph – An affordable sporty that shouldn't be underestimated

Tags: Review | Pulsar | Men's | Classic | Fashion | Traditional

17.5.2021 | 7 MIN

The ideal partner for summer? Sporty, durable, stylish and light-powered, Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph could be a great choice for those of you looking for a practical, good-looking and affordable watch that can handle almost any summer adventure that awaits you.

Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph – One of the most popular watches from Pulsar

The internet considers Pulsar's solar chronographs as one of the most underrated watches on the market. And that is despite the fact that they only get good reviews and it is often said that their quality is so good that it is comparable to watches that are even three times more expensive, and that they are simply a "best value pick" ( best price performance ratio) that you can get. And there is something to it. After all, we are looking at one like that today.

Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph men's watch belongs to the Accelerator series (meaning "accelerator" or literally "accelerator pedal"), which by its name foreshadows the relationship to speed and motorsport. The inspiration is evident on the first glance. The colorful sports design, often including a chronograph (stopwatch) and tachymetric scale, robust construction and durability that suits and belongs to such a watch.

It should be noted that Accelerator watches seems as a purely men's business, which is supported by the case size of around 44-45 mm, making the modern sports design stand out very well. Watches from this like are one of the bigger ones from Pulsar and thanks to the constant popularity of large watches, as well as good workmanship, interesting "racing" appearance and affordable prices, Accelerator has become one of the most popular series of this brand.

Introducing – Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph PZ511

Today's  model Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph PZ511 received a 44mm case diameter and is available in four color variants:

The first Pulsar model was introduced in July 2020 – Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph with rose-gold bezel. Thanks to the popular pink-copper tone, the watch got a very elegant face, which balanced that purely sporty "Accelerator" side of the design, and I must admit that this combination has something to it. Judge for yourself.

In December of the same year, another three pieces arrived, this time in a sportier spirit.

Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph with blue dial, with a shiny blue bezel and a brown leather Rally strap with perforation. This color variant really caught our eyes.

For those, who don't fancy leather, and would rather choose an all-steel look, Pulsar offered Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph on steel bracelet with black dial and red details.

The latst model is for fans of bold, even "warning" colors – Pulsar Accelerator Solar Chronograph with yellow-black design.

There is a lot to look at - Design and many details

"Race" watches just have to have a busy look and sporty features and this is no different with our Pulsars. And even though I took the most moderate model with steel band for research and testing, my eyes darted so easily and I didn't know what to focus on first ... Don't get me wrong, it's not a terrifying mess, like some modern pilot watches (I'm looking at you, Citizen Promaster Sky JY802), but still there's a lot going on on the watch.

Eventually, my gaze stopped on a shiny bezel with a tachymetric scale, which is primarily intended to calculate the average speed, let's be real, who uses it for this purpose nowadays? I will get to the functionality of the bezel on the Pulsar Accelerator watch, but now let me just highlight how its black color scheme effectively frames and dampens the busy dial. It's a bit like drawing a black line in a tangle of letters in a word search puzzle and creating a thing that makes sense.

All other elements - three sub-dials, large indices, wide hands with luminescence, red and white marked details and numerals, date between the fourth and fifth indices, a chapter-ring on a bright white background and a large white Pulsar logo - are placed on a checkered structure, which symbolizes the pattern of the finish flag.

However, the vividness of all these details is saved by the contrasting color combination black-white-red, which is always effective in the fight against poor legibility. In addition, the numerals are large and prominent as well as are the clear broad indices. The last saving vessel in the sea of ​​details is the different structure of the interiors of the sub-dials from the surrounding checkered pattern.

The three-link bracelet with a folding clasp is well-designed for the price category of the watch, and the cut, which is made special by a shiny strip, is also nice. Unfortunatelly, I can't really tell you if it will pluck your hair out. Judging by the space between the links, I would guess that the watch will probably take some hair here and there... Probably.

Durable and light powered

Now let's look at the Pulsar from a more technical point of view. They are solar watches that are charged with both sunlight and artificial light, and unlike conventional quartz watches, these do not require regular battery replacement. The solar panel is a clean source of energy and is therefore not a burden on the environment. The most important thing about solar watches is not to leave them in the dark, but even if you do so to the watch for any reason, it will last up to 6 months when being fully charged in the beginning.

Hold the bottom button to check your battery life – the hand in the lower sub-dial will show on a scale marked with F (full) the current energy level of the watchtly on.

The watch has a chronograph (stopwatch) function with an accuracy of 1 second. The hand is placed in the lower sub-dial ... That kinda took me off guard when I first turned the watch on. In a watch with a tachymetric scale, I would expect a stopwatch hand instead of the main second hand. This way makes the tachymetric scale functionally useless, but when measuring the average time you have to wait until the second hand reaches the 12th position before you start measuring. But as I said before, tachymtric scale has a more of a estetical function nowadays.

Another thing I found surprising with the chronograph on these Pulsars was the weird feeling I got when pressing the on button as it made this quiet squeak... A bit like running your finger over an inflatable balloon. First I though it just might me just a "mistake" of my specific model, but then I read a review my colleague made when testing another Pulsar Accelerator Solar a year ago and I had to smile because he got confused by the same thing - squeaky buttons. But it's something I woul put up with as a user.

The sub-dial at nine o'clock then shows a 30-minute maximum capacity of the chronograph. The last sub-dial at three o'clock has a 24-hour hand.

Pulsars have a higher water resistance of 100, so you don't need to worry about drowning the watch when swimming in a pool or in the sea. It is also supported by a screw-down caseback and the more robust steel construction itself ... Which after all, adds some weight to the watch. Just for fun, I placed the watch (model with a metal pull) on a kitchen scale and found out that it weighed 147.4 g, which is quite a lot. On the other hand, I would expect it to be even heavier as it is a large all-steel watch with a diameter of 44 mm.

The glass is mineral. That, you'll be able to scratch a bit over time, unlike the sapphire crystal, but it is more resistant to breakage on impact.

And finally - the quartz movement is from the Japanese Seiko, which makes sense, given that the Pulsar brand formally falls under the Seiko Watch Company.

Where did the Pulsar watch actually come from?

Despite its modern fashion designs and affordability, Pulsar is one of the traditional brands, although it cannot boast of any long tradition. Today it falls under the Japanese giant Seiko Watch Company, but this has not always been the case. It is an American brand whose roots are intertwined with the originally American giant Hamilton and its famous first digital with LED digit numbers from 1970, which perhaps do not even need to be introduced: the name was "Pulsar Time Computer".

Hamilton began making them with the idea of ​​watches that would bring a fresh breeze to their production and attract those "who want something else". Later, a version of the Hamilton Pulsar P2 came to life and the watch became an absolute hit (worn by, for example, Elvis Presley or Agent 007 in the James Bond movie: Live and Let Die). But tgen the crushing quartz crisis xame and that was the end of the American Hamilton. However, it was the beggining of the Swiss Hamilton, as forces were joined with the current Swatch Group.

In 1979, when the biggest wave of interest in the famous Pulsar digital watches subsided, Hamilton left its name to the Japanese giant Seiko Watch Company, who added more affordable quartz watches to the Pulsar brand, but did not lose any of the quality and technological advances of the Japanese corporation.