Jack Mason Pursuit Pro Hunter Review

Don't get me wrong, I love watches from the established brands and our personal collection is littered with them, but in the last two years I've really been starting to have a huge appreciation for smaller micro and independent brands. These brands operate at a fraction of the budget that the large more well known brands have to play with, yet they are constantly coming out with new and very interesting timepieces. Jack Mason is one such brand, and they happen to be based out of Texas, just like us.

Jack Mason was founded in Dallas, Texas in 2015 by co-founders Peter Cho and Craig Carter. The founders had over a decade of experience in the fashion watch industry before setting out to start their own brand. Their goal was to make Jack Mason stand out from the larger group brands and have its own authentic and original identity.



In the early days of the brand, the founders of Jack Mason would travel the country in a vintage Airstream camper that they used as their mobile showroom. This also allowed the pair to go to many watch events and spread the brand to a much larger audience. The approach also let the founders of Jack Mason get to know their clients and get a real feeling for what the public was seeking from their timepieces.

After just three years of being in business, Jack Mason had become extremely popular and had its watches being sold in hundreds of higher end department stores. This was a double edged sword, because with the increased sales and awareness came the expectations for their watches to conform more to fashion watch norms, which the founders did not want to give in to.

This pressure ended up making Peter and Craig pull their watches from all retail locations and shift their vision for the brand to be more enthusiast focused as well as going direct to consumer for sales through their website. This complete change to the operation of Jack Mason came about in 2020. The brand's first major success from the re-launch happened in 2022 with the release of the Strat-o-timer GMT watch, which completely sold out during the pre-order period.



Today Jack Mason has doubled down on producing watches for enthusiasts as well as looking to become a legacy watch brand from Texas. Jack Mason is also constantly working on refining and improving their existing models as well as creating new novelties. The brand sees the value of American watchmaking and is trying to grow the craft in the country. Jack Mason also knows the importance of interacting with their clients and hearing valuable feedback on their products. The brand along with Nodus and Formex were the founding brands of the Intersect watch show which showcases microbrands to thousands of enthusiasts multiple times per year in three different cities.

Initial Thoughts

Now that I've gone over the history of Jack Mason, let's take a look at the watch they sent us to review. The watch we'll be taking a closer look at today is the brand's true adventure watch in the Pursuit Pro Hunter. When I first saw the press release of the Pursuit Pro, I knew I had to see the watch in the metal. When the watch arrived, the first thing I took note of was the color scheme of the watch. Jack Mason does produce a more subtle version of the Pursuit Pro, but I requested the bold Hunter model. This model looks like it could have been pulled right from an expedition across the Sahara. The "old" lume coloration of the hour markers and hands matches the beige nylon strap perfectly. This also contrasts nicely with the hunter green dial and hits of orange found on the strap, dial and jet black bezel.



The second thing I noticed about the Pursuit Pro during my initial time with the watch was the awesome nylon hook and loop strap. Not only does the strap add that rugged look to the watch, but it also offers limitless sizing options. The Velcro-like closure means you can size the strap perfectly to your wrist and it's very quick to then make any additional sizing adjustments when needed. The two watches I wear the most in my personal collection are the IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 and the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000. These watches both came on iconic titanium bracelets, but I swapped them over to the Velcro straps that were available for each. The watches are just so comfortable now that they steal all of my wrist time. The same can be said for the Pursuit Pro and its nylon hook and loop strap. The strap also has an additional steel piece that allows for even more articulation of the strap, increasing its comfort.

The final thing I noticed when first looking over the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro was the strength of lume found on the dial and bezel. The Pursuit Pro uses 3-D Lumicast markers made out of X2 grade Super-LumiNova which creates an extremely strong glow. I actually noticed this the first time I wore the watch outside for a second and then came back in and noticed a glow coming from my wrist which I wasn't even looking at. The glow that comes from the Pursuit Pro is very strong and it seems that recently watches with solid block lume are becoming the lume champs, replacing sandwich dials for having the strongest lume. Having said that, I still haven't come across a watch with a stronger lume than my Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms which uses a sandwich style lume setup. That watch also has a huge dial with generous amounts of lume applied all over it. You can see the lume on that Blancpain in broad daylight, but I have to say the lume on the Pursuit Pro does play in the same league as the 500 Fathoms. I also have to mention the lume on the bezel of the Pursuit Pro is also extremely strong.



Technical Specifications

Having gone over both the history of Jack Mason along with my initial impressions of the Pursuit Pro, let's now look at the technical specifications of the watch. The Pursuit Pro is crafted out of 316L stainless steel which has an extra-hardness coating applied which gives the watch over 500% more resistance to scratches. The watch has a case diameter of 40.8 mm when measuring the case and 42.1 mm when measuring the bezel. It has a lug to lug length of 46.7 mm, which shows the watch has rather short lugs and should fit a large variety of wrist sizes. On the nylon strap, the Pursuit Pro weighed in at 99 grams and at its thickest point was 12.9 mm tall.

The Pursuit Pro uses a slightly raised flat sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on both sides. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire lies the slightly textured hunter green dial. Around the outside of the dial is the minute ring printed in beige. Moving in are the 3-D Lumicast block hour markers made from Super-LumiNova Grade X2 which is 87% stronger than Grade X1. 3, 6 and 9 o'clock get larger block makers, while 12 o'clock is replaced with a triangle. Just past these block markers are once again Lumicast Arabic hour markers. The block hour markers glow a strong green, while the Arabic hour markers glow a bluish green.



At 12 o'clock you have an applied Jack Mason star logo and at 6 o'clock is "PRO", "AUTOMATIC" and "200m" with a lightning bolt to indicate the watch's anti-magnetic nature. There are three centrally mounted hands on the Pursuit Pro being the hour, minute and seconds hands. The large flieger style hour and minute hands have their tips coated in matching green lume, while their bases are done in matching hunter green to the dial. The seconds hand also has a hunter green base and the tip is an arrow outlined with orange with matching green lume. The counter balance of the seconds hand is done in red, white and blue for both the colors of the American and Texas flags.

The Pursuit Pro has a bi-directional rotating bezel that takes 120 clicks to complete a full rotation. The bezel has a brushed black ceramic insert that is protected from bumps via a slightly raised lip. The bezel has amazing feel to it and there is zero back play. Each click results in a sure stop and also makes a very nice audible click. The bezel is nicely scalloped and should easily be able to be operated with gloves on. The bezel is set with the reversed countdown bezel from what you would normally see on a dive time bezel. This bezel starts at 60 and counts back down to zero. Each five minute interval is marked with an Arabic numeral, where each additional minute is represented by a large hash mark. All bezel markings are done in beige that glows a strong bluish green in low light. The 5 to 0 section of the bezel is underlined in orange and the 0/60 marker has been replaced with a lumed dot which glows a matching green to the dial markers.



The majority of the case of the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro is done in a brushed finish, showing that this watch is intended to be a tool watch. The chamfers are polished to give the case a bit more visual interest though. Looking at the profile of the case you can see a very slight curvature which helps the watch form to your wrist. The shortness of the lugs is also apparent when looking at this view of the watch. Even with a diameter at around 42 mm, the watch has a short lug to lug length which means those with both small and large wrists can enjoy the watch.

The right hand side of the watches features a large screw down crown that is nicely scalloped like the bezel. With the screwed down crown, the Pursuit Pro boasts a very impressive 200 meters of water resistance. Unscrewing the crown allows you to manually wind the automatic movement in its resting position. Since there are no calendar features on the Pursuit Pro, there is only one additional crown position which stops the seconds hand and allows you to set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand and getting the crown to catch doesn't take much care to get to catch.



Flipping the watch over shows off the screwed down solid case back with the important information about the watch engraved on it. The center of the case back has a larger engraving with "Designed in Texas", "Jack Mason" and "Established 2015". The case back is secured in place with four exposed case screws. Underneath the solid case back beats the Swiss made La Joux Perret G101 automatic movement with 68 hours of power reserve. The watch beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and is regulated by Jack Mason to have an accuracy of +/- 5 seconds per day. On our timegrapher the movement had an accuracy of -1 second per day when averaged out over several positions which is actually within chronometer specifications.

The Jack Mason Pursuit Pro has a lug width of 20 mm, which is the most common lug width meaning the watch can accept virtually endless amounts of aftermarket straps. The watch does come with a great beige hook and loop nylon strap though. The strap is fitted with a steel piece which allows the strap to better form to your wrist as well. Like most straps that have a Velcro like closure, the strap can be adjusted to endless sizes meaning it will perfectly fit your wrist. The strap is fairly supple and needed no break in to be comfortable. The end of the strap also features an orange tag that adds a nice pop of color to the beige strap. It would have been nice if there was a little bulge at the end of the strap to keep the strap from fully coming off when being sized. My IWC Velcro straps have this and it’s a nice backup safety feature.



On The Wrist

The Pursuit Pro wore like a dream on the wrist due to its lightweight case and excellent nylon strap with endless size adjustments. If you've read my reviews before, you know that I'm a huge fan of lightweight materials like titanium, ceramic and carbon, so I do wish that a version of the Pursuit Pro was available in titanium. This would also lower the already low 99 gram weight down into the 70s, making it a watch that you just put on and forget about.

I'm by no means saying the Pursuit Pro is a heavy watch, but you do still get a sense of it while it is on the wrist. I know most collectors do prefer a bit of heft to their watch which is equated with luxury, value and durability, I on the other end prefer a lightweight and high tech experience. This is solely just personal preference and at less than 100 grams, the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro is still what I'd consider a lightweight watch.



I also really like that Jack Mason decided to put a hardness coating on the stainless steel of the Pursuit Pro. That coating along with the fact that the case is mostly brushed in finish means that the watch will continue to look new for years to come, even if the owner doesn't baby it. The thought to add a slight lip around the ceramic bezel will prevent the bezel from chipping, once again keeping the watch looking pristine.

I did wear the Pursuit Pro often and had some periods of extended wear. Even on the longest wearing stints the watch never became an annoyance on the wrist or caused any wrist fatigue. The Pursuit Pro was an excellent companion for boring everyday errands and for the most part disappeared on the wrist, only being thought of when I needed to check the time or look at the watch.

To test the legibility of a watch, I use a very simple test where I see how hard it is to tell the time while driving at just a glance. Dive watches with their high contrast dials and large hands do the best in this test, while complicated and skeleton watches do the worst since legibility isn't key to their design. The hunter green dial of the Pursuit Pro along with the old lume colored hour markers and hands actually contrast very well with each other. The fact that Jack Mason used both block hours markers as well as Arabic numerals meant I was able to find my bearings and decipher the time quickly, easily acing my legibility test. The amount and strength of luminous material used on the dial and bezel of the Pursuit Pro also made low light time telling as easy as could be. In fact, the Pursuit Pro might be one of the best lumed watches I've tested in a very long time.



The mostly green, black and beige aesthetic of the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro also went very well with my normal dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. When I wore the watch out to run errands as well as out to dinner and drinks, I didn't notice the watch getting too much attention or have anyone comment or ask questions about it. This seemed normal to me since the watch is a true tool watch and isn't designed to attract attention, instead it's meant to be reliable and durable in any condition it happens to find itself in. Those friends I did show the watch to while out loved the green dial and beige strap and were blown away by the lume when showing it off with a small UV light my wife keeps in her purse. Everyone was also extremely impressed by the Pursuit Pro's price.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking about price, the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro retails for $1,399. For that price you are getting an extremely attractive and well built sports watch that is hardness coated and can take a real beating. The watch also contains a very accurate La Joux Perret automatic movement that is regulated here in Texas. The Pursuit Pro also boasts 200 meters of water resistance and has some of the brightest lume I've seen on a watch. That means that even though the watch isn't a dive watch, it can go down deeper than anyone but the most professional diver ever will, making the Pursuit Pro a true GADA (Go Anywhere Do Anything) watch. Now is the time in the review where we need to look at a few other watches that offer similar features and specifications and see how the Pursuit Pro stacks up in terms of value.



Up first we have the 556 A from Sinn which has a case diameter of 41 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The 556 A like the Pursuit Pro is also treated with a hardened tegimented coating to resist scratches. The 556 A has the same 200 meters of water resistance as the Pursuit Pro. The Sinn is powered by a Sellita automatic movement with around 40 hours of power reserve and has additional day and date complications. The 556 A is a bit more expensive than the Pursuit Pro at $1,960.

Next up we have the C63 Colchester from Christopher Ward which has a 41 mm case made out of injected carbon. The C63 Colchester is powered by a Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement with 38 hours of power reserve. The C63 Colchester offers a bit less water resistance than the Pursuit Pro at 150 meters. The carbon case of the C63 Colchester should also prove to be extremely durable like the hardened stainless steel case of the Pursuit Pro. The C63 Colchester is a bit more expensive than the Pursuit Pro at $1,520.



Moving on is the Field Automatic from Formex which has a 40 mm case made out of grade 2 titanium which also has a hardening treatment applied. The Field doesn't feature a rotating bezel and is more of a straight up field watch. The Field is powered by a Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement with around 40 hours of power reserve. The Formex also has a bit less water resistance at 150 meters. The Formex Field comes in a bit less expensive than the Pursuit Pro at $1,115.

Finally we have the Supermarine Full Ceramic by Bremont which has a 43 mm case made out of durable black ceramic. The watch is powered by modified La Joux-Perret automatic movement with 56 hours of power reserve. The Supermarine is a dedicated diver and as such has a full 500 meters of water resistance. The Bremont is a good deal more expensive than the Jack Mason at $6,950 as well.



Looking at the above four watches you can see that the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro has pretty similar specifications to the other watches and in some cases even better. The Pursuit Pro is also nearly the least expensive of the group and offers a very unique look as well, being a watch you wouldn't confuse for anything else. It's very impressive that in such a short period of time since the brand has pivoted to produce watches for enthusiasts, that the Pursuit Pro can be so equally compared to such respected names in the sports watch world.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro for me? In most ways the Pursuit Pro is for me, but two things stop it from being perfect to my personal tastes. The first thing is that the watch is crafted out of stainless steel instead of titanium. I feel grade 2 titanium with its darker hue would have just looked stunning on the Pursuit Pro and also would have lowered its weight to a feather light 70 or so grams. I also wish the lug to lug length was a little larger, maybe approaching 50 mm. This would also require the case size to be bumped up a tiny bit. Remember these are just my weird preferences of liking larger and lightweight watches.



Otherwise the watch is just stunning and seems like it is built very well. The color scheme of green, black, beige and orange really work great on the final product, not really colors I would have thought would go so well together. As I mentioned earlier, Velcro-style straps are really starting to appeal to me as well, with my most worn personal watches being on Velcro currently. I can't emphasize how impressed I was with the block Super-LumiNova on the watch either. The watch also offers amazing value for the money and the movement is deadly accurate in our testing.

Would I then recommend the Pursuit Pro to somebody in the market for a full blown GADA adventure watch? Based on my time with the watch I really don't see any reasons that I wouldn't recommend the watch to somebody looking for this type of watch. The Pursuit Pro really gives you a ton of watch for a very fair price. Jack Mason has also thought about what the watch might be used for and has increased the scratch resistance of the case, protected the ceramic bezel insert from damage and also given the watch a way more than needed 200 meters of water resistance. They've basically created the ultimate field watch and aren't trying to charge and arm and a leg for it. I really feel like a collector looking to add a piece like this to their collection should give the Jack Mason Pursuit Pro a good hard look.



I'd really like to thank Jack Mason for sending us this watch to review and it has served as a great introduction to the brand. With Jack Mason having shifted their focus from fashion watches to enthusiast watches so recently, I'm genuinely excited to see what they have in the pipeline of future releases. If the Pursuit Pro is anything to base things off of, there should be some amazing releases coming soon from the brand.

For more information about the Pursuit Pro please visit : Jack Mason

Technical Specifications

Retail Price: $1,399

Case Size: 40.8 mm (Case), 42.1 mm (Bezel)

Lug to Lug: 46.7 mm

Thickness: 12.9 mm

Weight: 99 grams

Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel

Bezel: 316L Stainless Steel

Strap: Beige Nylon Hook and Loop Strap

Movement: Swiss Made La Joux Perret G101 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 68 Hours

Water Resistance: 200 Meters