Suunto Elementum Terra comes in a nice, hefty, painted cardboard box, that’s properly lined. In the box is a manual, a plastic-type warranty card, along with a polishing/cleaning cloth.

My very first impression was that the watch was heavier, but smaller than my Suunto Vector and Suunto Core. It does feel somewhat thicker though. It is an extremely great, dressy watch. After placing it on, it does not seem too heavy. It’s got a good weight to it.

Case and Crystal: The case uses stainless steel, having a matte/satin finish to it. It seems quite nicely made, and incredibly sturdy. You will find three buttons on the right hand side, that all move quite beautifully. Firm, though no click. The top button is also a scroll wheel, for scrolling through menus and making adjustments. I wish my Suunto Core had one. The scroller also goes effortlessly, with confirmation clicks.The case is water resistant to 100m (~300 feet) and based on the manual, the buttons May be pressed underwater.The Terra face is really a flat, sapphire crystal, which also comes with an anti-glare coating on it.The buttons seem to stick out a bit, but in practice they just do not get in the way, or pushed by accident.

Strap: It come with several unique bands, leather, stainless steel, or rubber. Mine had a great black leather band. It’s some white sewing across the edge of it, which actually sets it off nicely. The band is quite thick and sturdy, but is still comfortable to wear.

Display: The Terra I managed to get has a positive display, that i prefer It is also available with a negative display, for those who like that better.It uses a classical segment display for numbers, similar to the Suunto Vector. Thus, it will not plot out any charts/graphs of the elevation or air pressure like the Suunto Core does. The backlight is extremely bright. Much better than I’ve ever seen on any other Suunto watch.

Functions: Suunto has obviously kept the capabilities to a bare minimum. I’m confident that’s simply because it’s intended to be a luxury dress watch. It is something to wear to the workplace or a gathering, but will still function in high altitude, albeit not as well as the Core. The Terra has only 2 modes, Time/Altimeter and Compass. The main display of the Terra shows a lot of information. In the top row, you have the present height, the middle row provides you with time, and also the bottom row provides the date. Near the top of the display, you get the pressure pattern arrows, and around the perimeter you get the sea-level barometric pressure. The face area of the Terra does not have a rotatable bezel such as the Vector or Core. Instead, a circular chart is present for reading the Sea-Level barometric pressure.

Steve Burgenson is a long time wrist watch collector and knows few things about them, especially the outside/activity ones. So his opnion on SuuntoElementum.com and especially his favorite Suunto Elementum Aqua might be taken into account before buying one. For more info: http://suuntoelementum.com/