All I can say is this: I have on my wrist a five-year-old St. Moritz Pathfinder TI. It has been dunked in paint, soaked with water, banged against rocks and power tools. It has awakened me scores of times in a dozen different time zones. It has had to be re-set only when changing a time zone. The night brightness is not the best, but I’ve always been able to figure out what time it is, even at 2 a.m. I’ve had to replace the band a few times due to the severe abuse I’ve meted out to this watch, but otherwise I’ve absolutely no complaints.
As for your experience, I suppose like any product a few “bad” eggs go out the factory door. Plus, you mention some things that are subjective聴I somewhat agree with the night brightness, but think the alarm is plenty loud. If it leaked, that’s certainly a warranty issue, and they should have taken care of it promptly. Not having had any warranty issues, I can’t speak up on St. Moritz’s performance in that department.
Overall, I still think the Pathfinder TI is the best聴or among the best聴in general-purpose sport watches. So long as you don’t need digital features such as a stopwatch, it’s tough, accurate, not bad looking, and has that rare feature in an analog watch, an alarm.
In short, no error here!