Categories
Baltany

Baltany 1926 Oyster Retro Watch Review

Baltany is a micro brand that produces watches in Dongguan, Guangdong of China, I did an introduction of Baltany in my previous articles, today, I want to talk more about this brand by introducing a new watch I just bought from them, because I love Baltany more after reading “About” on their website. Here I posted two screenshots I took from the “About”. From the first picture below, we can know the type of watches Baltany is producing, yes, they are redesigning and making the vintage watches that had appeared in old time, I appreciate this because this is also the thing which I have been wanting to do. I want to create a micro brand and remake these retro watches, is there anyone here interested in this project, we can do together. From the second picture, they said they are a small company in Asia, actually in China, they are honest, not like some other micro brands in China that like making up a false Swiss watch-making history. By the way, Baltany also accepts custom-made watch orders.

Baltany Introduction
Baltany Introduction 2

Now I will introduce the watch that was just bought from Baltany. The watch came to me very fast, I received the package three days ago, opened the package and found a draw-out box, there is a brown leather packet and an envelope inside. When I opened that brown leather packet, I was surprised, because the small hand is still working and the watch keeps an accurate time. Inside the envelope, there are white cloth, card, manual book and screw driver. I like the brown leather packet, it is the most beautiful watch packing, and compared with the box of other micro brands from China, this leather packet is more in line with the watch production DNA of Baltany.

Baltany Black Box
Baltany Brown Leather Packet
Baltany Box with Watch Packet
Baltany Watch with Box
Baltany Accessories

It is a small watch with a cushion-shaped case and looks like the old Rolex watch with first Oyster case in 1926, you can see keywords “1926”, “Oyster” and “Tribute” on the product title on their website, which mean Baltany redesigned this watch to pay tribute to the first Rolex Oyster watch made in 1926. The watch is small, its case is measured to be 39.5mm in diameter, including the crown, you can see the big threaded onion crown without trademark. The case is about 11.4mm thick, including the crystal. The width between the two lugs is 18.1mm. The watch adopts fully mirror polishing finish, the threaded bezel is the fluted bezel feature on modern Rolex, it is in golden color that has the same bright polishing finish as the case.

Baltany 1926 with Packet

The black dial is under the protection of a domed sapphire crystal, the hour markers have been applied with the luminous material that has the same color as the golden bezel, small second hand is running on the subdial at 6 o’clock, three hands have polishing finish on the edge. The track-style minute scale looks very classic.

Baltany 1926
Baltany Watch Retro 1926
Baltany 1926 Black Dial
Baltany Domed Crystal

The Baltany watch is equipped with the Sea-gull ST1701, which is automatic, not manual winding. ST1701 has a power reserve of about 40 hours, 20 jewels and beat frequency of 21,600 bph. Any way, the watch still keeps an accurate time within this week, only several seconds faster.

Baltany Black Leather Strap

The watch has a black leather strap, which has a smooth leather on the front side and calfskin grain on the other side that contacts your skin. The leather band is fitted with a polished golden pin buckle.

Conclusion:

In my opinion, Baltany is a micro brand that is more creative than the others in this field. Its price will look more reasonable if they can offer one extra band for free.

Categories
Binger

Binger Watch Company Down

About Binger, actually I do not know too much about this brand, just do not buy from this watch company now, I saw all watches on their website(https://bingerstore.com/) were sold out, means they do not sell them now. Also on their aliexpress site, there are only four watches left. I guess that they will quit the watch industry, too many niche watch brands have appeared in recent years, they can not compete.

Like other niche brands, Binger also made up a watch-making history, they said they came from Switzerland, this always can not cheat people who are outside of China, but works for some customers in China who know little about watches. At the beginning of their business, that’s about more than ten years ago, Binger used good sapphire crystal face and has good finish, their watches were more well-known in China than in other places. Well, people are now more acceptable to those homages than the watches that look like Binger, that’s the main reason why they can not run their business now.

Categories
Guanqin

Guanqin Watch Review

Guanqin, about this Chinese brand, I already have introduced its watch-making history in one of my previous articles https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2022/04/08/guanqin-tonneau-shaped-watch-the-skeleton-beauty-of-mechanical-watch/, Guanqin is not old or very new, it has some customers in China, but not too many. Besides, the customers of Guanqin do not have a young age now, most of them are over 40 years old, or even older, and many customers who have bought Guanqin watches are not well educated, people here who have graduated from college won’t choose Guanqin watch. That is my opinion, I do not know how you think of this brand.

Does Guanqin succeed in Chinese watch market?
Yes, their watches are accepted by a small group of customers, and prices are very affordable. In recent years, many niche watch brands appeared in China, but none of them have succeeded like Guanqin.

Does Guanqin have boutiques in China and in other countries?
No. They have an office in Guangzhou and online stores in Taobao.

My advice:

If you want a mechanical watch from Guanqin, just choose the best seller with a very affordable price, the fewer functions the watch has, the better finish the watch will have, the watch will also be more stable. Just like this Guanqin I show below, it is the cheapest automatic watch from them, works very well, case and bracelet have moderate finish. Overall quality is acceptable.

Guanqin Black Watch