Author: Bob

Sea-gull “Wuxing” Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 19, 2023
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Sometimes, a lot of Swiss brands will re-produce the models that were published in old times to pay tribute to these great works, so will some Chinese watches, and Sea-gull is one of them. Sea-gull has a long history in Chinese watch-making industry, they also have a gorgeous and repectable past, the biggest contribution made in the development of Chinese watch industry, absolutely belongs to Sea-gull, there is no doubt. I have some Sea-gull watches in various styles, including dress watches, diving styles, pilot’s watches and even a trourbillon model, they all look great, perhaps Sea-gull is not my most favorite brand, but it must be the most reliable Chinese watch I trust. Today, I want to introduce a good-looking watch from Sea-gull, it is a very classic watch to pay tribute to the first batch of watches made by Tianjin Watch Factory in the past, the watch may look new to you because there is no “SEA-GULL” brand name on the dial, and it is hard to buy this watch online, I asked my friend in China to get it for me.

The watch is only limited to 1000 pieces, it has a special meaning to those watch fans who really love Chinese watches. The watch has a stainless steel case that is measured to be 38mm in diameter and 11mm thick. The polished case has a round smooth bezel, both case and bezel are molded into one piece with curved lugs, so the entire case has a very natural arc shape when you checking from the side, it can fit your fit your wrist in a more comfortable way. The screw-in crown has a arched high-glossy face. The most special place on the watch lies in its case back, which is screw-down and has unique engravings in Chinese, they are the names of Sea-gull watch designers.

The white dial is extremely simple. There is a silver five-pointed star at 12 o’clock, also called “Wuxing” in Chinese. Hour markers are combinations of Arabic numbers and arrow-shaped markers, the central hour hand and minute hand are sword-shaped with multi-cutting face that look three-dimensional. The Chinese words “17占防水表” and “中国制” mean “17 Jeweled Water Resistant” and “China Made”. The date window is opened at 3 o’clock, there is thin date font in black on the white background. The dial looks nothing special, but those nostalgic people who have a special feeling on the Chinese watches made in the old times will be interested in.

The movement is the standard Sea-gull ST2130 automatic movement, which has 26 jewels, 36-hour power reserve and 28,800VPH. The movement is developed by Sea-gull and has been used by a lot of other brands abroad, I trust its quality, the stability and accuracy of ST21 series movement from Sea-gull are better than the average.

Tags Sea-gull, ST2130, Wuxing

Geya

Geya Customize G-Max AP Royal Oak Skeleton Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 17, 2023
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Geya Customize, I rarely follow this brand, I do not like its name, like a brand specilizes in producing watches for women, but I found that most of their watches look big and are full of masculinity. From its name we can tell Geya is a brand that mainly produces custom-made watches, but I saw many of them are homages of current hot models from Swiss brands, perhaps this has become their development stragegy, not customizing watches with their own design ideas, but to copy the designs of popular Swiss watches. Well, I do not care, because a lot of watches in my collection are such type of homage watches, I will continue to buy as long as their quality is acceptable. I already have one Geya watch, it is a forged carbon RM35-02 homage, which is my best carbon watch in my collection, and the watch is my most favorite one to wear out with my sports suits. Today, I want to introduce another watch I got from Geya Customize, it is also a big guy and looks sporty, and absolutely a homage.

No need to say, the watch is a homage of an AP Royal Oak, the shape of the case and bezel is completely the same as that of AP ROO. I know this AP watch, it has a skeleton dial and the watch is very popular in fake watch industry, now, many micro brands in China have also published the homage of this watch. The case is 42mm in diameter and has a thickness of 12mm, it is a classic angular AP case, the case is totally brushed, the edge and corner of the case looks sharp, but they are processed very well, so you won’t feel scratches when the watch on hand. The octagonal bezel is also brushed on the front, while being polished on the edge around. The crown has a big “G” letter engraved.

The skeleton dial is under protection of a sapphire crystal. The skeletonized structure of the dial is slightly different from that of the dial of AP. We can see some movement parts through the blackened frames on the dial. The beveled inner bezel with white dotted hour markers and white minute scales on enhances the stereoscopic effect of the entire dial. Dotted hour markers, central hour hand and minute hand are applied with SuperLumiNova, the blue lume light is long-lasting.

The movement is also full of mechanical sense like the dial, it has a skeleton auto rotor. I do not know which manufacturer the movement comes from, maybe another Japanese movement, the watch still works very accurate even I have had it for three weeks, the watch will gain 8 seconds each day, such accuracy is very rare, all my other Chinese watches can not achieve such a high accuracy, it is my luck. The watch is equipped with a black rubber band, while Geya also offers a stainless steel bracelet option, just pay a little extra and you can get both.

Tags G-Max, Geya

Beijing Watch

Beijing Pilot Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 11, 2023
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After seeing my watch bought from Beijing Watch Factory, my friend Rahul showed his interest in Beijing watch, just three weeks ago, he bought one, it is a Beijing watch made with bronze material, the watch looks nice, it is also the pilot watch I like, the watch has a big case that also features large crown and chrono buttons. It has a similar outlook to the design of Zenith Pilot, I like the big 5-pointed star decoration on the band that looks a little old, he told me that the watch uses a Swiss ETA 7750 movement, I can not believe, that’s crazy, but the watch cost is also a little high.

His watch is so impressive and I can not hold back my the urge in my heart, so I bought this pilot watch from Beijing, it is a standard pilot watch and does not have chronograph function, the watch has a big case, but it is not as big as my friend’s watch, my watch only has a 41mm case diameter, not including the crown, the case is also much thinner, which is 11mm. The entire case has pvd black coating processed in matt finish. The screw-in crown is big and in pumpkin shape, which somewhat refers to the crown design on Zenith Pilot Type 20, so does the hour hand and minute hand. You can see a five-pointed star logo on the crown and on the band in black, it seems like Sea-gull and Beijing Watch Factory are very like to use the five-pointed star logo on some of their pilot watch and diver’s watches, I do not see there is a necessary association between their watches and Chinese Army.

The dial is not that black like the case, it looks like dark gray more, there is The Tian’Anmen Rostrum in silver at 12 o’clock. There are big Arabic numeral hour markers and big hands that are applied with white lume material, the hour markers and hands are big and wide so that they can be applied with enough lume material, so the lume light can keep strong and long-lasting. By the way, the yellow color usage on 60-minute marker, date window frame and second hand tip enhances the readability of the entire dial. On the top of the second hand, the small yellow airplane tells you what purpose the watch was originally made for.

I did not open the case back yet, so still have not known its engine manufacturer. But from the cost of the watch, I guess it is a Japanese automatic movement. My watch can work about 36 hours without break once I give it a full winding, now it gains 10 seconds every day, I guess it is a movement from Citizen.

The brown leather band features brown stitching and has a black pvd pin buckle, the band has an old and rough face, but still feels soft and comfortable to wear because the leather on the back is smooth. Beijing Watch Factory claims that the watch is 50m water resistant, the watch was shipped in a black and red hard paper box.

Tags Beijing Watch, Bronze, Pilot Watch, PVD

Rarone

Rarone The Rebel X Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date October 10, 2022
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It is my first time to share a review about Rarone watch, and this is also my first watch I bought from Rarone, which is a Chinese brand created in Shenzhen of China. I know little about Rarone, their watches seem to be not as popular as other Chinese big brands like Fiyta. I browsed the website of Rarone and found most watches have bold and unique designs that are very suitable for young people, this is the biggest selling point of Rarone and also the marking strategy makes Rarone different from other Chinese watches.

The watch I got from Rarone belongs to the Rebel X series, its uniqueness is in the dial design, which is not only skeletonized but also has special figures to convey the watch’s design concept to the wearer. The watch looks a little gray on outlook, it is not Titanium made, but stainless steel. But I will like the watch more if it is made with Titanium.

The case has a big size but not look that big like Hublot Big Bang, it has a brushing finish on the front, the narrow bezel is also brushed and fixed with H-shaped screws. The crown is set at 2 o’clock and has a “R” logo in satin finish. The watch has a stainless steel case, but it does not feel heavy even when it is with a steel bracelet, the entire case looks like a slim version of Hublot’s Big Bang case. The corner and edge of the case look angular, but not sharp because they are smoothly polished.

The dial has a skeleton construction, these frames on the dial form two special figures, one in black, the other is in silver, both convey one design concept to the wearer – the multidimensional nature. Hour hand and minute hand have been applied with white luminescence on the center, the central second hand is long and sweeping across the dial smoothly, the hand half red and half silver, with a R logo on the end.

The watch has a see-through crystal back that shows an automatic movement inside, the movement is imported from Japan, I saw the word “JAPAN” engraved on the auto rotor, but I do not know which movement manufacturer in Japan. Any way, I believe in the quality of Japanese movement more than the movement made in China. The movement beats 21,600 times per hour and has 36-hour power reserve, I always appreciate the stability of Japan movement, and this watch still works accurate since I received it three weeks ago. By the way, I love the brand box of Rarone.

Tags Rarone

Rossini

A very sports Rossini watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 28, 2022
No Comments on A very sports Rossini watch

This is my second Rossini watch, it uses a quartz movement and looks very sports. When people talking about sports watches, the first that comes to their mind may be those digital watches with a LED screen, however, some watches under a mechanical outlook and feature a regular dial with three hands also look sports, just like this Rossini. I seldom bought quartz watches, only if there are ones that make me exciting, besides, I will write reviews about digital watches and smart watches one or two months ago, I know there are many good ones made in China, I want to pick up the best ones sold on the internet.

The watch is driven by a quartz movement and has a sports rubber band in black, but the dial design also adds some mechanical sense to the watch. I like its color design, the black color on the case and rubber band makes the watch look cool, while the light blue on the dial is a young and lively color to highlight the entire dial, the red color on the dial enhances the readability of the entire dial. The watch has a big case that is measured to be 44mm in diameter, it is made with 316L stainless steel and has black coating that makes the watch look more high end. All my attention is attracted by its skeleton dial that features big hour markers with luminous coating, I also like the small-second hand design, it looks like a big arrow with a red tip, just like the tip of other two small hands. The chrono function works, the small dial at 9 o’clock is a 60-minute chronograph counter, but the subdial at 3 o’clock is not a hour-chronograph counter, it is a 24-hour display. The date wheel below will show current date in a white background between 4:00 and 5:00. I love the design of the dial, some famous brands from China have creative ideas in the watch design. I think Rossini has some similar designs to Rarone, both brands are more suitable for young people.

Tags Quartz, Rossini

Merkur

Review of Seizenn W10 Manual-winding Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 22, 2022
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Never heard of Seizenn before, but I found watches under name Seizenn on the website of Merkur, so I guess Seizenn is a sub-brand of Merkur. According to my introduction and reviews on Merkur, many of you guys now have a full understanding of this Chinese watch, it is a very young brand, not like other Chinese watches I have seen, on Merkur, you can see a lot of new features which you did not see on other Chinese watches before. Too many brands in China manufactured homage watches under the name of “customize”, this is not the right way all micro Chinese watches should follow, while Merkur is not like them, that’s the reason why I like Merkur most among those niche brands I have met. This Seizenn watch looks very nice, it has a simple military style, most important, the watch can be equipped with several types of bands, whether on leather band or rubber band, it still looks good.

The case is a big metal piece, it has an unique shape like a abalone. The case is a whole piece made with 316L stainless steel, without a bezel, it is completely brushed. The whole piece of case is slightly curved, it looks very obvious even seeing from the front, that’s not like the case of my other watches. Besides, the case has an exquisite brushing finish, you can not find the brushing trail, it is not obvious visually, but can be felt with hands. The solid case back is screwed down and has some engravings which I do not know their meaning.

The dial is under the protection of an arched mineral crystal, it is black and has white Arabic numeral hour markers, Seizenn also offers other dial styles for this watch, for example, the California Dial, I chose this Arabic dial because it has a radiation logo at 6 o’clock, which looks a little yellowish like those arrow-shaped markers on the outer edge of the dial. The lume applied on the hour markers and hands make them glow very strong at night.

I did not open the case back, it is said that the watch is powered by a Shanghai 7120 movement, which is manual winding, do not know too much about this movement. Unfortunately the watch did not use a see-through crystal back, or I will love it more. The watch is equipped with a nylon band, well, for its vintage outlook that looks a little military style, there are a lot of band options to choose for this watch, you will have fun to play with.

Tags Merkur, Seizenn

Merkur

Hands-on Review of Merkur Vintage Red Star Pilot’s Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 21, 2022
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Except those big famous brands, most micro watch brands created in China I have seen are homage brands, Merkur is an exception, it is not simply a homage because a lot of watches made by them have some unique designs, some watches can even give me a surprising impression when see them for the first time. Besides, Merkur is the brand in China that has a very close relation with some popular Chinese elements which you can only find on those Chinese watches made in the old times. Merkur is a very young brand, but I think they will succeed as long as they have creative designs in future, making homage watches can bring a great amount of sales in a short period, but it is not the right way for a brand’s long-term development.

This is my sixth Merkur watch I have bought, actually each Merkur watch in my collection is not expensive, the price is much affordable than other homages I bought. Merkur said it is a pilot’s watch, but I do not find any obvious features that make it a modern pilot’s watch, perhaps those pilot watch made in the old times by Chinese watches factories are like this one, so this Merkur is just a tribute to these vintage pilot’s watches made in China.

The case is measured to be 38mm in diameter, not including the crown. That’s a correct case size for a vintage pilot’s watch made in the past. The watch looks very nice on my wrist, not big or too small. The polished case has four narrow lugs that are arcuated, round bezel feels smooth on the edge. There are two cap-style buttons up and below the middle crown, they are for chronograph usage. My overall impression about the case is its simple but refined design.

All your focus must be on its dial, which is ivory and looks a little yellowish, plus the light yellow nylon band, both are two main elements making the watch full of vintage style. The red color usage on the dial is very eye-catching, central second-chronograph hand, minute-chronograph hand and the five-pointed star are all in red color, especially the red star at 6 o’clock, it is the soul element of the entire watch, aha, just my opinion. Those arrow-shaped hour markers are in yellow gold, so are hour hand and minute hand, but not look too yellow gold, the gold tone is light. The Merkur has a working chronograph, so both small hands you saw on the subdials have real functions.

The exhibition crystal back is a big feature I like on the watch, the inner engine is a manual winding movement that has chronograph feature, looking from the back, the inner machine has a stunning construction, it is too complicated for me. About this movement, I have an advice for you, do not rotate the crown too many times when winding the watch, no more than 20 rotations. By the way, this movement has a short power reserve, I suggest you wind it to gain enough power every day. Well, the movement is not a problem for me, I like the watch’s style most.

Tags Merkur

STEELDIVE

STEELDIVE Pilot 1903 Quartz Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 16, 2022
No Comments on STEELDIVE Pilot 1903 Quartz Review

I never thought that I will buy a quartz watch, but sometimes a quartz watch is really convenient, you do not need to wind the watch every day, and a quartz watch is very accurate, the watch won’t lose seconds. I do not have a quartz watch in my collection except one G-Shock, I always think that a watch has a mechanical outlook while with a quartz movement does not look professional, especially for a man who is a supporter of mechanical watches. I have seen some homage brands making quartz watches under a mechanical look, they look nice, so some days ago, I searched online and found this STEELDIVE watch, I did not know this is a quartz watch til I read its specification of the watch, the watch has a great styling and classic features of pilot’s watches, I thought there will be an automatic movement inside, while it is a quartz.

STEELDIVE, this brand is not new to you, right? I have introduced STEELDIVE before on my blog, it is a popular Chinese homage brand, and also one of my favorite homage watches. Most STEELDIVE watches I have are diving styles, while this one is a pilot watch. The STEELDIVE, all attention should be paid to its dial, which is a classic style of pilot’s watch and have somewhat vintage flavor on the design of hour markers and hands. The inside Swiss Ronda quartz movement is also a big selling point.

The case is only 39mm in diameter, not including the crown, it looks a little small for this STEELDIVE pilot watch whose dial refers to the dial design of Zenith Pilot. The big hands and big Arabic numeral hour markers seem not to match the small case of the watch. The case is about 12mm in thickness, well, I think it is a little thick for a quartz watch. The case is fully brushed with a small round bezel, solid case back has a big STEELDIVE logo engraving, which contains diving mask and oxygen tanks. Both screw-in crown and case back ensure a 200m water resistance, I do not believe the watch has such a big waterproofing depth.

The black dial is all about big things, big hour markers and wide hands that are applied with superlume, the dial lume looks very strong, that’s one of the biggest feature of STEELDIVE watches. The first impression which the dial gives to me is a vintage pilot watch, big Arabic numeral hour markers are yellow but look a little brownish, the track-style minute scales also have 05-60 markers in orange color. The central second hand has a unique design, it has an arrow logo and a long tip in orange color, the hand is ticking around the dial. The dial is totally an immitation of the old Zenith Pilot watch.

The engine inside is a Swiss Ronda quartz movement, its power can last for almost 4 years, the watch is equipped with a black leather strap with white stitching, well, you can also ask the supplier to change a brown leather band on if you want a better fit for the vintage flavor of the watch. STEELDIVE is a very good homage watch I recommend.

Conclusion:

This STEELDIVE is a good choice for people who like a convenient wearing, it has all classic features of a pilot’s watch, with a quartz movement, which not only offers a more accurate timing, but also saves the inconvenience of winding every day. It has a cheap price but comes with a high protective box and all accessories.

Tags Quartz, Ronda, STEELDIVE

Sea-gull

Sea-gull 362 Black Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 15, 2022
No Comments on Sea-gull 362 Black Watch Review

When there is enough time, I want to make a summary of the top-selling Chinese dress watches in the market, Sea-gull must be in this list and it should rank on the top. Sea-gull deserves your attention because they really offer high quality watches at very reasonable prices. I have several Sea-gull timepieces, they are my most favorite wrist partners when I go out with my friends, each is with the in-house Sea-gull movement, I trust their quality more than other brand watches made in China. Among all Sea-gull watches in my collection, I have diving styles, vintage pilot’s watches and regular small-second model, but that’s not enough, the most common dress watch in full stainless steel is lacked, so I decided to buy this Sea-gull watch several days ago, also to prepare the top-selling list article I am going to write soon.

I received the watch in a blue hard leather box, with a manual book and link remove tool, there is no extra leather band offered. Sea-gull offers three dial color options, black, white and blue, I chose the black one. I also like the blue dial, but I found there are too many blue watches in my collection, the black is a very calm color and looks more classic to some people.

The watch has a case diameter of 40mm, it is about 10mm thick, a very ideal size and thickness for such a dress watch. The case has a very classic design and the narrow bezel makes the dial look large, a wide round dial is a common feature of this type of dress watches. Two ends of the bracelet are perfectly integrated with the case, which looks seamless. The case side has a beautiful streamlined arc shape, together with the slightly curved lugs, to ensure a very comfortable fit for your wrist. On the edge of the case back, there are engravings such as case material, water resistant depth and watch reference, the central crystal shows an engine inside, which is a ST2130 automatic movement that features golden Sea-gull logo on the auto rotor and gorgeous fish-scale decoration on the plates.

I love the design on the black dial, everything looks simple but classic, the radial dial finish is completed delicately, the completion of hands and hour markers are superb, looks high end, the hour markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 are thicker, there is a very thin groove in the middle of these four markers. Slender second hand is sweeping across the wide dial smoothly, you can not feel the “stop” or “tick” on the top of the hand. Square date window with silver frame has a black font in white background, the date is easily catchable. Printing “SEA-GULL” looks official, while the “Automatic” below has a more elegant font.

The bracelet feels very comfortable, the edge of the bracelet is smoothly polished with no sharp corners, the five-link bracelet looks more stylish. By the way, the sapphire crystal has a very important feature, it was added with anti-reflective coating so the dial still has a very high readability even under the sun light.

Tags Sea-gull, ST2130

Caluola

Hands-on Review of Caluola Date Black Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 14, 2022
No Comments on Hands-on Review of Caluola Date Black Watch

Caluola, a Chinese brand whose watches are for low-end market, their marketing strategy is very successful, I have seen their most watches, very common, no watches have very impressive designs that will surprise you immediately once at a glance, not like Sea-gull or Fiyta or other Chinese brands, Caluola do not make diver’s watches and pilot’s watches, so their product line is very simple, men’s watches and women’s watches, mechanical watches and quartz watches. I found one common feature among these Caluola watches, that’s the low cost, which just in line with the finish and function of each watch.

I bought this Caluola watch one week ago and just received it today, the shipping is ok, not too long, the watch comes in a green Caluola brand box, with one pair of extra black leather straps inside. The watch looks nice and when I opened the box, I even had a feeling that the watch has a good finish as my Sea-gull or Fiyta. Its all black look is certainly the most important reason why I chose the watch at that time, full stainless steel made, and the black outlook makes this dress watch look more masculine.

The all black is absolutely not ceramic made, it is black pvd coating on the stainless steel, the watch has a big size, which is 42mm in diameter and is measured to be 13mm in thickness. Both case and bracelet are solid 316L stainless steel made, the entire watch has a heavy weight that is up to 166 grams. I do not want to change the black leather band on, the black stainless steel bracelet is a better fit for this watch. The case back is stainless steel, it looks silver instead of black, that is weird, that’s the only thing I am not satisfied with on this cheap automatic watch. The crystal on the center of the back shows the engine inside, which has black “Caluola” engravin on the decorated auto rotor.

Black dial has a layered structure, the beveled inner bezel with white numeral minute markers enhances the tridimensional visual effect of the entire dial. There is an Arabic number besides each bar-shaped hour marker, which is applied with white lume material, there are three small dials and two windows, but the dial does not look crowded. The small dial at 9 o’clock is useless, it does not have a function but its small hand can be moved by pressing the button on the case at 4 o’clock. Other two small dials, the top one at 12 o’clock is for month display, which can be controlled with the button at 2 o’clock, the button at 6 o’clock is for hour display in 24-hour format. I am surprised that the date and week shown at 3 o’clock can be adjusted through the crown.

I am very happy with the styling of the watch, at the price point, its finish and functions has also exceeded my expectations.

Tags Caluola

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