Currently I only talks about Chinese watches on my blog, the three watches discussed in this article, including Cronos, San Martin and Steeldive, are exactly made in China. In one of my posts, I said I will create some big projects, now here it is one. This is a big project, it is a comparison review on three watches, Cronos L6015, San Martin SN0017 and Steeldive SD1953. Why do I select these three watches to make a comparison review? Because these three models have some popularity on the forums and reddit, they are quality homage watches of black Submariner, today, let’s me make a detailed review about each of them, you can also learn some advice from this article first if need to buy any one of them in future. Let’s start.
Box and Accessories:
The three pictures above show Crono L6015 and its accessories. They are in a cloth box with brand name and logo printed. Inside the box, the Crono watch is wrapped with plastic bubble bag, fixed with the help of an elastic band, above and under the watch, it is under the protection of soft pads. The accessories coming with the watch are two screwdrivers and one card.
Next, let’s see the package of San Martin SN0017. Inside the package, there is a watch inside a green leather box, two screwdrivers, one tag, one warranty card and one user manual. On the warranty card, it is hand written with the purchasing date and the number of watch model.
Third, let’s see the package and accessories of Steeldive SD1953. Once you open the package, you will find the watch and all accessories are inside a black platic box. The watch with a plasitc bubble bag and protected by two soft pads contained in the box. There is a warranty card and one instructions book inside.
After checking the box and accessories of the three watches, each has their own features. Each box gives enough protection for the watch, which type of box do you like? If you want me to choose, I like the green leather box of San Martin. By the way, the Cronos does not offer a user manual for the watch.
Case:
Let’s check the case and finish of them. First, it is Cronos.
First, the Cronos L6015 is made with 316L stainless steel, I measured its case, it is about 40.3mm in diameter, and the case thickness is 13.5mm, the watch has a weight of about 157.5 grams. Actually there is no big difference with the case specification which Cronos has claimed on their official website. Besides, the case size is also very close to that of Rolex Submariner.
Next, it comes with some pictures of San Martin SN0017.
SN0017 is also made with 316L stainless steel, the case is measured to be 40.5mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness. The watch weighs about 156.7 grams.
At last, let us see some pictures of Steeldive SD1953.
The Steeldive SD1953 is made with 316L stainless steel, the case is measured to be 41.1mm in diameter and 14mm in thickness. The watch has a weight of 183 grams. SD1953 is an exception, because it is a watch with 41mm diameter, I already knew this before buying this watch, however, Steeldive does not produce a Submariner homage watch in 40mm. So, you see the Steeldive is more than 20 grams heavier than the other two watches.
Let’s make a summary of the case of these three watches. They use the same grade of stainless steel, the case thickness of the actual watch should be thinner because I did not remove the plastic wrapped around the watch when I doing the measurement. About the finish, three watches all have very good finish on the case, lugs and crown guards. The first link on the bracelet that connects with the case, I think it is correctly made on the Cronos L6015 if you take Submariner 116610LN as a reference, because the first link is slightly ached in the middle and looks a bit higher above the level. Perhaps you can not spot this point from the pictures above, I can find this difference when holding them in hands.
Bezel:
Three watches have ceramic bezel. Compare the bezel and you can see big differences. First, about the markers. The Cronos L6015 has the deepest markers’ engraving on the bezel, you can see obvious deepth. The San Martin SN0017 also has a certain engraved depth on these markers, but not obvious. However on the Steeldive SD1953, it seems like there is no depth, the bezel markers looks like being printed. About the thickness, on Cronos L6015, the numbers 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 are too thin. The numbers on San Martin SN0017 have the correct thickness. About the bezel pear, it is domed on the Cronos L6015, while it has a flat roof on the San Martin SN0017, that depends on which type of bezel pearl you like. However, there is only a big triangle marker without bezel pearl on the Steeldive watch.
Lume:
The first picture shows the dial lume of the Cronos L6015, the second is the dial lume of the San Martin, the third is the lume of the Steeldive. They all blue and look strong, while the Steeldive SD1953 has lume light emitting from the bezel markers.
Bracelet:
Check the pictures of bracelet and clasp, only the Cronos L6015 does not have a brand logo on the buckle, by the way, the Cronos has a correct clasp system like Submariner 116610LN with diver’s extension.
Movement:
The three watches are equipped with Japan NH35 automatic movement, it has two big features, which are cheap and durable. NH35 has 24 jewels, 21,600 BPH and 40-hour power reserve, the daily inaccuracy of the movement ranges from -20 seconds to +40 seconds. San Martin sent the watch out at 19:00PM yesterday, the watch still worked when I received it today in the morning and it kept an accurate time, and when I checked the San Martin at 18:00PM, the watch still works great, I did not compare it with standard time, but I think it only runs several seconds slower or faster.
By the way, about the Cronos L6015, the company also offers SW200 and PT5000 movement options, if with SW200, the price is much higher.
Conclusion:
Three watches have good quality and are good homage watches of the black Submariner. Among them, the Cronos L6015 has the designs that are closest to Submariner 116610LN, if you like it, please buy on their official website. Well, the other two have their own designs which you may like more, so I can not tell you which watch is better, you like the Cronos, maybe the other people like the San Martin, that depends on everyone’s taste. Each of them has a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, so I can tell you they are reliable and durable watches.
In price, both Cronos L6015 and San Martin SN0017 have a very similar price, which is around $200, the Steeldive SD1953 is much cheaper, which is less than $90. If you do not have enough budget and just consider to buy your first Chinese watch, the Steeldive SD1953 will be a good start. If you are looking for a top quality homage with high-end logo design on the dial and buckle, then I recommend the San Martin, be sure to buy the latest V3 edition on their website.
Videos of the three watches: