This is a short unboxing review of a Chinese watch I just received, it is another diving-style watch I bought from China, and the brand has a name “Tianwang”, which means “King” in Chinese, yes, a very good name that sounds domineering. I have a few diver’s watches, I can not say which one I like most, some homages look very nice, some of them are authentic China brand diving watches, this watch, which I just received during the Mid-autumn Day, is a Tianwang diver’s watch from its Bluefin series. This is a very short unboxing description of the watch, it seems like I bought the watch mainly because I was deeply attracted by its box.
The watch box is blue, it looks like a tote-bin, after opening this blue container, it is a blue leather box, with a watch and one extra blue nylon band inside. This is the best looking package I have seen among all watches in my collection. The container box is very creative. The watch is big, which has a 43.5mm case diameter, not too big for me, just look ok on my hand. The bezel is not ceramic, that’s a pity, but consider its cost, that’s acceptable. The blue dial looks great, its color looks like the blue in deep ocean, which completely meets the theme of this watch wants to express, that’s 200m water resistant. By the way, the shape of the hour hand and minute hand is very similar to the body of the bluefin, which is used as a series name of the watch. No need to mention the case and bracelet finish, it is superb, the movement is made in Japan, I like the see-through case back design. Now I still have not tried the nylon band on the watch, I wear the stainless steel bracelet so comfortable on my hand.
Simple and classic watches are always popular, when collecting watches, at the very beginning, you may be attracted by some pilot’s watches or diver’s watches that look unique and have a strong visual impact, but after you have a certain amount of these types of watches and having played with them for a while, my taste now has changed, I am more willing to give a high score to those dress watches that look classic and with a certain complicated feature such as moon phase and tourbillon. I have bought several classic dress watches from Chinese brands Sea-gull, Fiyta, Caluola, etc., they look nice, but none of them is like Borman that has a more authentic Germany-originated design. Today, I want to show you another stylish Borman watch, so far it is my most favorite Chinese dress watch.
I bought this watch because I love its styling, its case design and beautiful dial attracted me, and its name “Borman” and the German words on the dial almost fooled me into thinking it is a watch brand coming from Germany. The styling of its case and the dial design are greatly different from most Chinese watches, Borman looks more like a German watch, that’s an important reason why I choose it.
The case of the watch has a diameter up to 41.5mm and is measured to be 11mm in thickness, that’s a wonderful case thickness to me. The case has a polishing face on the lugs and round bezel, while being brushed on the two concave sides, there are some engravings on the right side telling you its water resistance and reference. By the way, the crown has a very delicate satin finished face with high glossy “BORMAN”. In a word, the finish of the case is superb, much better than some homages I bought.
The dial, all things just look perfect. I chose this coffee dial, its color looks gradient and the dial has a radial finish. Absolutely the most important feature of this watch that attracts me deeply is the moon phase display at 6 o’clock. It is a real moon phase function, unfortunately it is based on a period of 31 days instead of 29.5 days like real. Any way, the animation of the growing and decreasing moon is real on this watch, and it looks superb. The design of the hour hand and minute hand is like a sword with a long handle, both hands are skeletonized in the center.
The movement shown through the crystal back looks beautiful, the golden auto rotor has nice fish-scale decoration, and the movement plates also have unique engravings that only belong to Hangzhou 7M01 automatic movement, I know little about this Chinese movement, Borman said it has a power reserve of 80 hours, I do not think so. The watch so far works accurate, it is about 8 to 12 seconds faster each day, that’s a normal inaccuracy for this China movement.
This is the first time to hear about Geya, which is a very feminine name, I do not know its story or history, I also do not want to know, too many watch brands like this created a false story, some even said their watches are made in the Switzerland to cheat Chinese customers, but we know their true colors, but if you provide quality timepieces, that will be acceptable because the cost won’t be high, by the way, I have bought a lot of Chinese watches, their quality is ok, and when I find new models that interest me, I wouldn’t mind buying more.
Not like its feminine name, this Geya watch looks very strong and is only for men. The watch is a G-Max forged carbon model from Geya, at first glance, I thought it is a RM35-02 from Richard Mille, both have a very similar outlook. The watch has a big size that is almost 50mm high and 17mm in thickness, yes, it is very thick, but feels very light to wear, not heavy because it is made with forged carbon. The unique carbon texture on the case looks obvious. And the screws on the case also refer to the screw design on RM35-02, and they are blackened to match the entire black forged carbon case. I have seen many kinds of carbon fiber watches, I have to admit that the carbon material used on this Geya watch has a most impressive texture. I dislike the red fluted circle on the crown, I do not know why Geya did not use a rubber cap like RM.
The dial is completely skeletonized, there is brand lettering “GEYA CUSTOMIZE” on the beveled inner bezel. Almost all things you see on the dial are movement components, we can see that the entire movement is hanging inside the case, but its fixing mode can guarantee the max stability of the movement. Each round dotted markers are luminous, so is the tip of the hour hand and minute hand. The great depth and skeleton design of the dial gives will give the wearer a good visual experience.
From the see-through crystal back, we can see the automatic movement, I do not know where it comes from, the supports to fix the movement are more clear when you check from the back. Geya claims that it is an imported movement, I guess it is from Japan. The watch comes a red rubber band, absolutely you can ask the supplier to change a black one for you. The rubber band is made with natural rubber material imported from Malaysia, it is super soft and dustproof, which offers a super wearing comfort.
About water resistance, Geya said the watch is able to resist 50m, I do not think so, such mechanical watch that does not features a screw-down crown can not have that deep water resistance, I do not suggest you wear it when swimming.
I have always been looking for a diver’s watch with a real ceramic bezel at a reasonable cost, actually I have several pieces of diver’s watches bought from Chinese watch market, but few of them have a ceramic bezel. I looked into Fiyta and found a very unique model that attracted me immediately, it is a Dragon Hole special edition from Fiyta, it is a classic diving watch, with black, blue and green color options, it is the most simple diver’s watch I have seen, but most impressive one in my collection. I chose the blue one, the watch looks very nice and has a very similar outlook to the Tudor Black Bay blue, I love it.
It is the most authentic China brand diver’s watch I have bought, whether the Sea-gull Green diving watch or San Martin homages I reviewed before, they can not be compared with this Fiyta, especially the homage diving watches supplied by San Martin, they are too big and look too roughly made, lace of some elegance. Another reason why I chose this Fiyta as my next tool watch is the dragon you see on the crown and case back, it looks very cool.
The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter up to 43mm and measured to be 13mm in thickness. The case is fully brushed with a solid back that features a dragon engraving. The “Dragon Hole” letterings with latitude and longitude is a deep hole in the sea of Sansha city of Hainan province in China. There is also a dragon logo in matt finish on the polished surface of the screw-in crown. The blue bezel is a big selling point, it is made with real ceramic material, it features a lume pearl at 12 o’clock and is uni-directional rotating. One thing I do not understand is that why Fiyta uses different logo on the crown, on some models, it is a letter “F”, while it is a peace dove on some watches.
The blue dial features big hour markers and wide hands that are applied with lume material. Central hour hand and minute hand are sword-shaped with skeleton stem. A date window with silver frame is positioned next to the 3:00 marker, featuring a black date font in white background. It saying “30m” water resistant on the dial, yes, a great depth, I do not think people will choose this watch and dive to a depth of 300m underwater, anyway, I believe that Fiyta has done a strict waterproofing test on each of their watches.
I have no idea about the movement inside, I tried to ask the sales person of Fiyta, she told me this is a secret, I did not open the case back yet and I am fraid the watch can not keep such a great deep water resistance after opening it. I love the finish on the bracelet, the middle links are brushed, while the links on two sides are polished, this forms a high visual contrast. The watch feels a little heavy because it is fully made with solid stainless steel, and the bracelet has wide links, you can change a rubber band on by yourself, that will be a better fit especially when you do something under water.
When people get together, probably the watches they mostly talk about are those diving-style models that look very impressive at first glance, with a big size and unique bezel design. While these watches are never your first choice when you are really considering to get a watch to wear. Yes, a diver’s watch will always be in your wishlist, but it not your first need, a mechanical watch that looks more normal and elegant is usually your first choice. Stainless steel case, black or blue dial with silver markers, sword-shaped hour hand and minute hand, these are standard features of an elegant dress watch. Every brand has such type of watches, they are also one of the best sellers, for this Fiyta watch I am going to review, it is the most elegant watch I have in my collection, actually I have several watches like this from Sea-gull or other homage brands, but no one can be compared with this Fiyta. Its stainless steel case, blue dial, slender sweeping second hand and crystal back make me love it deeply. Fiyta sent this watch in a black brand box with one extra black leather strap.
The watch is completely made with 316L stainless steel, the case has a diameter up to 40mm, that’s a size I like, very suitable and not big like some diving-style or pilot watches, the case is measured to be 11.3mm in thickness, it is polished with naturally curved lugs that could better fit your hand, the screw-in crown has a peace dove logo, together with the screw-down crystal back, they guarantee a 50m water resistance of the watch.
The dial is blue, black color also available for this watch, but I think blue is a better fit for such a dress watch, it looks more eye-catching, black looks a bit bored. The radial sunray texture of the dial is very attractive, it is the most important reason for me to chooce this watch. Hour markers are a bit raised from the dial because they are three-dimensional, there are multiple cutting faces on each of these markers, just like the finish of the hour hand and minute hand. At 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, the hour marker adopts Rome numbers. On the top of the hour hand and minute hand, there is a straight line applied with lume material, the slender second hand is very long and sweeping across the dial smoothly. The date window positioned at 3 o’clock also has a good finish, the window has a silver frame, a black date font in background, the date font is exactly in the middle of the window, such simple dial with every element finished in an elegant way is my favorite.
From the see-through back, the movement is a 21-jeweled automatic movement, it is a Citizen automatic movement, I guess, the auto rotor has a simple decoration, with brand name and jewels numbers engraved. Once having a full winding, the watch can work 40 hours continuously. The stainless steel band is ok, it consists of wide and narrow links that are all polished, the buckle has a peace dove logo in matt finish. Actually if the links are brushed and polished alternately, the bracelet finish may look better visually.
Beijing, most of you guys know it is the capital of China, but few know this name will be connected with a watch factory. Beijing Watch Factory, is one of the oldest watch factories founded in China, together with Shanghai Watch Factory and Sea-gull Watch Company, they are the big three in Chinese watch industry. Like the other two, Beijing Watch Factory also has a long watch-making history and it has the ability to develop movements by themselves, the first tourbillon movement made in China came from Beijing Watch Factory. I feel a little strange that Beijing Watch Factory never sell their movements to the public, which means they do not offer movements for other watch brands, the movements coming from Beijing Watch Factory are only used in their watches. This is a different strategy from Sea-gull. Every watch offered by Beijing has a strong Chinese style, I think few of you guys will like them.
For Sea-gull, it is more international, so you will know Sea-gull better. But when people talking about Beijing, perhaps you have no idea about this brand, actually Beijing also offers a lot of classic watches that have good finish and also meet our design aesthetic standards, if you do not mind its unique logo, which is The Tian’Anmen Rostrum.
This Beijing watch looks great and has a nice finish. It is a model from Classic series, the watch has a case diameter up to 40mm, not including the pumpkin-shaped crown, it is measured to be 11mm in thickness. 40mm is a very popular size, it is acceptable for most people, when choosing a dress watch, now I prefer a big size, not the one in 38mm or 39mm, by the way, the design of the lugs makes the watch looks bigger, I like it. The case is brushed, including the thin and round bezel, the crown is too big, but very easy to operate, I hate some watches with a very small crown, sometimes you need to use a big strength to pull out it.
The dial is white, Beijing also offers a black dial version. The logo of The Tian’Anmen Rostrum is very unique, I think it has a special meaning to Beijing Watch Factory. The central second hand is in bright red that will immediately catches your eyes, minute markers are also red dots, Beijing very like using red color. The hour markers are delicately designed, at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00, the hour markers are stainless steel sticks, and the stainless steel marker at 12 o’clock has a pointed tip. Central hour hand and minute hand are in elegant willow shape. Due to the 40mm diameter, the dial still does not look crowded even these long hour markers have occupied a large space. The date window is opened in round with black font in white background, for me, the window looks too small.
I am very happy that the watch adopts an exhibition case back, where you can see the engine inside, which is an automatic movement imported from Japan. I only know that this is not an in-house movement from Beijing. Its auto rotor is skeletonized and has The Tian’Anmen Rostrum stamp in red color, there are not too much decoration made on the movement plates, but seeing from the work made on the auto rotor, it is much better and delicate than all other Chinese micro watch brands.
The watch is equipped with a black leather band that is fitted with a stainless steel deployant clasp. Beijing focuses on details, you will see black stitching outside, while red stitching on the other side of the band. I just received the watch yesterday, its accuracy still needs to be tested, but I trust the quality of Japanese movement.
I think many of you guys have heard of Ebohr, which is a very famous watch brand in China, Ebohr was founded in Shenzhen of China, they do not make movements, the movements used by them are all imported, mostly from Japan. However, the watches they have designed can meet the aesthetic standard of most people, especially those people who like Swiss watches, among all Chinese watches I have reviewed on my blog, I only find that Ebohr and Tianwang have some Swiss watches’ design features, I think this is also a big reason why both watches can compete with the big three traditional watch companies in China, which including Sea-gull, Shanghai and Beijing.
This Ebohr watch I am going to review is a diving-style watch from its Explorer series, I got it in last week when I was on a holiday with my family, I decided to buy this watch in last month and very happy to receive it before my holiday to the beach. The watch is not expensive, which is even cheaper than some homages, its color design attracted me, the color combination of red and blue brings a stronger visual impact. By the way, Ebohr also offers a black and red color option for this watch.
The Ebohr Explorer is made with solid 316L stainless steel, which is fully in matt finish, check from the sides, the lugs are naturally curved with a smoothly polished edge to give the wearer a more comfortable wearing experience. The crown, which has protecting guards on top and below, has a Ebohr logo in santin finish. The blue/red bezel is not ceramic made, it is made with aluminum. The case has a diameter up to 43mm, it is measured to be only 12.5mm in thickness, which is thinner than most other diver’s watches made in China.
I like its dial, which somewhat draws inspiration from the design of Seiko diver’s watch, certainly you can see its own characteristics. The dial has a multi-level three-dimentional structure, the beveled inner bezel is blue and has small square markers in red color, which exactly in line with the blue and red bezel, all hour markers are tridimensional and are filled with white luminous material, so are hour hand and minute hand, the lume light emitting from hour markers and hands is green, which forms a high contrast with the blue dial and makes the watch look more beautiful. The central small second hand is in bright red color, this also enhances the dial readability in dark conditions. By the way, the white anchor logo printed at 6 o’clock is an interesting element on the dial.
The Ebohr diver’s watch is equipped with a Seiko automatic movement, I do not know which exact Seiko movement it uses, but from the cost of the watch, I guess it is a NH35A from Seiko, many diving watches made in China including some homages use this movement because of its low cost and considerable stability. About accuracy, the watch will gain 8 sec to 10 sec each day, after wearing the watch for one week, now it is 3 minutes ahead, I will adjust adjust it to the standard time later.
I have a special feeling on Parnis, no other Chinese homage watches can not be compared with Parnis in my heart, no matter how good and beautiful they are. Parnis is the first homage watch I knew, before I saw many people talking about this brand in the forums, and they also said the quality is acceptable at the price point, which is very affordable for a lot of people. For such a homage watch with low price and real functions, Parnis is ideal for you to choose, having been in the homage field for more than ten years, Parnis has been recognized by most homage watch fans, they are willing to buy watches from Parnis even they know it is a Chinese brand. The only thing I feel pity is that now Parnis seldom publishes new models.
Stainless steel case with leather strap, white dial with small subdials, I like the watch with such features arranged in this way, it looks so elegant and immediately draws my attention when I found the watch online, so I have already made several decisions because of this, all of the watches like this type I own, I love them very much, after all I am an office worker, I feel very happy when going to work every day wearing a different brand dress watch.
The watch has a big case, which measures 43mm in diameter and has a thickness of 14.5mm. The case is polished with a mirror-like bezel that is thin and narrow, the white dial looks larger due to such case design, it seems like all elegant dress watches have this common feature. The screw-in crown looks special, it has flutes on the surface and a “P” logo on the front, there are no crown guards, and because of the flutes, the crown is very easy to pulled out and rotate. The mineral crystal set in the bezel frame does not stand high above the bezel, but it is exactly the bezel structure that increases the thickness of the case.
The white dial looks elegant because of its color and has an asymmetrical beauty. There are two subdials on this purely white dial, one is positioned at 5 o’clock, it has a small hand indicating remaining erengy of the movement. The other subdial is positioned at 9 o’clock, it has a small seconds hand in blue color. Both subdials are not symmetrically displayed on the dial, but I like this irregular design, it is also this design that leaves space for the date window, which is displayed with white font in background at 3 o’clock. There are no hour markers on the dial, only track-style minute markers with numbers 05, 10 to 60.
The crystal back shows you an automatic movement, which is said to be a Sea-gull ST2530. I do not know if it is a real Sea-gull movement, but according to its finsh-scale finish on its auto rotor and movement plates, it is like Sea-gull movement. Actually many Chinese homage watches like this Parnis at this price point do not use Sea-gull movement, they usually are equipped with a very common automatic movement made in China, which is not as good and popular as Sea-gull, so I feel very happy that this Parnis uses a Sea-gull movement. By the way, the black leather band on the watch feels ultra soft to wear.
Seeing from the name, Yelang is a homegrown Chinese brand, I do not know there is such a military watch brand in China, but it indeed surprised me with its solid quality and unique Tritium lume. Yelang is not young now, but I do not know too much about it, I only know this is a military watch from China, which is developed with the cooperation of DB and HOJUT, I heard that their production line is in Hong Kong, not sure whether this is true or not, because many Chinese watch brands are good at making up stories like this. Anyway, I like military watch, this Yelang watch looks so unique and has a strong quality that gives me a reliable feeling. Yelang is also one of the few military watches in China that uses Tritume lume system.
The Yelang V1019 has a big case, which is too large for many men, it measures 43.5mm in diameter and 13.8mm in thickness, the case is fully made with solid stainless steel, with stainless steel bracelet, the watch feels a little heavy. The watch looks rugged, I do not mean its quality is cheap, instead the watch has a top quality, it is the best military watch I have ever bought. I do not have a real military watches, even those diver’s models in my collection do not look as stong as this Yelang watch, its robust case with thick bezel markers, strong tritium lume dial and wide bracelet links, these are all necessary elements you can find on a solid quality military watch.
The dial is the main point, it is blue, with Swiss H3 T100 lume system, each bar-shaped hour marker is set up with a tritium tube, so are the hour hand and minute hand, this is the first Chinese watch I have seen with such a tritium tube lume, other diver’s watches I have all use luminous coating applied on the markers and hands. Such lume offered by the gas tube can last for a long time, about 25 years Yelang said, that’s a big advantage for a diver’s watch, I do not know why most diving models have abandoned this. The three-dimensional Yelang logo is positioned under 12 o’clock.
The case back is screw-down, together with the screw-in crown, both to ensure a 100m water resistance of the watch. There is a sapphire crystal on the center to display an automatic movement, which is NH36A, this movement is from Seiko in Japan, not a Swiss movement like Yelang claims on their website. However, the NH36A automatic movement has a high stability, it has a 21,600 BPH and 41-hour power reserve, now the accuracy of the watch is good, NH36A claims to be -20~+40 seconds per day, but currently only 12 seconds faster each day. By the way, Yelang sents me one extra black rubber band and a bracelet removal tool in the box.
Buying advice:
It is very wise for you to keep several diving-style watches in your collection. This Yelang watch is special because it uses a Tritium lume system that will give you another wearing experience. With a Japanese movement inside, the Yelang is a solid military watch. For people who love big and strong diver’s watch, this Yelang watch is a good choice, and the company has upgraded the watch with a Swiss SW220 movement, which guarantee the watch will accompany you for more than ten years.
My first subsidiary second Chinese watch is from Sea-gull, I have had it for almost one month now, and the watch still works very well. You guys must buy one small-second automatic watch, it is one of the most elegant dress watches I have seen with a clean dial design. For such a small-second watch, it is not expensive even you choose a Swiss-originated one, but one with more affordable price is the Nomos, which comes from Germany with Bauhaus style, it is a great option to choose a small-second watch, which has a good quality. However, if you are searching online, you will find some small-second watches made in China too, with much lower price and moderate quality, they may be better choices and can save you a lot at the same time. Borman, I found this watch several days ago, it is a germany originated watch, whether it is true or not, I like their watches’ design, which is in line with the aesthetics of Swiss or German watches. This rose gold Borman is the second watch I bought from them, it has a small-second feature and a very solid quality.
The rose gold case is made with inner 316L stainless steel material, not a solid rose gold watch, there is only a layer of rose gold coating on the surface, not sure how thick it is, but it will certainly fade after some days of wearing, we won’t know how long the gold will last before fading, but I suggest you take a very good care of your watch if you want it to keep its original rose gold tone for a long time. The rose gold case, the golden tone on dial, as well as the brown color on the leather band and hand stitching, they are formed a seamless “gold’ style on the watch. The case has a diameter up to 40mm, it is measured to be 9.7mm in thickness, a little thick than I expect, for such type of small-second mechanical watch from the Switzerland or Germany, they will be no thicker than 9mm.
I like its white dial, which features bar-shaped hour markers and hands in rose gold tone. Each hour marker has a three-dimensional finish, so are the central hour hand and minute hand, which are more obvious. There is a small dial at 6 o’clock with a small golden second hand, a date window is opened at 3 o’clock, it features black date font, clearly readable on the white background. By the way, the date window has a multi-level three-dimensional structure, it is nicely finished. The dial is under protection of a highly scratch-resistant sapphire crystal.
About the movement, at this price point, the only option is to choose an automatic movement made in China, I do not know which factory the movement comes from, but its finish displayed via the transparent crystal back looks ok, and the accuracy is about 10 seconds faster each day, which is acceptable for most people after all the watch has a low price. The brown leather band is made with soft and durable calfskin leather, which features embossed crocodile textures on the surface, together with the rose gold case, they enhance the luxury temperament of the entire watch.
