Actually I knew this brand many years ago when I was finding watches for my clients in Zhanxi watch market, few people knew and bought Smael watches before. It is Aliexpress that makes Smael well known all over the world, now I found more than 600K fans have followed this brand, that’s crazy, because there were only one or two stores selling Smael watches in a building of Zhanxi Road, now Smael has becomes one of the best-selling digital watches on Aliexpress. The background of Smael is simple, the brand trademark is registered by a person whose name is Peng Jie, and the watches are being sold by his company that is located in Jia Tian Clock Building in Yuexiu District of Guangzhou. Many Chinese watches and fakes are in that building.
Today, I will show you a digital watch which I just bought from Smael, model number on their site is 8058, I chose the black and golden model, actually they offer a lot of other colors that are also very attractive.
During the introduction, I will make three tests on the watch, including toughness, shock resistance and water resistance, this watch has a very good performance in all tests. If you want to buy a G-Shock style digital watch at a much cheaper price, while strongly made at the same time, I think Smael is a perfect choice, besides, the Skmei I made tests before is also a very good watch.
The watch comes in a hexagonal iron box, which looks similar to the box G-Shock uses but a little bigger, the center has a see-through crystal window to let you see its inside, the box is very good, but Smael does not offer it for free, by the way, they did not send me the instruction book.
When I received the watch, I was very surprised that it has a very light weight, much lighter than the other two digital watches I have, I weighed, it is less than 67 grams. The watch has a thick case that is made with the same material as most other digital watches. I tested its toughness by pulling the straps hard, the band is connected strongly with the case. The watch also has a very good shock resistance because I knocked it on the table from all sides, it still worked accurate and the LED screen not broken. The case is thick and the dial is lying inside safely. The case is thicker than that of the Sanda 6030 I reviewed last time, but it is a little lighter.
The time on the dial is displayed in two formats, including the central hands mode and the digital display on the LED screen at 3 o’clock. The small screen above “6” shows the seconds, the round LED screen at 9 o’clock is telling you the week and current date. Well, without the help of the back light, it is a little hard to read the digits from the LED screen, you can press the light button. Or choose another model that has a different dial background color.
I also made a test on the watch’s water resistance, just put the watch in a bottle that is filled with water and then shake it, the result is no water enter into the watch. I found Skmei, Sanda and Smael all have no problem in water resistance. Smael claims this watch is 50m water resistant, perhaps I need a more professional equipment to do the test.
Like the Skmei I introduced several weeks ago, Sanda is also one of the best-selling digital sports watches, I did some searches on the internet and found very few dates about this watch, I mean the background of this brand. I saw this watch brand is registered by somebody, no need to mention his name here, and Sanda watches are being sold by a lot of watch companies, this marketing model of Sanda is different from that of Skmei. In September, I bought one Skmei watch and did several tests on it, the result is good, Skmei watch showed a good performance in the tests of toughness, shock resistance and water resistance. Today, I will give a brief review on a Sanda watch and do the same tests on it, let’s see what will happen.
The Sanda watch came with a black box made with hard paper, not like Skmei, it does not have a black iron box, on the black paper box, there is also no brand logo. The box of Sanda looks very simple and ugly, I do not like it.
Now you see the watch, it is big, both the width and height of the watch are over 50mm, the thickness of the watch is over 18mm, I weighed the watch, it has a weight of 70.8 grams, very light for such a big watch. From its dial displays, the watch has several functions, time, date, week, you can gain current time from its central hour hand and minute hand, also the small dial at 9 o’clock also displays time. The watch also has a chrono function, you can start, stop and reset it by pressing the buttons at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock. There are two buttons which you can press to open the light behind the LED screen. There is a paper written with instructions on how to adjust time, date and week on the watch.
Please check the first video, which shows the outlook and all features of the watch.
The second video is a test of the toughness and shock resistance of the watch. please watch the full video. A the beginning, I pulled the straps hard with a great strength, nothing happened and everything looks good, the band is solidly connected on the case. Then I hit it hard on the desk, from each side, after I knocked the front side on the desk, I found the LED screens have issues, which are not broken but can not read the full digits. And then I pulled the straps again with a great strength, one strap that has the buckle on were torn off, it is because the screws have been loose when I knocked the desk with the watch, at last, I installed the strap back and tighten the screws.
The third video is a test of water resistance. I put the watch in a bottle that is filled with water, I shaked the bottle hard, and the result is the water did not enter into the watch. Perhaps I need to buy a more professional equipment to test the watch’s water resistance, but for this Sanda watch, it is absolutely no problem for you to wear it when swimming in the pool or the ocean.
After making the three tests, my opinion is the quality of this Sanda watch is not as good as that of the Skmei 1988 Dual Time I introduced before. Because I used the same method to test the shock resistance, which is knocking the table with the watch, the LED screen of the Skmei still shows everything correctly after the test, while this Sanda could not show the full digits then. The band does not have quality issue, but before wearing it out after receiving the watch, I suggest you check if the screws that help to fix the straps are loose.
This is the best-selling watch on Yelang’s official website, it is a military-watch with quartz movement, few people know Yelang because it is a very young brand created in China, especially their website, which was just launched on Aliexpress in March in 2023. However, in a short period, Yelang has obtained a lot fans, compared with most homage watches I reveiwed on my blog, Yelang watches are not cheap but are sold very well on aliexpress, it seems like the military-style watches that have a strong case design are more popular. Today, I want to show you a good quality Yelang watch which I just received, it has a reference of V1021, this is a big military watch and come with one extra rubber band.
The watch comes in a box that looks a little yellow, on the front, you can see Yelang lettering and brand logo, on one side of the paper box, we can see letters of “H3 Tritium luminous watch”, which indicate the lume system used on the watch. Open the box, we can see the watch laying inside and a brief introduction about the brand on the box. The box is ok and can give enough protection for the watch, but it seems like no Chinese watches are willing to use a wooden box, if I create a watch brand in future, I will consider a more high-end wooden box.
The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel , it is heavy and has a weight of more than 172 grams. The case is strongly made with a diameter of 42mm, its thickness is measured to be 11.5mm, not sure why it is said to be 14.6mm on the website of Yelang. Such type of case just meets current large watch trend and is not too thick, which is more comfortable for everyday wearing. We can see the streamlined polishing finish on the edge of the case, which forms a high contrast with the brushed finish on the case. The beveled round bezel stands a little high above the case base and has a brushing like the case. Well, every part on the case looks large, including the big case, fat bezel and big onion-shaped crown, these are actually essential elements for a military-style watch.
Yelang offers other dial colors for this watch, but I like the blue one most. The most outstanding place on the dial is it uses a different lume system named H3 Tritium. On the dial, we can clearly see the H3 Tritium tube set on each hour marker, no need to absorb light, these markers will emit a strong lume light in the dark conditions. The central hour hand and minute hand are also set with two lume tubes. Please check the dial lume picture below, the blue lume light emitting from the hour markers and hands is strong, and will be more long lasting. By the way, I do not like the logo on the dial, the head of the wolf is ok, but the wings look weird, I think a feral wolf is more suitable to be used as a logo for this watch if Yelang decides to be a military-themed watch brand in future.
The watch is powered by a quartz movement, Yelang claims it is Swiss 715LI-HH6 quartz, never heard of it, not sure how long will it last, maybe two or three years. The stainless steel band looks good on the watch, with the press button, you can easily open the clasp. This watch also comes with one extra black rubber band, but there is no Yelang logo on the buckle of the rubber band.
My advice:
This Yelang is one of the few military-style watches that use H3 Tritium lume system, if you want to try a new wearing experience, then this Yelang watch is very suitable for military watch fans. Robust designed case, strong dial lume and 100m water resistance, I think some will be crazy about it.
It has been a long time for me not to introduce a new model from Sea-gull watch company, Sea-gull has always been the first choice for many people who are looking for the best Chinese watches. On my blog, the most watches I introduced are Sea-gull watches, the most watches readers asked all about are also Sea-gull watches, so it seems like many people are interested in this Chinese brand, I also own several Sea-gull watches, including dress models and some diver’s models, today, I am going to review another Sea-gull watch which I just received, it is a new watch Sea-gull just published. It is a good watch, but I do not think it is an outstanding homage.
The box of the big three watch companies, including Sea-gull, Shanghai and Beijing, always better and looks more official than that of other watches. This Sea-gull has a blue box that is hard, its inside has layered structure that allows you to put the watch and manual separately, the watch can be put in a place steady. Look at the Sea-gull, which watch it reminds you? Yes, when I first saw this new model on the website of Sea-gull, I remembered one Rolex Cellini watch with a moon phase indicator. I am very sure that Sea-gull refers the design of the Cellini watch on this new model. However, I do not like it very much.
First, I need to say this is a very high quality watch. But there are two parts I do not like, the stainless steel case and black leather band. The bezel and crown are in rose gold, I do not know why Sea-gull did not use rose gold on the case, it will look better if the entire case has a rose gold tone. Actually the black leather band is not a big issue, but a brown leather band will be a better fit for this watch if it has a full rose gold case. By the way, this Sea-gull watch is sold at nearly $470, I think they should use a full rose gold case under this price level.
The watch is sold at a high price because it has a real moon phase function, check the indicator at 6 o’clock on the dial, it shows the phases of the moon in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere. On the white dial, there is a fork in blued steel that is pointing at current date on the outermost. The moon phase can be adjusted through the button on the case at 8 o’clock. The date can be adjusted through the button on the case at 4 o’clock. The crown, which has a satin-finished “S” logo, can be adjusted for winding and time adjustment. The hour hand, minute hand and those bar-shaped hour markers are all well cut and have perfect chamfer polishing.
The movement displayed through the crystal back is a ST2108 developed by Sea-gull, it has 28 jewels, 28800BPH and 42 hours power reserve. From the movement pictures shown below, we can see a beautiful decoration on the movement plates and auto rotor. It says the watch is 50m water resistant on the stainless steel rim of the case back.
The band is ok, not made with alligator leather, but calfskin leather, with embossed crocodile prints on the surface. There is a “SEA-GULL” engraving in satin on the buckle.
My advice:
If you are not a loyal fan of Sea-gull or just considering Sea-gull as your first Chinese watch, do not buy this moon phase watch because it is too expensive. There are a lot of other Sea-gull watches in casual style you can buy, they are very good, please see my reviews under Sea-gull category. If you are addicted to moon phase watches, then this watch can appear in your purchasing list.
Before I review the two watches, I want to give a brief introduction of Vakuy Rigas first, indeed I reviewed several Vakuy Rigas watches on my blog before, but a lot of people do not know the background of this brand, I doubted its relationship with Parnis and thought that both are created by the same company, I was not sure about this before, but after receiving this Vakuy Rigas Paul Newman homage watch, I am very sure that Parnis and Vakuy Rigas are run by the same company the shipper has the same address and contact phone number. By the way, the box of this Vakuy Rigas watch is the same as the one of the Parnis Pepsi GMT I reviewed two weeks ago. Check the box and accessories coming with this Vakuy Rigas below:
Both watches have the same finish on the case, brushing on the front and polishing on two sides. While the Pagani Design has a larger than case than the Vakuy Rigas, check the pictures below, the case of the Pagani Design is measured to be 39.8mm in diameter, almost 40mm, but the case of the Vakuy Rigas is only 38mm in diameter. About case thickness, if including case back and crystal, the Pagani Design is 13mm, while the Vakuy Rigas is up to 15.4mm in thickness. Why the Vakuy Rigas is much thicker if it has a smaller case? Because the crystal and movement of the Vakuy Rigas watch add the thickness. I have already checked the crystal on the Vakuy Rigas, it is very thick and too high above the bezel. And the mechanical chronograph movement inside also increases the thickness of the entire watch.
Both watches have brand logo on the crown, each chrono pusher has screw to lock, seeing from the pictures, the screw on the chrono pusher of the Pagani Design watch is in unlock status.
The case diameter of the PaganiThe case thickness of the Pagani.The case thickness of the Vakuy.The case thickenss of the Vakuy.
Conclusion:
When I hold the two watches in hand and you will see the Pagani Design is larger. Pagani Design also looks more fashionable, it is a watch that has a more modern case design and modern finish on the bracelet, while with a panda white dial with a little vintage flavor.
The case size and design of the Vakuy Rigas are closer to that of genuine Rolex Daytona Paul Newman, it has a strong vintage flavor emitting from its case, dial and bracelet.
Crystal:
Pagani Design claims that they use a sapphire crystal on the watch, I did not test. This Vakuy Rigas uses a Acrylic face, we can also call it Plexi Plastic Crystal. As far as I know, the old Daytona Paul Newman impossible to use a sapphire crystal, the plexi plastic crystal on the Vakuy Rigas enhances the vintage flavor of the entire watch.
Dial:
Both watches have a cream white dial, the color is correct. The white match-head markers on the small dials are also correct. I have taken a very close look at the dial on both watches, and I found that the small dials on the Vakuy Rigas have more refined CD patterns. The lume markers next to each stainless steel hour marker, Vakuy Rigas makes them correct, in round shape and correct cyan color. Pagani Design makes them in square shape, and they also look too orange. By the way, the dial lume on both watches is weak even after absorbing enough light under the sun. The central second-chronograph hand on the Vakuy Rigas has a white tip, which is the same as genuine Daytona Paul Newman.
Dial lume on the Pagani.
Functions:
Both watches have hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph functions, while the Pagani Design also has a 24-hour display. Because the movement is different, the Pagani Design is powered by a quartz, while the Vakuy Rigas is equipped with a mechanical chronograph movement, the display of the small dials is not the same, their functions are also not the same. The Pagani Design first, you can see the step-by-step moving small second hand on the subdial at 6 o’clock, the 9:00 subdial is a 60-minute chronograph counter, the 3:00 subdial is for 24-hour display. Then let’s see the dial of the Vakuy Rigas, the display of the small dials is the same as that on genuine Rolex Daytona Paul Newman. A smoothly moving small second hand is on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the other two subdials are 30-minute chronograph counter and 12-hour chronograph counter. Both watches have a real chronograph function, you can start, stop and reset the chronograph by pushing the two buttons on the case.
After checking the details and functions displayed on the dial, I must say the Vakuy Rigas is much closer to genuine Daytona Paul Newman.
Bracelet:
Both watches are made with solid stainless steel. The bracelet of the Pagani Design looks more modern because it uses two different finishes, polishing on the middle links and brushing on two sides. The bracelet of the Vakuy Rigas is entirely brushed, just like the bracelet on real Daytona Paul Newman. Well, for a vintage watch, I prefer the bracelet of the Vakuy Rigas.
The case back of the two watches is also different, on the Pagani Design, there is a racing car pattern, while the case back is empty on the Vakuy Rigas.
Movement:
The Pagani Design is powered by a quartz movement. The Vakuy Rigas watch is driven by a Chinese chronograph movement, which is automatic, I can feel the swinging auto rotor inside when I shake the watch slightly, not a manual winding, it is an automatic movement, I am very sure. On the website of Vakuy, they say it is a Dandong 7750 from China.
Videos:
Buying advice:
Both watches have an acceptable quality, especially the Pagani Design, it is unbelievable that the watch is sold at less than $80 but has such a good quality, with a quartz movement, it is also very convenient for the user. If you do not have enough budget, this Pagani Design, which has been added with several modern elements, will be a good choice. However, if you are looking for a very good homage of the Rolex Daytona Paul Newman watch with very strong vintage flavors, then this Vakuy Rigas will be the best one, it looks very close in every detail, as far as I know, there are few homages of Daytona Paul Newman, Vakuy Rigas should be the best one in the market.
About Sugess, have you heard this brand? If having checked their watches on aliexpress, you will know they are totally a homage watch brand that was founded in Shenzhen of China. Many watches they are making have the exact models in Swiss watches. I only introduced one Sugess watch before on my blog, but their watches are really sold very well on aliexpress even with a bit high price, I decide to bring reviews on more Sugess watches in future, today, the Sugess watch I am going to share with you looks like a Day-Date model made by Rolex, with an ice blue dial, the watch looks nice, many people like the ice blue Day-Date from Rolex, and this Sugess watch is a great homage of the Day-Date.
The watch comes with a hard plastic box, just like the box of STEELDIVE and Parnis I introduced in reviews before. Inside the black box, there is a watch, a manual book, a screwdriver and a warranty card inside. On the card, the purchasing date, model number and other information are empty. The watch is under a good protection inside the box, we can see from the pictures.
The Sugess is made with 316L stainless steel, its case is measured to be 40.3mm in diameter and 12.2mm in thickness, the entire watch weighs about 123.9 grams, the screw-in crown has a satin-finished “S” logo on the mirror-polished face. The bezel is fluted and fits the middle case head perfectly, the gap between them is not noticeable. The case is finished very well, especially on the edge or corner, which is polished and very comfortable when wearing.
I love the dial, first a lot of people like its ice blue color, second, the finish of the dial is superb. The Sugess logo at 12 o’clock and Rome hour markers are tri-dimensional. All stainless steel hour markers are polished and forms a high-contrast with the sunburst finish of the dial, every marker is well finished and I did not find the burr on the edge. Having checked the black font in the day and date window, it has a very close size to that of Rolex Day-Date watch. By the way, I found there are “SUGESS” engravings on the inner bezel, on other Chinese watches I reviewed before, I did not find this feature. The sunburst finish on the dial looks ok, but not as good as the super clone that is sold at more than 600 USD. Any way, the dial finish of this Sugess is much better than the other watches I bought from China. This is also one of the reasons why this Sugess can be sold at $239.
The bracelet is president style like Day-Date and you can see two obvious finish including polishing on the middle and brushing on the two sides. The clasp can be opened through the “S” buckle, and in the video below, you will hear a crisp clicking sound when open or close the buckle.
The watch is driven by a ST2146 automatic movement from Sea-gull. The movement beats 28,800 times per hour, it has 28 jewels and about 40 hours of power reserve, I found specification of this movement on the internet, not sure if they are correct. Any way, the company shipped the watch out the day before yesterday, the watch still worked very accurate when I received it yesterday.
Conclusion:
The Sugess watch is a bit expensive just because of its better dial finish and Sea-gull movement inside. It is a classic stainless steel watch with date and week functions with good case and dial finish. If you are looking for a perfect homage watch of a Day-Date that is much better than the replicas around 200 USD, then this Sugess is a perfect choice. Besides the ice blue dial, Sugess also offers black, blue and green colors for the watch.
I did not introduce digital watches on my blog before, just one week ago, I did some searches on aliexpress and found those digital watches made in China are being sold very well, they are popular. I have one G-Shock watch which I bought several years ago, it is a basic model and I love to wear every day, especially in the summer, very convenient to wear than the other watches in my collection. In the past, I never thought I will buy these digital watches, they are toys and look like being specially made for the students and young people, however, actually you can see many people wearing them in the street and gym. There are no watches that fit sports clothes better than these digital watches. So, I will introduce some digital watches from time to time on my blog, to tell you the quality of them, to help you find good quality ones.
Skmei is a famous brand in this field, their watches are very popular on the internet, it is one of the best-selling digital watch brands, although not as famous as Casio G-shock, Skmei still has their biggest advantage, which is price. As far as I know, Skmei is founded in Zhaoqing of Guangdong Province in China. Zhaoqing is a very beautiful place in Guangdong, I went there before, some canyons are really natural oxygen bars, I think I will settle there when getting old. Now comes to the watch, you can see the following pictures I took.
The Skmei watch arrived in a good condition, it is under double protection, the outside is a paper box, while the watch is put inside a black iron box, so it is very safe and I like this package. There are a warranty card and a user manual coming with the watch, but I did not see purchase date and model number on the card, these information are empty. As far as I know from their page, the reference should be 1988, which can also be found on the watch.
The watch uses two colors, green and black, they also offers a lot of other colors. The case is made with ABS, this material has many advantages, such as corrosion and heat resistant, highly stretchy and also has a certain hardness, the green band is made with TPU that has a very strong ductility, look at one of the videos I show below, I did a test on the band.
The case of the watch is measured to be 51.2mm in height and 45.4mm in width, it is only 13.8mm in thickness, the entire watch has a weight of 47.8 grams. The green band is perfectly integrated with the case and looks very nice on the watch. The length of the band can guarantee it fits the wrist size from 175mm to 240mm. I do not know the movement inside, it is absolutely a quartz battery, but I do not know where it is made from, the battery in my G-Shock has worked for almost 5 years.
The functions of the watch include hours, minutes, seconds, week, month, date, alarm and dual time. These functions can be easily adjusted through the four buttons on the case. I think there is no need to talk how to adjust these functions in this article, there are instructions on the user manual, I did not read them, it is very easy.
The first video is a show of the watch.
The second video shows the toughness of the watch, I hit the table hard with the watch from all sides, including the two case sides and the front, after several repeated strong knocks, the black frame on the front fell down. This does not mean that the quality is bad, because I used too much strength, you can hear the loud knocking sound in the video. The band is strong, its construction connected with the case is also very strong, I pull the straps hard with both hands, it not broke.
The third video is a waterproof test. Put the watch in a glass bottle filled with water, then shake the glass bottle with a great strength. The result is water does not get into the watch. I do not have a professional equipment to test the water resistance, I think I will need one in future.
Pepsi GMT-Master is a very popular model from Rolex, a lot of people like this watch, and there are some small watch companies in China that copy the designs of this GMT-Master and make homages, among them, there are quality homages and cheap homages, today, I will introduce two good versions among these cheap homages, the two watches come from Pagani Design and Parnis, the homage watch they make is a Pepsi GMT-Master with Jubilee Bracelet. For Pagani Design and Parnis, it is interesting to make a comparison review about their watch, because Parnis is a very old brand created in China and has been in this industry for many years, while Pagani Design is a new homage brand and seems to be more popular. Well, today, let’s check this Pepsi GMT homage and see which one you love most.
Box and Accessories:
The pictures above show the boxes and accessories of Pagani Design and Parnis. Pagani Design has a small hard box for the watch, with one screwdriver and blue cloth. The Parnis comes with a watch, screwdrivers and one extra nylon band in the box. The Parnis box is orange and made with plastic, just like the black plastic box of the Steeldive SD1953, which I introduced in the review of black Submariner homage.
Box watches do not have warranty card and user manual book, that’s strange. Well, I think the orange plastic box of Parnis gives a better protection for the watch.
Case:
The pictures above show the Pepsi GMT watch from Pagani Design. The case is made with stainless steel, the brand does not tell us if it is 316L. On Pagani Design official store, they say the watch has a case diameter of 40mm, but I measured the case several times, the diameter is not 40mm, it is always 41mm or more than 41mm. The case thickness is about 13.6mm. The entire watch is 145.8 grams.
Next, let us see the specification of the case on the Parnis. About the case material, Parnis claims it is 316L stainless steel on their official website. The case was supposed to be 40mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness, but I measured it to be 40.5mm in diameter and 13.4mm in thickness. The entire watch has a weight of 149.9 grams.
Conclusion: Both the Pagani Design and Parnis do not have a correct case size if you compare them with Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi, but the Parnis is closer to the case size of Rolex Pepsi GMT. Well, the most important thing for our watch fans lies in the case finish. I indeed compared the case finish on both watches. Any way, when I received the two watches, the Pagani Design impressed me a lot and I though it also has a better finish. However, the truth is both watches have a very similar case finish. I held two watches in hand and found the lug shape is more correct on the Parnis watch, the end links also fit the case head better on the Parnis, while the gap between the end link and lug on the Pagani Design is noticeable(you can find this flaw on the bezel comparison below).
Bezel:
Both watches have blue and red bezel, not ceramic made but is aluminum. Actually you can ask them to replace a ceramic bezel if you like ceramic better. The aluminum bezel is ok, and I asked them, they do not offer ceramic option for the red bezel. If taking the Rolex GMT-Master as a reference, the bezel shape looks more correct on the Parnis, the edge around the bezel tooth is slightly slope and looks more natural, while the bezel just stands straightforward on the case of the Pagani Design.
Conclusion: abouthe bezel, I like the Parnis watch better.
Lume:
About the lume, the first picture is from the Pagani Design, the second is lume from the Parnis. Which one do you like?
Bracelet:
The bracelet and clasp of the Pagani DesignThe bracelet and clasp of the Parnis
Actually no difference on the bracelet and clasp, the finish on the bracelet is very similar on both watches. Each watch has a Jubilee bracelet, the spacing between each link on the bracelet of the Parnis looks a little larger than that on the bracelet of the Pagani Design, but not very noticeable. The bracelet is a big longer on the Parnis. However, the use experience when you opening and closing the clasp feels better on the Pagani Design. I think the closure on the clasp of the Parnis is a little loose.
Movement:
The picture above shows the movement of the Pagani Design, which uses a NH34 automatic movement. The NH34 is a very practical movement that offers the watch hours, minutes, seconds, gmt and date functions, the movement beats 21,600BPH and has 41 hours power reserve and 24 jewels, it also has the important hacking feature.
About the movement inside the Parnis, I am not very sure, it is said to be a Mingzhu DG5833 automatic movement, which is made in China, the movement beats 21,600BPH, it has 22 jewels, 40-hour power reserve and hacking mechanism.
Conclusion: in my opinion, the NH34 movement in the Pagani Design is better than the Chinese movement in the Parnis.
Buying advice:
Both are good choices for people who are looking for Pepsi GMT homage watch that is around $100 but less than $120.
The Pagani Design Pepsi GMT has a more durable and reliable movement from Japan, it also has a see-through crystal back, compared with the solid case back, more watch fans like the crystal back nowadays. The Pagani Design Pepsi GMT is sold at $119, not very expensive but still higher than the Parnis. I suggest you choose the Pagani Design watch, which is more durable and will have fewer issues because of its Japan movement. If you do not want this Pepsi GMT, Pagani Design also offers Batman and Sprite GMT on their website.
The Parnis GMT watch looks great, it not only has a closer outlook and bezel design to the Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi, but is also sold at a much cheaper price, which is only $86, besides, this Parnis watch comes with a better protection box, it has a longer bracelet, which is more convenient for people who have a large wrist. For guys who do not want to spend more than $100 on a Chinese homage watch, please buy this Parnis.
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:
Cronos bracelet and claspSan Martin bracelet and clasp
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.
Perhaps you do not remember this brand now, Mysterious Code was a popular watch when homage watches just entered into the market, that’s the period of Parnis. Now few people talk about this watch, but I still think some of you guys will be interested in this brand because their watches are really cheap, besides, when browsing the website of Mysterious Code, you will find some watches that have unique designs, which are very interesting, just like this watch I am showing here, it has an unique face.
The watch is very interesting, seeing from its case shape, it does not look like Rolex Submariner, but on its face, it is printed ‘SUBMARINER’. That is strange, now this word ‘SUBMARINER’ is being misused among those homage watches made in China. What this watch really impresses me is its low price and the character image on the dial. Do you know him? His name is Guan Yu, which is 关羽 in Chinese, the weapon he uses is Guandao, Guan Yu is a very famous person in Chinese history, he represents loyalty and righteousness. I did not imagine that he will appear on the face of a watch. This will be a very special watch for people who like him.
The watch looks very big, it is 40mm in case diameter and 13mm in thickness, this is also a correct size for a Submariner watch, but the bezel is totally different, this Mysterious Code watch has a stronger bezel, the case and bezel are more roughly finished. What another thing makes me excited on this watch is the strong blue lume on the bezel. Actually I like this bezel design. There is a dragon relief on the solid case back.
This is really a nice watch if you can accept its dial, the watch also has a high configuration including Titanium case and Seiko NH35 automatic movement, many other Chinese homages with the same configuration are being sold much higher prices.
