China Watches Review, Chinese Homage Watches Guide

Octopus Tudor Pelagos Black Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 4, 2023
No Comments on Octopus Tudor Pelagos Black Homage Watch Review

Have you heard about Octopus watch? I did not know this micro brand before, there are too many niche watch brands in China, some I have tried and are very nice, some I still want to buy even my Chinese homage watches collection is already very huge. The development of Chinese watch industry is rapid, especially these niche brands in recent years, although most of them copied the Swiss watches designs, they do offer many cheap options for us who love watches. The Octopus, like the Steeldive, Proxima and San Martin, makes outstanding diving-style homage watches, perhaps these four brands are operated by one team, one thing I am very sure that they are made and assembled in a city of Guangdong, perhaps in Dongguan, I know there are many factories in Guangdong that make watch parts. The Octopus watch I will review today is a Tudor Pelagos homage, I bought the black one, the watch company also offers blue model.

The watch has a case that is fully brushed, it has a diameter of 39mm, not very thick, only 11.4mm, including the crystal. My friend bought it for me from Taobao.com in China, it is said to be made with Titanium, but I found it seems not Titanium but stainless steel when I received it three days ago, I am a little disappointed. Well, perhaps they offer two versions, I found the Titanium model has a higher price. The bezel has a black insert with white lume markers, the black bezel insert is indeed ceramic made like they said, that’s good, and the lume is very strong, the bezel and dial have the same blue lume light in the dark. The screw-in crown has a Octopus sculpture on the face.

The black dial is completely an immitation of the dial of Tudor Pelagos, the wide hands and big square hour markers are classic designs on Tudor Pelagos, these two elements use wide and big design to enhance readability and also can be applied with enough lume material to offer a stronger lume light in the dark. The middle letter “O” in the word “OCTOPUS” is changed to brand’s logo, while I think the German word “KRAKEN” is no needed. By the way, the white minute markers are on an oblique inner bezel, this enhances the three-dimensional effect of the entire dial.

The Octopus Pelagos homage is equipped with a PT5000 automatic movement, while a better SW200 movement is also offered, I chose the cheaper PT5000, it is enough use for me, I won’t choose a Swiss movement for a Chinese homage watch, not worth it, but I will choose a Swiss movement for a replica Rolex, haha. With this PT5000, now the watch gains 5 seconds per day, well, this accuracy is acceptable til now.

Tags Octopus, Pelagos, PT5000, SW200, Tudor

Parnis

Parnis U-Boat flightdeck Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 3, 2023
No Comments on Parnis U-Boat flightdeck Homage Watch Review

Do you know U-Boat? When I entered the watch field ten years ago, the first watch I was very impressed with its design is the U-Boat, I know this brand from a website that selling fake U-Boat watches at that time. U-Boat is an Italian brand that makes military watches for the Italian Navy, is that right? U-Boat watches were very popular before, but now few people talked it any more. Even in replica watch industry, there are few factories make high quality U-Boat replica watches. This Parnis is a great homage watch of U-Boat, now there are no websites selling Parnis U-Boat homage online, it seems like the sale of some Parnis homage watches is banned, I do not know why, if you want one, ask your friend in China to buy one for you.

I like this big watch, it is a left-handed model, but can still worn on your left hand if you like. The Parnis has a very close appearance to U-Boat, a big stainless steel round case is totally brushed, with a crown and buttons positioned on the left side of the case, the crown has an unique lock system, this is a special design for U-Boat. The case is 50mm in diameter and 16mm in thickness, if crown included, the size is 60mm, it is the biggest watch I have seen. The screw-down case back has a big brand name “PARNIS” being engraved, it is said to have 50m water resistance, perhaps. The case has a full brushing finish but it feels comfortable at the same time when I wear it on my hand. It is too big, I do not suggest people who have a small wrist size buy, if you have a large wrist about 19mm to 21mm, you can try this watch.

Under the mineral crystal, the black dial is beautiful, it has big orange hour markers in Arabic, the orange and yellow color usage enhances the dial readability, there is a small date window set under “PARNIS” at 9 o’clock, this window is small, but it is still very easy to read a correct date because of the white font in black background. By the way, the watch is powered by a Japanese quartz movement, but it has a working chronograph, when you push the button at 8 o’clock, the orange second-chronograph hand on the center will start to tick chronograph, press this button again, the hand will stop, when you press the button at 10 o’clock, the hand will be reset to zero. I am very happy with this watch, not only because of its beautiful and tough design, but also has a correct chrono function, even though I only paid less than $100. The working hand on the subdial at 12 o’clock is a display of small seconds, the small dial at 6 o’clock is a minute-chronograph counter, and I guess the small hand at 3 o’clock is permanently fixed, with no function. At night, the dial will show you a green lume on hour markers and hands.

The watch has a black genuine leather band, it features a brushed pin buckle with empty engraving, for such a huge watch, it will be better if the strap could be wider. By the way, Parnis also has a all black PVD version for this watch, I also love it and want to buy some day.

Tags Flightdeck, Parnis, U-Boat

Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas Daytona Paul Newman Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 2, 2023
1 Comment on Vakuy Rigas Daytona Paul Newman Homage Review

I like vintage watch, some Rolex watches made in old times attract me, when I do a search of Daytona Paul Newman homage on google, I found this brand, Vakuy Rigas, I did not hear it before, and it is the first time for me to buy from Vakuy Rigas, is this also a Chinese brand? Mostly yes, I read some comments on reddit, they talked this brand in Chinese watch section. Well, Vakuy Rigas maybe created by a small watch company in Guangzhou or Dongguan, or it is just a sub-brand of Parnis, who knows. This Vakuy Rigas I bought uses a quartz movement, it looks similar to a Rolex Daytona Paul Newman watch.

Its black bezel, cream white dial, three small dials and red minute scales indeed remind me one Daytona Paul Newman watch I saw online before, this is also the best-selling replica Daytona Paul Newman in the market. When received it two days ago, I felt like it is a real Daytona Paul Newman, very close appearance. The case is totally brushed, the edge and corner on the case and bracelet links are polished very well, they won’t scrape my hand. Two buttons are slightly different, they have screws around, but on Daytona Paul Newman, they are cap style buttons without no screws to lock. The screw-in crown is a little bigger with front a bit raised. The case is measured to be 38mm in diameter, it is a little thick, which is 15mm, but including the Acrylic glass face.

The dial has a layout that looks exactly the same as Paul Newman Daytona, and the match-head markers on the small dials are also classic element on Paul Newman Daytona, but the subdials have different functions. The watch is driven by a quartz movement, which is VK63A from Citizen, the white small hand ticks around the black subdial at 6 o’clock, the small black dial at 3 o’clock is hour display in 24-hour format, while the small black dial at 9 o’clock is 60-minute chronograph counter, I am very happy that the watch has a real chronograph function, when you push the button at 2 o’clock, the central second-chronograph hand will move. I checked the finish of these three small dials, the CD patterns are finished fine.

The bracelet is made with 316L stainless steel with solid links brushed, it features a deployant clasp without engravings. The bracelet quality exceeds my expectation, I thought the links would be loose but actually there is no much space between each link, that’s really nice. By the way, I do not want to try to wear this watch in a swimming pool even my friend told me it is water resistant.

Buying advice:

There are very few Daytona Paul Newman homage watches in the market, as far as I know, two brands are making it, Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas. And this one from Vakuy Rigas uses a quartz movement, I think you should buy it as a permanent own because the quartz movement is so durable. After this purchase, you can find a Paul Newman watch with 7750 movement. Now this Vakuy Rigas quartz watch is only sold at less than 65 USD.

Tags Daytona, Paul Newman, Quartz, Vakuy Rigas

Parnis

Parnis Datejust Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 1, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Datejust Homage Watch Review

I like various homage watches made by different Chinese brands, they offer good alternatives for those expensive Swiss watches, sometimes I saw many interesting reviews about these watches on the forums, it seems like many people like them, some even have more than one hoomage watch in their collection, perhaps collecting watches is their hobby, or some of them like to study Chinese watches. Parnis has a product line that makes a lot of homage watches of Swiss brands that cover Panerai, Rolex and IWC, now it is very difficult to find these Swiss homages online, if you have a friend in China, perhaps he can buy one for you from taobao.com, today, I want to introduce one Datejust homage from Parnis, my friend Tang Ming in China bought and shipped to me, thank you.

I did not spend too much on this watch, besides the shipping cost, my friend asked for $89, when I received this Parnis three days ago, I was happy. The watch is slightly lightweight but acceptable for me, real Datejust made with precious metals, while this Parnis homage is made with 316L stainless steel. The finish on the case and bracelet is ok, like real Datejust, the homage also uses both polishing and brushing two workmanship, it looks nice, it is just the links on the bracelet are little loose, but not that loose on a Oyster bracelet. The jubilee-style bracelet matches well with the fluted bezel on the watch. The watch is equipped with a Citizen automatic movement, which is 8215 and has a frequency of 21,600VPH. This movement from Japan makes me trust its quality more. I chose the black dial version, I did not expect a sunburst finish on the dial, while it really does have, but you will see it is not delicately completed. Overall, the quality of the watch is responsible for its price.

Tags Citizen 8215, Datejust, Parnis

Parnis

Parnis Submariner Starbucks Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 28, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Submariner Starbucks Homage Watch Review

It is really good to make a lot of friends in the world, I have some friends in China, so sometimes I will ask them to buy some fake watches and fake handbags there and send to me, these items are fakes but have top quality, I can not even see any difference between them and my genuine Rolex. In recent months, I am collecting homage watches made in China, I am deeply attracted by them, some have amazing designs and good prices, Parnis is the one I love most, it already has a long history in this area, but you can not buy Rolex and Panerai homages which Parnis makes in other countries, now the only way is to buy them from China, my friend Sam bought on Taobao, it is a very good place to find a lot of homage watches.

This is a great homage watch, I thought it would not come with a ceramic bezel, but the watch manufacturer installs a green ceramic bezel for it. The watch also equipped with a Japanese citizen 8215 automatic movement, that’s a really reliable movement and also accurate, you can not buy such a good homage watch with a low price from other places. The latest Submariner Starbucks from Rolex has a 41mm case, but this Parnis is 40mm, whatever, this is a size more suitable for my wrist.

The case is not thick, it even has a close thickness to a real Rolex Submariner, which is 13mm, the watch has brushed finish on the case and bracelet, the crown guards protecting the crown are polished, there is a Parnis logo “P” letter on the face of the crown. The bezel is a close immitation of the green ceramic bezel used by green Rolex Submariner, there is a lume pearl set at 12 o’clock, it has a green lume light in dark places, like the hour markers and hands on the dial. The rotatable bezel has a crisp clicking sound, and it is very comfortable to rotate the bezel.

Under the sapphire crystal, the black dial has all necessary features you can find on a Submariner’s dial, except the engravings on the inner bezel, on this Parnis, the inner stainless steel bezel is empty without engravings. Hour markers are standing on the black dial with white lume material filled in, it is said to be Swiss-standard lume material, the dial lume is indeed strong, but I have not tested if it can last long.

The bracelet also made with solid 316L stainless steel like the case, it has a pressing deployant clasp that features “Parnis” engraving on the buckle. I like this press-style buckle, it is easy to open. Overall, for this Submariner homage watch, it has two big selling points, green ceramic bezel and Japanese movement, I almost forgot its price, which is also very reasonable and even very cheap, the quality exceeds my expectation at this price level.

Tags Ceramic, Citizen 8215, Parnis, Starbucks, Submariner

Parnis

Parnis Rolex YachtMaster Rose Gold Homage

Post author By Bob
Post date April 26, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Rolex YachtMaster Rose Gold Homage

This is another homage watch from Parnis, it has a similar appearance to Rolex YachtMaster, too many watch fans bought Rolex homages from Parnis before, it is exactly Parnis that lead the homage trend in China at that time, they made the first homage watch of Rolex and Panerai, now a lot of watch companies here in China are following the development path of Parnis to make homages, I do not know if this is the correct development for Chinese watch industry, but I would like to pay much less on a good quality watch that looks like a Rolex or a Panerai.

The watch has a rose gold case that is made of 316L stainless steel, I did not see a Rolex homage watch that uses 904L stainless steel, but some good super clones of Rolex are made with 904L stainless steel in replica watch market. The rose gold case is polished, with arched design of lugs to fit your hand more comfortable, the big screw-down crown features a artistic letter “P” in polishing. I was a bit surprised that the bezel insert is ceramic made when I received the watch, with markers in high-gloss finish.

The dial is black with white “PARNIS” and red “AUTOMATIC” printings, on the hour markers, hour hand and minute hand, there is white lume material being applied, the lume light on the dial is not too strong, yes, I noticed that many homage brands such as San Martin and Proxima have very strong dial lume on their diver’s watches, but on this Parnis, the dial lume is not that strong, this is ok for me, and the lume light on the dial does not last the same long time as Rolex YachtMaster. There is a date window at 3 o’clock, featuring a black font in white background, there is also a magnifier above the window on the sapphire crystal, this design is very like Rolex’s cyclops, by the way, the ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal and Japanese citizen movement are three big selling points of this Parnis homage watch, I can not believe the watch can still be sold at such a low price.

The watch has a black OYSTERFLEX rubber band in a default size, if you have a big wrist size, maybe need to buy an extra band. The rubber band feels soft to wear and it does not have a bad smell, the clasp is also in rose gold, it is easy to remove the band from the watch if you need to replace it.

Tags Citizen 8215, Parnis, Rose Gold, YachtMaster

Parnis

Parnis Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 25, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi Homage Watch Review

It seems like every Rolex watch has a nickname, especially like GMT-Master II and Submariner, for example, Submariner 116610LV is Green Hulk, GMT-Master II blue/black bezel with Oyster bracelet is Batman, GMT-Master II blue/black bezel with Jubilee bracelet is Batgirl, the newest GMT-Master II with black/green bezel is Sprite, while this Parnis watch, which is a homage of GMT-Master II blue/red bezel, is known as Pepsi GMT. Many people think that such watches that just totally copy the designs of Swiss watches are replicas, but they indeed have a brand name and offer watch fans a much cheaper option. This Parnis GMT-Master Pepsi homage watch has a great outlook, but it is only sold at less than $100, I think many of you guys will consider to buy one.

There are too many homage watches made in China, some are top quality and worth buying, in future, I want to wrist articles about the lists of top best homage watches on my blog, for example, the top five Submariner homage, top five IWC Pilot watch homage, they will be good guides for you who are really interested in Chinese homage watches.

The Parnis watch is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a brushed case that is measured to be 40mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness. The side of the case and crown guards are polished, the crown is screwed into and you need to unlock before pulling it out to adjust time and date. The bezel has a blue/red aluminium insert, it is not ceramic made, a homage watch with ceramic bezel can not be sold at such a low price. The flutes on the edge of the bezel are well manufactured, they are smoothly processed, I do not feel scratches when touching them with fingers.

The dial is black with “PARNIS” in white printing and “GMT” in red, the GMT hand has a red stem and arrow-shaped tip with white lume material being filled, the GMT hand can be adjusted through the crown, it has a real GMT function that can indicate the time of the second time zone on the bezel. The date window is a copy design of the cyclop of the Rolex. The finish of the hour hand and minute hand is good but still has room to improve, because you will find metal burr on the edge by checking with a magnifier.

The engine behind the solid screw-down case back is a Mingzhu DG5833 automatic movement, which beats 21,600 times per hour and has stop-seconds feature. Mingzhu movements were widely used by cheap replica watches about ten years ago, now they become the ideal choices of many Chinese brands that make cheap homage watches.

Tags DG5833, GMT, Mingzhu Movement, Parnis

Sea-gull

Sea-gull Pilot Chrono Watch 6156 – a tribut to H-6 bomber aircraft

Post author By Bob
Post date April 24, 2023
No Comments on Sea-gull Pilot Chrono Watch 6156 – a tribut to H-6 bomber aircraft

Sea-gull is the first brand you should think of when going to buy a Chinese watch, they are the most powerful watch manufacturer in China, also one of the few movement manufacturers. I have bought several Sea-gull watches, some are simple casual watches, some are pilot-style models and some are diver’s watches, I like them, not like most other homage watches made in China, these watches have their own designs, some have historical origins with Chinese military watches whose Chinese elements designs really attract me. Today, I want to introduce a new Sea-gull watch, this is s Pilot watch that has chronograph function, the watch is designed mainly to pay tribute to the H-6 bomber aircraft.

The watch is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a black bezel but is not made with ceramic, the red color usage on the silver dial enhances the readability of the whole dial, but also brings life to the boring stainless steel black watch. The watch is a little heavy, about 201 grams.

The case has a 44mm diameter and is measured to be 14mm in thickness, for a manual-winding watch, such case thickness is acceptable, the case is brushed, while the edge of the lugs has a smooth and mirror polishing finish that forms a high contrast with the brushed front, this gives the wearer a visual enjoyment. The screw-down crown has a “S” logo in sand finish, the other two buttons locked by screws are used to control the chronograph.

The dial looks more like silver, with delicate sun-ray finish, two small dials in black just like the two eyes of Panda. Small seconds hand works smoothly on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the subdial at 3 o’clock with a red hand is used as a 30-minute chronograph counter. Besides a polished Sea-Gull logo at 12 o’clock, there is an unique logo at 6 o’clock, above the black letterings “Chronograph”, this logo was firstly used on the Pilot chrono watch 304 that was produced by Tianjin Watch Factory, now this new Sea-Gull watch just paid a tribute to this oldest Pilot chrono watch in Chinese watch-making history. The red number “6” has a special meaning that is related to Hong 6 bomber aircraft.

The case back is see-through crystal, the beautiful machine inside is a ST1901 engine from Sea-gull, it is said that the movement is independently developed by Sea-gull itself, but I see it is very similar to another manual winding movement Venus 75. Sea-gull said the movement has a 42-hour power reserve, I have used the watch for 4 days, now it still keeps an accurate timing, will lose 7 seconds each day. I am going to buy an extra nylon band for this watch.

Tags Pilot Watch, Sea-gull, ST1901

Parnis

Parnis Lume-Master Handwind Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 21, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Lume-Master Handwind Watch Review

Parnis was a very popular homage watch brand in the past, it was liked by a lot of watch fans, Parnis has a very similar development path to the replica watch industry, when I just entered this field, Parnis watches were widly discussed in watch forums, but now this brand’s hotness has decreased a lot, just like replica watches, their prosperity has become the past. Parnis Power Reserve was a very hot watch before, it is the first homage watch I know and it is exactly Parnis that lets me know the meaning of homage watch. In the early development of Parnis, they made a lot of Panerai homage watches, now it is hard to find a store that still sells these homages, today, the Parnis Lume-Master watch I am going to share here was bought from China, I asked one of my Chinese friends to buy for me, I like its shape and design, very similar to Panerai pro-type.

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter of 44mm, it looks big but not thick, only 13mm, this thanks to the manual winding movement it is equipped with. The case is polished, the bezel seems to be screwed down into the middle case and has a brushed front, angular lugs have been polished and arc-shaped to provide the wear a good wearing comfort, the big crown is screw-down and is very convenient to rotate, there is a big “P” lettering in polishing.

The black dial has a sandwiched structure like Panerai, the plate on the top has skeleton markers, including skeleton hour markers and the markers on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the plate on the bottom is then applied with luminous material, so in the dark, you will see a strong green lume light emitting through these markers. I like sandwiched structure lume system, the lume material won’t fall straight off the markers, and it is also easy to maintain. The track-style hour hand and minute hand as well as the small hand at 9 o’clock use dark blue frame, the lume light on them is slightly different from that of the markers. The word “HANDAUFZUG” in Germany means Manual Wind, the “LUME-MASTER”, you can consider it is a series name of this watch.

Through the crystal back, we can see a mechanical movement inside, which is ST36 hand-wind engine made by Sea-gull Watch Company, sometimes such hand-wound movement gives us another kind of fun. Many high-end replica Panerai watches with manual winding movement like PAM 111 and PAM 005 use ST36 as a base movement. By the way, the brown leather band is made with calfskin leather, it looks very nice on this Parnis watch.

Tags Lume-Master, Manual Winding, Parnis, Sea-gull, ST36

Ebohr

Ebohr Explorer Knight Stainless Steel Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date April 20, 2023
No Comments on Ebohr Explorer Knight Stainless Steel Watch Review

Both Ebohr and Fiyta are two of my favorite Chinese watches, Fiyta is a more popular and powerful watch company, the watches from both watch companies have modern design beauty that has been recognized by more and more people. I bought one Ebohr watch before, it is a diver’s watch from the Explorer series, the watch looks good and still works accurate, many Chinese watches now refer to the design features of Swiss watches, both Ebohr and Fiyta have done a good job at this, I have seen most watches from these two brands, they indeed look more modern and attractive than other traditional Chinese watch brands such as Shanghai and Beijing, so, to develop the market, some old Chinese brands started to seek cooperation, for example, the cooperation between Beijing Watch Factory and Fiyta is a reflection of this trend. Well, talk too much about the Chinese watches, we have seen a big development occurred in China watch industry, hope these brands can bring us more surprising timepieces in future.

Today, I want to introduce another Ebohr watch that comes from Explorer series also like my first Ebohr diver’s watch. Ebohr has two versions for this watch, stainless steel and black pvd, I chose the stainless steel model, which has a more regular look for daily wearing and looks more classic. I love the styling of the watch, it is fully stainless steel made with a stainless steel bracelet that seamlessly integrated with the case, the watch has a similar outlook to the Chopard Alpine Eagle.

The stainless steel case is 44.5mm in diameter and measured to be 11mm in thickness, not thick for such an automatic watch that looks strong, but the watch is a little heavy, which is almost 180 grams. The case shape is like a reduced version of the Royal Oak of Audemars Piguet, the front of the case and bezel have the same vertical brushing finish, while the beveled case edge is polished, which forms a high-contrast visual effect. The bezel screws are H-shaped and definitely refer to the design of screws on Hublot Big Bang. The screw-down case back has a crystal on the center to display the engine.

The dial is black with stereo bar-shaped hour markers, there is a white round lume dot next to each hour marker, central hour hand and minute hand refer to the hand design of Hublot, one half is skeleton, the other half applied with white lume, there is a green lume light on the two hands and round dot markers in dark conditions. The date window is trapezoidal with a silver frame, black date font is exactly in the middle of the window in white background, easily readable.

What I love most on the watch is the stainless steel bracelet, which is seamlessly integrated with the case, the watch looks very uniform in styling. The bracelet and case head have a very seamless connection, it looks like the bracelet is a natural extension from the case. And about the bracelet finish, it is totally brushed, except the polishing on the edge of the links, just like the finish on the case. At last, the Ebohr watch uses a Japanese automatic movement, I have had it for almost two weeks, now it works 12 seconds fast each day, I know the quality of Japanese movements is trusted. There is no extra leather band offered for this watch, well, I think not needed.

Tags Ebohr, Explorer, Knight

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