Categories
Cronos Heimdallr Hruodland Lige Mysterious Code Pagani Design San Martin STEELDIVE Sugess Vakuy Rigas

Top Ten Best Submariner Hulk Homage Made in China

If you are a fan of my blog, you may have noticed that I have introduced a lot of Rolex Submariner homage watches produced in China, I bought most of them, took pictures and made comparison reviews, actually most of them have a good quality, and I more hope these reviews can help you a lot when deciding to buy your first watch in China or picking some homage watches to rich your collection. Today, I will make a summary of the top ten best Submariner hulk homage watches made in China, from this list and by reading my previous reviews, you will easily tell which one is the best.

Sugess Seaman Green

1.Sugess Seaman SP116610LV

Seeing from its model number, Sugess Seaman is a classic homage watch of Submariner hulk 116610LV. I made some searches about Sugess, and found this is a watch company coming from Shenzhen of China, now they have become one of the most popular homage watch brands. In many watch forums and Reddit, a lot of watch fans have admitted that this is the best homage of Submariner hulk. It has a case measured to be 40mm in diameter and 12.5mm in thickness, which is closest to the case size of the Rolex Submariner 116610LV, the Seaman SP116610LV has a green ceramic bezel, its green color on the bezel and dial looks very close to that on hulk Submariner. By the way, the Sugess Seaman uses a Japanese NH35A automatic movement inside, which is very reliable.

Advantages: correct case shape and size, genuine green ceramic bezel insert, Japanese NH35A movement, correct lume color
Shortcoming: high price, almost 190 USD on their official site

San Martin SN0017 Green

2.San Martin SN0017

SN0017 is a famous model from San Martin, it has black and green color options, I introduced the green SN0017 on my blog at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/05/31/san-martin-submariner-116610lv-homage-review/, and I also have given a comparison review about the black one between it and the Cronos L6015 as well as the Steeldive SD1953, please check my review at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/08/20/black-submariner-homage-review-cronos-l6015-vs-san-martin-sn0017-vs-steeldive-sd1953/. The SN0017 deserves the second position because it really has a very good finish on the case, dial and bracelet like the Sugess. Among all homage watches created in China, the ones made by San Martin all have good finish, their case finish should be among the best. The case of the SN0017 is 40.5mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness, the bezel also uses real green ceramic. The watch is equipped with a Japanese NH35A automatic movement.

Advantages: good case finish, sunburst dial finish, correct bezel engravings, strong and correct blue lume, stable NH35A movement.
Shortcoming: Bracelet structure is not as good as the Sugess Seaman, the top of the bezel pearl is not domed, high price, almost 190 USD.

3.Pagani Design 1639

Why does this watch have such a high position in the list? We know Pagani Design is famous for making cheap homage watches, their Speedmaster, Tiffany Blue Rolex and Daytona homage watches are popular in watch industry, it is the hottest Chinese brand that is being discussed in Reddit. After receiving a Pagani Design watch, you will find its quality exceeds your expecation because you only paid tens of US Dollars, that’s the reason why Pagani Design should rank so high in this list. The Pagani Design 1639, I talked about it in a comparison review here at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/12/12/hulk-submariner-homage-reviewpart-3-pagani-design-1639-vs-vakuy-rigas-v-003-vs-tevise-t801/.

Advantages: good finish on the case and bezel, bezel pearl looks nice, nice sunburst finish on green dial, very reasonable price.
Shortcoming: big case over 43mm, weak lume light on the bezel pearl and dial markers.

Cronos L6015

4.Cronos L6015

I firstly knew Cronos because it makes a good quality Pepsi GMT-Master homage watch, the L6015 is a Submariner homage model of Cronos, which has black and green color choices. The Cronos L6015 hulk Submariner homage has a correct case size and a green ceramic bezel, the bracelet and clasp are nice and have the similar structure to Submariner. The watch uses a NH35A automatic movement.

Advantages: good finish on the case, green ceramic bezel and Japanese NH35A movement. Bezel pearl is slightly dome-shaped, strong blue lume.
Shortcoming: Arabic number markers on the bezel are bit thinner, surburst finish on the dial not obvious, too green on the dial.

5.Heimdallr HMSR01

Heimdallr is also a great homage watch brand that has been in this field for years. I have introduced its background information in the first article review about a Heimdallr diver’s watch at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2022/04/09/heimdallr-divers-200m-black-the-big-monster-in-deep-ocean/. Heimdallr is mainly famous for making these homages of Seiko diver’s watches. This green hulk Submariner homage watch HMSR01 from Heimdallr has a great quality, it deserves the fifth position in this list, I like its sunburst finish on the green dial, which is very close to that of green Submariner 116610LV.

Advantages: green dial with sunburst finish, engraved inner bezel, strong lume, Japanese movement
Shortcoming: inner bezel is a little high, wrong lume on the bezel pearl, thin bezel markers

STEELDIVE SD1953 Green

6.STEELDIVE SD1953

STEELDIVE is a Chinese brand that is loved by a lot of people, they do make high quality watches and sell them at reasonable prices, when selecting a homage watch from China, STEELDIVE may become the first choice. Among watches made by STEELDIVE, SD1953 is one of the most popular models. STEELDIVE offers a hard plastic box that gives the watch a full protection, there are some accessories coming with the watch such as card, user manual and screwdriver. As far as I know, STEELDIVE does not make a 40mm Submariner homage, the SD1953 has a 41mm case that is measured to be 14mm in thickness, which is much thicker than other Submariner homage watches I saw. The finish on the case and bracelet is very good. The dial has nice printings. With a low price, the quality of the STEELDIVE SD1953 absolutely meets your expectation.

Advantages: good case finish, very nice dial details, strong lume on the bezel and dial, Japanese movement, cheap price.
Shortcomings: no bezel pearl, the green color is a little dark on the dial

7.Hruodland F-015

This brand has a strange name, which is hard to pronounce. I knew Hruodland because the Explorer homage watch really caught my attention. I made a comparison review between it and the Heimdallr, both watches are very nice. The Hruodland has a stainless steel case that is measured to be 40.7mm in diameter and 12.4mm in thickness. The bezel uses genuine green ceramic, there are engravings on the inner bezel, the green dial looks great but sunburst finish is not obvious. The watch uses a PT5000 movement made in China, the brand also offers a SW200 movement option for this watch.

Advantages: good finish, strong lume, real ceramic bezel, PT5000 movement
Shortcoming: no bezel pearl, the sunburst finish on the dial not too obvious

8.Mysterious Code Submariner

It is one of my most favorite green Submariner homage watches, now it is hard to find this watch on the aliexpress, maybe because of the “SUBMARINER” printing on the dial, it violates the intellectual property right. Now if you want to buy this watch, perhaps need to search it on Taobao and ask one of your friends in China to buy for you. The Mysterious Code Submariner uses real green ceramic on the bezel insert, the dial color also looks great, you can read the review between this watch and the Lige on my blog at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/11/30/hulk-submariner-homage-reviewpart-2-lige-vs-mysterious-code/.

Advantages: ceramic bezel, correct case size, good bezel pearl, correct lume, Miyota 8215 movement
Shortcoming: lume not last

9.Lige 6801

About Lige, actually I know little about this watch company, I also do not suggest you buy watches from Lige watch company, because their watches are overpriced in China, while sold at very cheap prices abroad, so I do not think they are trusted. However, this Lige green Submariner homage watch looks nice, especially its green color, better than some watches I mentioned above. I love its tridimensional brand logo on the dial and the see-through design on the back.

Advantages: good finish on the case, good bezel pearl with similar shape to hulk, strong lume, good dial color and details,
Shortcoming: wrong lume color, a low-end Chinese movement with short power reserve

10.Vakuy Rigas V-003

There is little information about the background of Vakuy Rigas, actually I know something about this brand, do you know Parnis? It is the earliest homage watch manufacturer in China, now Vakuy Rigas is owned by the same team as Parnis, you can think Vakuy Rigas is a sub-branch of Parnis. The hottest Vakuy Rigas watch being discussed on the internet is the Daytona Paul Newman homage model. This green Submariner homage watch is also in good quality.

Advantages: acceptable quality with very cheap price, good bezel pearl with similar shape to real Submariner, real ceramic bezel(claimed by the dealer), Miyota 8215 movement
Shortcoming: the green color on the dial not good, smooth dial without surburst finish

Categories
Lige Mysterious Code

Hulk Submariner Homage Review(part 2): Lige vs Mysterious Code

The hulk Submariner has always been one of the best sellers of Rolex, it is also one of the mostly cloned watches, and there are a lot of its homage watches made in China, like the Cronos, San Martin and Steeldive I mentioned in review of black Submariner homage in August, the Hruodland and Heimdallr I just reviewed in my last post, all these Chinese brands make considerable quality homage watches of black Submariner and green hulk Submariner. Today, I will bring another comparison review on the hulk Submariner homage, the two watches I am going to review are Lige and Mysterious Code, this is not the first time for me to talk about these two brands, I introduced Lige watch company in one post about its FoxBox G-style digital watch, and Mysterious Code is well-known for making good homage watches at very cheap prices. Today, let’s see if the hulk Submariner homage watch made by them is the one you are looking for.

Lige Watch Box
Lige Black Box
Lige Green Sub in Box
Lige Watch with Accessories
Mysterious Code Cloth Box
Mysterious Code Black Box
Mysterious Code Submariner in Box

Box and Accessories

Both watches come with box, the Lige uses a square leather box with card user manual, the Mysterious Code comes with a big soft cloth box, there is no card and instruction book.

Case

The case of both watches is made with solid stainless steel, Lige claims that they use 316L stainless steel on this watch. The case of the Lige is bigger, which is measured to be 41.3mm in diameter and 13.6mm in thickness. The case of the Mysterious Code watch is about 40.4mm in diameter and 12.7mm in thickness. The Mysterious Code has a case that is closer to hulk Submariner in size. When I holding the two watches in hand, the Lige obviously looks a bit larger. The case back of the Lige is see-through crystal, while the Mysterious Code has a solid case back. I prefer the crystal back on the Lige watch. The brushing finish on the case of the Lige watch is more even and delicate.

Lige Green Sub
Lige Green Watch
Lige Watch Case
Lige Watch Crown
Lige Watch Case Diameter
the case diameter of the Lige
Lige Watch Case Thickness
the case thickness of the Lige
Lige Watch Weight
Lige watch weight
Mysterious Code Green Submariner
Mysterious Code Green Submariner Crown
Mysterious Code Green Submariner Case
Mysterious Code Green Submariner Case Diameter
Mysterious Code Submariner case diameter
Mysterious Code Green Submariner Case Thickness
Mysterious Code Submariner case thickness
Mysterious Code Green Submariner Weight
The weight of the Mysterious Code watch

Bezel

Mysterious Code claims that they use a green ceramic bezel on this watch, but I think the bezel insert on both watches is not made with real ceramic. Just because each watch has a cheap price. However, in my opinion, the Lige and Mysterious Code have a better bezel than the Hruodland and Heimdallr I reviewed last time, the bezel pearl on both watches looks very close to that of genuine Submariner, the top of the lume pearl is a bit arched, and we can see the bezel pearl on the Lige watch has a green lume light, while on the Mysterious Code, it is blue. On both watches, the bezel does not fit the middle case perfectly, you can see a gap between them.

Lige Watch Bezel Pearl
Mysterious Code Bezel Pearl
Lige Watch Bezel Teeth
The bezel teeth on the Lige
Mysterious Code Green Bezel
The bezel teeth on the Mysterious Code

Crystal

Both Lige and Mysterious Code use sapphire crystal. The crystal is correctly installed on the Lige watch, while it stands a little higher above on the Mysterious Code.

Dial

The green color on the dial of both watches is very close. About the finish, the sunburst finish on the dial of the Lige watch is more obvious, the hour markers on the Ligi also look larger than that of the Mysterious Code. Another difference is the lume light, on Lige, the dial lume is green, while Mysterious Code has a blue dial lume. By the way, I like the tridimensional brand logo on the dial of the Lige watch, the white logo printing on the Mysterious Code is lengthy.

Lige Watch Dial Lume
Mysterious Code Dial Lume

Bracelet

Both watches have a very good quality stainless steel bracelet in similar length. Because of the different case size, the bracelet of the Lige watch is a little wider than that of the Mysterious Code. And the finish on the bracelet is better on the Lige watch. The clasp on the Lige watch also has a closer structure to genuine Submariner.

Lige Watch Bracelet
Mysterious Code Bracelet
Lige Watch Clasp
Mysterious Code Clasp

Movement

The movement inside the Lige is a DG2813, which is a Chinese movement cloned from ETA 2813, this movement was widely used by those low-end and middle quality fake watches. As far as I know, this movement is produced and assembled in Guangzhou. DG2813 has 21 jewels and 44 hours of power reserve, it beats 21,600 times per hour. While Mysterious Code claims that they use a Miyota 8215 automatic movement in the watch, absolutely the Japanese Miyota 8215 is much better than the DG2813.

Lige Movement

Conclusion

At last, we can see their own advantages on each watch. The Lige watch has a better finish on the case and bracelet, it also has a very good-looking brand logo on the dial. The Mysterious Code Submariner has a better green color on the dial, the lume light on the bezel pearl and dial is also correct blue, more importantly, the Mysterious Code has a more stable and reliable Miyota 8215 automatic movement from Japan. Even the Mysterious Code is $30 higher than the Lige watch in price, I still suggest you choose it because of its better movement. For a Submariner homage watch with automaitc movement around 30 US Dollars, this Lige watch is also a good option, however, about Lige, this is a very strange brand, their watches usually have deceptive prices, which are very high for Chinese customers but normal for the others.

More pictures below to compare them.

Lige and Mysterious Code
Categories
Mysterious Code

Mysterious Code Submariner Guan Yu Watch

Mysterious Code Guan Yu

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.

Mysterious Code Crown

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.

Mysterious Code Guan Yu Case Back
Mysterious Code Guan Yu Case

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.

Mysterious Code Guan Yu Buckle

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.

Mysterious Code Guan Yu Wrist Shot
Categories
Mysterious Code

Mysterious Code IWC Pilot Mark Homage Watch Review

Mysterious Code Pilot Homage

In recent weeks, I have introduced a lot of Chinese homage watches on my blog, most of them have one common feature, which is cheap price. If you check my previous posts, there are some watches that are also sold at high prices, the most typical one is San Martin. I liked this brand very much before, especially when I received the San Martin SN004, which is a great Tudor Black Bay homage watch, I really liked it at that time and it has an amazing finish on the case and bracelet, which can even be compared with some Swiss watches. However, the prices of San Martin are usually higher than most other homage watches I bought from China. Sometimes I think, is it really necessary to spend a lot on a high quality homage watch? The answer is yes, but after I met Pagani Design, Benyar and Mysterious Code, I changed my mind, I found you can even get a very good quality homag watch even do not need to pay a lot money, that’s the reason I love Pagani Design and Benyar very much in recent days. Sometimes I think the styles of San Martin watches are almost fixed, most are diver’s watches, while the types of watches from Pagani Design are diverse, people have more choices. Today, I will introduce another good watch from Chinese Mysterious Code, it is a homage watch of IWC Pilot.

Mysterious Code Pilot Mark

This is not Big Pilot, it is a Mark series watch from IWC Pilot’s, Mysterious Code makes this watch exactly according to the outlook of IWC Mark, the case shape, dial detail and blue hands, these immediately remind me of IWC Pilot Mark when I saw this watch. It is made with Titanium, however, I do not know if it is made with solid Titanium or there is only a layer of Titanium coating on the case , why I doubt this? Because its price is lower than $70. I like IWC and its Pilot Mark is one of my most wanted watches in the past, but now, I won’t consider it as my first choice even this Mysterious Code Pilot Mark homage watch has a good case shape and good finish.

Mysterious Code Pilot Case Back

Not only the Titanium case and its finish make me happy, but the movement it uses is also a big selling point. The watch is equipped with a Miyota 8215 automatic movement that is imported from Japan, this movement is very stable and is also widely used in replica watches, Miyota 8215 has a beat frequency of 21600 and power reserve of 38 hours, it has few and even no issues when working. The watch is sold at a much cheaper price in Chinese market such as Taobao than it being sold abroad like Amazon and Aliexpress, so if you have a friend in China, ask him to buy for you, then it will save you some money. On the dial, the brand learns from IWC Pilot Mark, and uses blue frame on hour hand and minute hand, the pin buckle is also titanium in brushing, many other homage watches in China can not keep a consistent material in case and buckle. By the way, the brown leather band is made with calfskin leather and feels very soft, it features white stitching, well, I think the brand can help you to change it to brown if you like. Have you ever bought a Chinese homage watch? If so, which homage brand do you like most?

Mysterious Code Buckle
Mysterious Code Pilot Watch
Categories
Mysterious Code

Mysterious Code Submariner Homage Review

Mysterious Code Submariner Watch with Cover

Mysterious Code, another Chinese homage brand, there are a lot of such watches if you check Chinese watches section in Reddit, a lot of people share their experience with China watches there, some are positive and some are bad reviews. Besides these big traditional watch companies, there are indeed some homage brands that make high quality watches in China, my most favorite one is Parnis. I never heard Mysterious Code watch before, they are selling watches on Aliexpress, their watches are very cheap but some people bought and said the quality is acceptable. Rolex Submariner is the watch many homage brands want to copy, almost each homage watch brand created in China has the Submariner homage, so, a lot of people are confused and do not know which one to choose when facing such a lot options, in future, I will write an article about the top ten Submariner homage watches made in China.

Mysterious Code Submariner White Dial Black Ceramic Bezel

This is a Submariner watch with a white dial, I never saw such a Submariner Rolex has published, on the white dial, there is lettering of “SUBMARINER”, that’s too crazy, they do not even change the name, I do not know if this name is Rolex patented. The overall finish on the case and bracelet is ok, dial has decent lume, the movement is a Miyota 8215, that’s really nice because it is very stable and has no daily issues. It is amazing that the watch uses a ceramic bezel. For such a low price under $80 I spent, it is definitely worth.

Mysterious Code Submariner

The case is 40mm in diameter and measured to be 14mm in thickness. Both case and bracelet are brushed, the shape of the lugs is ok and can fit your hand perfectly, the edge of each lug is also polished, but not smooth enough, so you will feel a little being scratched on hand. That’s the reason they save cost and did not do a good work on the edge and corner on the watch like some other brands San Martin, Octopus, etc. Well, I like the finish of the markers on the bezel, they have the same engraving depth and thickness, the pearl has lume material filling with the same lume color as the hour markers.

Mysterious Code Submariner White Dial

I do not like its dial, not mean the color, the brand offers many colors including the black, but I selected white color, because I have too many Sub styles in black color. I do not like its name “Mysterious Code”, which is too long and the font is not the style I like, it is too casual. If changed to another name and use a good brand logo, I think many people will like this watch after considering its configuration. The case and bracelet finish is not its advantage, but the movement is. I saw many watches made by Mysterious Watch has the same price point, which is under $80, it worth to buy one to try, if you know a place to have the case and bracelet being polished, you can buy more from them.

Mysterious Code Submariner Watch Dial Lume