Tag: Rubber

San Martin SN0125 Review

What does this watch look like? This watch seems to be a homage of a Panerai, is it really a homage watch of a certain Panerai model? I know a lot of Panerai watches but have not seen a model that looks like this one. San Martin rarely made Panerai homages, most of them are usually Rolex homage watches, while I like the style on this watch, it looks more fashionable and luxury than those PAMs made in the past.

The watch uses three different materials, titanium, bronze and rubber, now more watches are likely to adopt several types of materials, this has been a trend for years. This San Martin has a 42mm case, which has the same size as the Submersible Panerai has published in recent two years, by the way, the case is only about 13mm in thickness, for a diver’s watch, this is a very proper case size suitable for men who can not hold very large watches. The titanium case has a special finish that is sand treated, which looks greatly different from the bronze bezel. The brushed bezel finish forms a high contrast with the sand-finished case, which gives the wearer a strong visual impression.

The gradient dial also has a sanded face that features tridimensional hour markers that is filled with cyan Swiss luminous material. The lume light on the hour markers and hands is strong green, the sword-shaped hour hand and minute hand also have lume on the center, the central second hand is its own feature of this San Martin watch, actually I think they can use a sundial to display the seconds.

The movement is powered by a NH35 automatic movement, which is the mostly widely used movement among these homage watches made in China. The black rubber band is made with natural soft rubber material, the buckle is not titanium but stainless steel, it is also sanded finish. By the way, besides the rubber band, a nylon strap will also fit this watch well.

Tags Bronze, NH35, Rubber, San Martin, Titanium

Sea-gull

Sea-gull 3015 Bronze Pilot Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date July 6, 2023
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About the big three, I introduced one bronze pilot watch from Beijing Watch Company before,I did not know Sea-gull has made a bronze watch, now I am going to show you a good-looking pilot watch from Sea-gull,it is made with bronze and has a green dial.Sea-gull is my most favorite China brand, you guys can try one or two Sea-gull watches,they are good and have almost all styles you want,from simple to complicated,some models also have a big attraction to people who love Chinese elements and stories.If I say Sea-gull is the boss in Chinese watch industry,do you agree? The Sea-gull 3015 here is a pilot watch,its design features such as crown and hands as well as lume are very similar to that of Zenith Pilot. The green color looks very nice with the bronze case, and you can also uses a green rubber band on the watch, look at the last picture, it looks very beautiful.

The watch has a big size whose diameter is up to 41mm, the case thickness is about 12mm, almost all pilots watch have the similar size, some even have a 43mm case diameter. The bronze case is brushed with a big crown that is very convenient for the wearer to operate. The case back is not bronze but made with titanium that is in matte finish, there is a small window opened on the center to display the movement. By the way, the bezel uses green sapphire crystal, the markers inside have been applied with lume material, they can emit green lume light in dark conditions.

The green dial has a simple design, its big hour markers, long hands and strong lume all enhance the readability of the dial. In dark conditions, the green lume light on the dial can last for a long time, the lettering “WR 100M” means the watch is 100m water resistant. The second hand has a section on the top that is applied with orange color that just echoes with the orange minute markers.

The watch is equipped with a ST2130 automatic movement that is independently developed by Sea-Gull Watch Company, this movement has a 28,800BPH, 28 jewels and a power reserve more than 42 hours. The black litchi veined leather band is a regular fit for this watch, while I think the green rubber band looks more beautiful on this bronze watch, if changed the hands type, I think it look more like a diver’s watch with this green rubber band.

Tags Bronze, Rubber, Sea-gull, ST2130

Fiyta

Fiyta Deep Space Skywalker Watch Green Dragon G35009.BBB Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 30, 2023
No Comments on Fiyta Deep Space Skywalker Watch Green Dragon G35009.BBB Review

In the past months, I have introduced a lot of homage watches made in China, I like them, although they are just copies of these Swiss watches, sometimes these homage watches are good for you to collect if you do not want to pay a lot on Swiss watches, I saw some homage watches with very good quality, that’s an important reason to choose them, homage watches made today have much better finish than before, especially Pagani Design, they have a very nice finish but also can be sold at cheap prices at the same time. Another reason why so many choose homage watches is that they have similar appearance to Swiss watches, reproducing the elegant Swiss design and sell at much lower prices. Back to our today’s topic, the watch I am going to review is a watch from Fiyta, about Fiyta, I did not pay too much attention to this brand before, but it is said to be one of the most powerful watch companies in China, they do not develop movements, but the watches they make are full of creativity and their design aesthetics is very close to that of Swiss watches. This Fiyta watch is a new model they published, from the Deep Space production line, the watch has a creative design, and also uses a certain Chinese element.

The Fiyta Deep Space Skywalker Watch has two models available, one is made with stainless steel named White Tiger, the other is black one named Green Dragon. Actually both are made with 316L stainless steel, the black one just has DLC coating on the outside. I like the black model. The Fiyta Deep Space Skywalker Watch won the 2023 MUSE Design Awards, that’s nice, as far as I know, this is the second Chinese brand that wins a design award from abroad, the first one is Ciga Design. The Fiyta Skywalker Watch Green Dargon is powered by a quartz movement, and the watch design got inspiration from the starship, I am deeply attracted by its unique shape.

The watch comes in a fashionable box, with one extra pair of black rubber band inside. The watch has a very angular case that is fully brushed, it is about 44mm in diameter and 11.8mm in thickness, for a quartz watch, it is a little thick, but it is exactly the special bezel that adds the case thickness. The design of the bezel is like the porthole of the starship. The case back has a big engraving looks like a starship.

The dial has a very unique design, through the sapphire crystal face that is surrounded by the porthole-shaped bezel, you can see the special construction of the dial, like the inside of a starship, there are only hour hand and minute hand, no central second hand, the rotating structure on the center is simulating the artificial gravity system. There is a symbol of green dragon’s head at 6 o’clock.

The watch has two bands options, both are rubber bands, one with green dragon image, the other is totally black, I like the latter more.

Tags Deep Space, Fiyta, Quartz, Rubber

Geya

Geya G-Max Forged Carbon RM35-02 Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 7, 2022
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This is the first time to hear about Geya, which is a very feminine name, I do not know its story or history, I also do not want to know, too many watch brands like this created a false story, some even said their watches are made in the Switzerland to cheat Chinese customers, but we know their true colors, but if you provide quality timepieces, that will be acceptable because the cost won’t be high, by the way, I have bought a lot of Chinese watches, their quality is ok, and when I find new models that interest me, I wouldn’t mind buying more.

Not like its feminine name, this Geya watch looks very strong and is only for men. The watch is a G-Max forged carbon model from Geya, at first glance, I thought it is a RM35-02 from Richard Mille, both have a very similar outlook. The watch has a big size that is almost 50mm high and 17mm in thickness, yes, it is very thick, but feels very light to wear, not heavy because it is made with forged carbon. The unique carbon texture on the case looks obvious. And the screws on the case also refer to the screw design on RM35-02, and they are blackened to match the entire black forged carbon case. I have seen many kinds of carbon fiber watches, I have to admit that the carbon material used on this Geya watch has a most impressive texture. I dislike the red fluted circle on the crown, I do not know why Geya did not use a rubber cap like RM.

The dial is completely skeletonized, there is brand lettering “GEYA CUSTOMIZE” on the beveled inner bezel. Almost all things you see on the dial are movement components, we can see that the entire movement is hanging inside the case, but its fixing mode can guarantee the max stability of the movement. Each round dotted markers are luminous, so is the tip of the hour hand and minute hand. The great depth and skeleton design of the dial gives will give the wearer a good visual experience.

From the see-through crystal back, we can see the automatic movement, I do not know where it comes from, the supports to fix the movement are more clear when you check from the back. Geya claims that it is an imported movement, I guess it is from Japan. The watch comes a red rubber band, absolutely you can ask the supplier to change a black one for you. The rubber band is made with natural rubber material imported from Malaysia, it is super soft and dustproof, which offers a super wearing comfort.

About water resistance, Geya said the watch is able to resist 50m, I do not think so, such mechanical watch that does not features a screw-down crown can not have that deep water resistance, I do not suggest you wear it when swimming.

Tags Forge Carbon, Geya, Rubber

Starking

Starking green sports watch – a green aurora in the night sky

Post author By Bob
Post date May 20, 2022
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Starking is a very famous brand in China, it has been in watch industry for a long time, in the past several years, Starking has gotten a high recognition among watch fans in China, many of their best-selling models are for ladies, the ladies watches from Starking are really beautiful and look luxury, if you want to buy a gift for your girls, it is really a good idea to choose a Starking lady watch. Starking also makes mens watches, some of them have their own design features and are very attractive to me. Take this green one for example, it is a perfect combination of mechanical and sports.

It will be a good brand as long as their most watches have individual designs, Starking is such type of Chinese watch, I appreciate their development ideas, not just copying the designs of Swiss watches like other custom-made brands in China. This Starking watch uses green color that catches your eyes and bold skeleton design on the dial, it is a good timepiece for young people.

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, its surface has pvd black coating that is thick that could prevent fading after long time of wearing. The case has a diameter of 43mm, which is a common size for most sports mechanical watches, nowadays people also love big watches. Starking sells this watch at a cheap price, but they focus on the finish of every detail, the brushing on the case, bezel and every corner feels delicate, the green color usage on the crown hights the entire black case, the snowflake Starking logo finish on the crown is also very nice, not roughly finished on some other Cheap Chinese watches.

The dial is skeleton, there are red jewels and blue screws on the dial, with black frames, to fix all machine parts on the dial to bring shock absorption effect. Hour hand, minute hand and round hour markers are applied with luminous material, they will emit green lume light in dark conditions, the central seconds hand is green, which is exactly in line with the green color on the outermost edge of the dial. There is a Starking snowflake logo in golden color at 3 o’clock.

Inside there is a Chinese automatic movement, this is a very common movement used by a lot of Chinese watches, you can see some modifications have been made by Starking, a lot of screws fixed tightly to offer a high stability. The watch is equipped with a black and green rubber band that is made with natural rubber material imported from Malaysia. The green color on the rubber band exactly echoes with the green used on the dial, any way, I like the green on the watch, it conveys a sense of young and bright. Starking also offers golden and red choices on this watch.

Tags Rubber, Starking

CIGA Design

CIGA Design Z Series DLC Skeleton Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 10, 2022
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This is my second CIGA Design watch I received several days ago, it looks very cool and is my most favorite tonneau-shaped Chinese watch.

The history of CIGA Design is very young, but this brand has made a lot of amazing models which we are very pround of, some CIGA Design watches even received important awards from abroad, many people are talking this Chinese brand now. I like CIGA Design, this is the second watch I bought from them, the first one is the X Series Gorilla model. This CIGA Design watch has a full black outlook, I love it, the design of its case and dial is a highlight of the entire watch. I think every one who likes sports style watches will choose it.

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, its surface has a thick DLC black coating, which not only increases the hardness of the case, but also enhances its corrosion resistance. The case has a width of 40.8mm, not including the crown, its height is 48mm, case thickness is 12.3mm, the DLC coating is thick and black color can last a long time, so that the entire watch can keep a cool black outlook for a long time.

The arc-shaped crystal is sapphire that is highly scratch-resistant and is perfectly installed. Under the sapphire crystal, it is the skeleton dial, where you can the golden balance wheel and gears and other machine parts, it looks like skeleton is a big feature of al. most all popular CIGA Design watches. The red color usage on central hands makes the dial more readable. There are white hour markers and minutes scales on the beveled inner bezel, together with the skeletonized dial structure, they give the entire dial a three-dimensional visual effect.

CIGA Design claims that they use a Sea-gull automatic movement in this watch, I am not sure if they use a real Sea-gull, I do not know the model of the movement, maybe it is a basic Sea-gull movement, which has a beating frequency of 21,600 times per hour and 40-hour power reserve, well, maybe the watch can not work 40 hours continuously after being fully winded, I tested it, about 32 hours, that’s ok, I suggest you wind it every morning.

The CIGA Design watch has a black rubber band, which feels very soft, the rubber band also suitable to wear in hot summer, it does not have a bad smell and also dust proof. By the way, the watch comes with one pair of black leather straps, which is free. Besides this DLC black version, CIGA Design also offers three stainless steel models with rubber straps in different colors, there are black, red and blue.

Tags CIGA Design, DLC, Rubber, Sea-gull

Proxima

Proxima Diver’s Watch – the unicorn hidden in the deep sea

Post author By Bob
Post date April 19, 2022
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This Proxima watch is a strong and robust diving-style model, while keeping a vintage outlook.

Proxima is another custom-made watch brand in China, most of watches they made are diving-style watches, as a fan of diver’s watch, I bought one Proxima watch several weeks ago, now it still works fine. Like San Martin and Steeldive, Proxima is also a very young Chinese brand, which may be founded in a small workshop in Dongguan or Zhongshan of Guangdong, I found many niche brands like Proxima or Steeldive online, they were created in Guangdong of China and are likely to produce diver’s watches at the beginning of their development, because there is a great amount of need for such kind of diver’s watches overseas. Proxima is not an independent watch manufacturer, many parts needed for this watch are not made by themselves, such as the movement, dial, handset, etc., perhaps they only produced the case and bracelet on this watch, and then assembled these parts together. Well, I already saw many good reviews about Proxima here in China and overseas, it is a good choice if you are looking for a diving-style watch.

The Proxima watch has a model number of PX1683, it is big and heavy if with a stainless steel bracelet. The case is 44mm in diameter, not including the crown, it has a thickness of 15.8mm(crystal included). The case is fully brushed, the matte finish on bezel and case is nicely done by a machine, view from the two sides, both have streamlined design and are polished with glossy surface, which is a high contrast with its front brushing finish. By the way, the curved lugs let the watch fit my wrist perfectly, its smoothly polished corners also make the watch comfortable to wear. If you want to buy a custom-made band for this watch, please remember its lug width, which is 20mm.

The dial is under protection of a sapphire crystal that features Swiss standard anti-reflective coating inside. This V3 edition of Proxima watch has improved the dial by using genuine C3 SuperLuminova on hour markers and hands, so the dial lume will be stronger and last longer in dark conditions. By the way, every hour marker, hour hand and minute hand have golden frame, which adds some vintage look to the dial. The printings “PROXIMA”, “SCUBA MASTER” and “PROFESSIONAL 300m” are also in golden tone. The red color use on the central second hand is very eye-catching, it also enhances the readability of the entire dial. Now for every diver’s watch brand in the market, they seem to be very focused on the use of strong lume on the dial.

The solid case back has unique engravings, looks like two ghost fishes. Inside, there is a Japanese automatic movement, which is NH35, the movement is fine for me, I have no need to change another better Japanese or Swiss ETA movement, during these weeks, the watch can keep time accurately, I wind the watch each day, its inaccuracy can be controlled within three mintues each week. Low-end Japanese or Chinese movements can also keep an precise time as long as the shipper adjust it fine before sending.

The Proxima Scuba Master can be equipped with a stainless steel bracelet or a black rubber band, the buckle fitted on the rubber band has a matte finished unicorn logo, which is also the brand’s logo of Proxima. Among my diver’s watches collection, I like this Proxima most and I usually wear it when swimming.

Tags Diver's Watch, Proxima, Rubber

Guanqin

Guanqin Tonneau-shaped Watch – the skeleton beauty of mechanical watch

Post author By Bob
Post date April 8, 2022
No Comments on Guanqin Tonneau-shaped Watch – the skeleton beauty of mechanical watch

My first thought on this watch is its cheap price, perhaps it is the most cost-efficient mechanical watch with an acceptable quality.

Guanqin is a common watch brand founded in Guangzhou, China. On the internet, you may see some description about this brand, saying it is a Hong Kong brand founded in 1989, that’s not true, Guanqin does not have that long history, it is a young Chinese brand established in 2011. A lot of Chinese brands like Guanqin have made up such a fake historical story to convince customers, in most times, it works, especially in China. However, if you are able to do some research on the internet, you will know its true face.

Anyway, some of us do not read a brand’s stories, we do more care about their watches’ quality and design, as well as if it worths my money I spent. For this Guanqin watch I just received, I did not spend too mcuh, it is just a special addition to my current watch collection, I love to wear it after being tired of my sweep-second models with clean and round dial design.

This Guanqin watch has a tonneau-shaped case that is made with stainless steel, the case is measured to be 40mm in width, 47mm in height and 13mm in thickness, it has a slightly curved shape, you can observe this from its side and case back, this makes the watch sit my wrist more comfortable, the case has ten screws fixed, in silver tone and star shape, two “buttons” up and under the crown, they can not be pushed, just two metal pieces protecting the crown. The case uses two different polishing methods, the frontal side is brushed, while the edge around the case is mirror polished, which feels very smooth.

Through the skeleton dial and crystal back, you can see working machine parts of the movement. I immediately felt it worth the money when I saw this openwork of the dial. these brackets have a little help to keep the movement more stable, the red color usage on the central hands enhance the readability of the watch, on the hour hand and minute hand, there are two arrows and two bars having been applied with white lume material, the lume light is not as strong as that of diver’s watches. Have you noticed those white trapezoidal hour markers around, they are not luminous at night, I think the watch manufacturer can use lume material on these markers, this will absolutely give the Guanqin watch a new wearing feeling.

The case back has a round crystal window, the movement inside has a skeleton auto rotor, without brand’s logo. This is a very common automatic movement manufactured in China, and mostly used by Chinese brand watches priced at 80 USD or 90 USD like this Guanqin. I have no worries about this Chinese movement and no complains, the shipper adjusted the movement excellent before sending to me, so the watch still works accurate since I received, yes, you may say they can choose a Japanese movement, but that means more money it would cost.