Author: Bob

Merkur

Hands-on Review of Merkur Vintage Red Star Pilot’s Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 21, 2022
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Except those big famous brands, most micro watch brands created in China I have seen are homage brands, Merkur is an exception, it is not simply a homage because a lot of watches made by them have some unique designs, some watches can even give me a surprising impression when see them for the first time. Besides, Merkur is the brand in China that has a very close relation with some popular Chinese elements which you can only find on those Chinese watches made in the old times. Merkur is a very young brand, but I think they will succeed as long as they have creative designs in future, making homage watches can bring a great amount of sales in a short period, but it is not the right way for a brand’s long-term development.

This is my sixth Merkur watch I have bought, actually each Merkur watch in my collection is not expensive, the price is much affordable than other homages I bought. Merkur said it is a pilot’s watch, but I do not find any obvious features that make it a modern pilot’s watch, perhaps those pilot watch made in the old times by Chinese watches factories are like this one, so this Merkur is just a tribute to these vintage pilot’s watches made in China.

The case is measured to be 38mm in diameter, not including the crown. That’s a correct case size for a vintage pilot’s watch made in the past. The watch looks very nice on my wrist, not big or too small. The polished case has four narrow lugs that are arcuated, round bezel feels smooth on the edge. There are two cap-style buttons up and below the middle crown, they are for chronograph usage. My overall impression about the case is its simple but refined design.

All your focus must be on its dial, which is ivory and looks a little yellowish, plus the light yellow nylon band, both are two main elements making the watch full of vintage style. The red color usage on the dial is very eye-catching, central second-chronograph hand, minute-chronograph hand and the five-pointed star are all in red color, especially the red star at 6 o’clock, it is the soul element of the entire watch, aha, just my opinion. Those arrow-shaped hour markers are in yellow gold, so are hour hand and minute hand, but not look too yellow gold, the gold tone is light. The Merkur has a working chronograph, so both small hands you saw on the subdials have real functions.

The exhibition crystal back is a big feature I like on the watch, the inner engine is a manual winding movement that has chronograph feature, looking from the back, the inner machine has a stunning construction, it is too complicated for me. About this movement, I have an advice for you, do not rotate the crown too many times when winding the watch, no more than 20 rotations. By the way, this movement has a short power reserve, I suggest you wind it to gain enough power every day. Well, the movement is not a problem for me, I like the watch’s style most.

Tags Merkur

STEELDIVE

STEELDIVE Pilot 1903 Quartz Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 16, 2022
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I never thought that I will buy a quartz watch, but sometimes a quartz watch is really convenient, you do not need to wind the watch every day, and a quartz watch is very accurate, the watch won’t lose seconds. I do not have a quartz watch in my collection except one G-Shock, I always think that a watch has a mechanical outlook while with a quartz movement does not look professional, especially for a man who is a supporter of mechanical watches. I have seen some homage brands making quartz watches under a mechanical look, they look nice, so some days ago, I searched online and found this STEELDIVE watch, I did not know this is a quartz watch til I read its specification of the watch, the watch has a great styling and classic features of pilot’s watches, I thought there will be an automatic movement inside, while it is a quartz.

STEELDIVE, this brand is not new to you, right? I have introduced STEELDIVE before on my blog, it is a popular Chinese homage brand, and also one of my favorite homage watches. Most STEELDIVE watches I have are diving styles, while this one is a pilot watch. The STEELDIVE, all attention should be paid to its dial, which is a classic style of pilot’s watch and have somewhat vintage flavor on the design of hour markers and hands. The inside Swiss Ronda quartz movement is also a big selling point.

The case is only 39mm in diameter, not including the crown, it looks a little small for this STEELDIVE pilot watch whose dial refers to the dial design of Zenith Pilot. The big hands and big Arabic numeral hour markers seem not to match the small case of the watch. The case is about 12mm in thickness, well, I think it is a little thick for a quartz watch. The case is fully brushed with a small round bezel, solid case back has a big STEELDIVE logo engraving, which contains diving mask and oxygen tanks. Both screw-in crown and case back ensure a 200m water resistance, I do not believe the watch has such a big waterproofing depth.

The black dial is all about big things, big hour markers and wide hands that are applied with superlume, the dial lume looks very strong, that’s one of the biggest feature of STEELDIVE watches. The first impression which the dial gives to me is a vintage pilot watch, big Arabic numeral hour markers are yellow but look a little brownish, the track-style minute scales also have 05-60 markers in orange color. The central second hand has a unique design, it has an arrow logo and a long tip in orange color, the hand is ticking around the dial. The dial is totally an immitation of the old Zenith Pilot watch.

The engine inside is a Swiss Ronda quartz movement, its power can last for almost 4 years, the watch is equipped with a black leather strap with white stitching, well, you can also ask the supplier to change a brown leather band on if you want a better fit for the vintage flavor of the watch. STEELDIVE is a very good homage watch I recommend.

Conclusion:

This STEELDIVE is a good choice for people who like a convenient wearing, it has all classic features of a pilot’s watch, with a quartz movement, which not only offers a more accurate timing, but also saves the inconvenience of winding every day. It has a cheap price but comes with a high protective box and all accessories.

Tags Quartz, Ronda, STEELDIVE

Sea-gull

Sea-gull 362 Black Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 15, 2022
No Comments on Sea-gull 362 Black Watch Review

When there is enough time, I want to make a summary of the top-selling Chinese dress watches in the market, Sea-gull must be in this list and it should rank on the top. Sea-gull deserves your attention because they really offer high quality watches at very reasonable prices. I have several Sea-gull timepieces, they are my most favorite wrist partners when I go out with my friends, each is with the in-house Sea-gull movement, I trust their quality more than other brand watches made in China. Among all Sea-gull watches in my collection, I have diving styles, vintage pilot’s watches and regular small-second model, but that’s not enough, the most common dress watch in full stainless steel is lacked, so I decided to buy this Sea-gull watch several days ago, also to prepare the top-selling list article I am going to write soon.

I received the watch in a blue hard leather box, with a manual book and link remove tool, there is no extra leather band offered. Sea-gull offers three dial color options, black, white and blue, I chose the black one. I also like the blue dial, but I found there are too many blue watches in my collection, the black is a very calm color and looks more classic to some people.

The watch has a case diameter of 40mm, it is about 10mm thick, a very ideal size and thickness for such a dress watch. The case has a very classic design and the narrow bezel makes the dial look large, a wide round dial is a common feature of this type of dress watches. Two ends of the bracelet are perfectly integrated with the case, which looks seamless. The case side has a beautiful streamlined arc shape, together with the slightly curved lugs, to ensure a very comfortable fit for your wrist. On the edge of the case back, there are engravings such as case material, water resistant depth and watch reference, the central crystal shows an engine inside, which is a ST2130 automatic movement that features golden Sea-gull logo on the auto rotor and gorgeous fish-scale decoration on the plates.

I love the design on the black dial, everything looks simple but classic, the radial dial finish is completed delicately, the completion of hands and hour markers are superb, looks high end, the hour markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 are thicker, there is a very thin groove in the middle of these four markers. Slender second hand is sweeping across the wide dial smoothly, you can not feel the “stop” or “tick” on the top of the hand. Square date window with silver frame has a black font in white background, the date is easily catchable. Printing “SEA-GULL” looks official, while the “Automatic” below has a more elegant font.

The bracelet feels very comfortable, the edge of the bracelet is smoothly polished with no sharp corners, the five-link bracelet looks more stylish. By the way, the sapphire crystal has a very important feature, it was added with anti-reflective coating so the dial still has a very high readability even under the sun light.

Tags Sea-gull, ST2130

Caluola

Hands-on Review of Caluola Date Black Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 14, 2022
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Caluola, a Chinese brand whose watches are for low-end market, their marketing strategy is very successful, I have seen their most watches, very common, no watches have very impressive designs that will surprise you immediately once at a glance, not like Sea-gull or Fiyta or other Chinese brands, Caluola do not make diver’s watches and pilot’s watches, so their product line is very simple, men’s watches and women’s watches, mechanical watches and quartz watches. I found one common feature among these Caluola watches, that’s the low cost, which just in line with the finish and function of each watch.

I bought this Caluola watch one week ago and just received it today, the shipping is ok, not too long, the watch comes in a green Caluola brand box, with one pair of extra black leather straps inside. The watch looks nice and when I opened the box, I even had a feeling that the watch has a good finish as my Sea-gull or Fiyta. Its all black look is certainly the most important reason why I chose the watch at that time, full stainless steel made, and the black outlook makes this dress watch look more masculine.

The all black is absolutely not ceramic made, it is black pvd coating on the stainless steel, the watch has a big size, which is 42mm in diameter and is measured to be 13mm in thickness. Both case and bracelet are solid 316L stainless steel made, the entire watch has a heavy weight that is up to 166 grams. I do not want to change the black leather band on, the black stainless steel bracelet is a better fit for this watch. The case back is stainless steel, it looks silver instead of black, that is weird, that’s the only thing I am not satisfied with on this cheap automatic watch. The crystal on the center of the back shows the engine inside, which has black “Caluola” engravin on the decorated auto rotor.

Black dial has a layered structure, the beveled inner bezel with white numeral minute markers enhances the tridimensional visual effect of the entire dial. There is an Arabic number besides each bar-shaped hour marker, which is applied with white lume material, there are three small dials and two windows, but the dial does not look crowded. The small dial at 9 o’clock is useless, it does not have a function but its small hand can be moved by pressing the button on the case at 4 o’clock. Other two small dials, the top one at 12 o’clock is for month display, which can be controlled with the button at 2 o’clock, the button at 6 o’clock is for hour display in 24-hour format. I am surprised that the date and week shown at 3 o’clock can be adjusted through the crown.

I am very happy with the styling of the watch, at the price point, its finish and functions has also exceeded my expectations.

Tags Caluola

Tianwang

Tianwang Bluefin 200m diver watch unboxing

Post author By Bob
Post date September 13, 2022
No Comments on Tianwang Bluefin 200m diver watch unboxing

This is a short unboxing review of a Chinese watch I just received, it is another diving-style watch I bought from China, and the brand has a name “Tianwang”, which means “King” in Chinese, yes, a very good name that sounds domineering. I have a few diver’s watches, I can not say which one I like most, some homages look very nice, some of them are authentic China brand diving watches, this watch, which I just received during the Mid-autumn Day, is a Tianwang diver’s watch from its Bluefin series. This is a very short unboxing description of the watch, it seems like I bought the watch mainly because I was deeply attracted by its box.

The watch box is blue, it looks like a tote-bin, after opening this blue container, it is a blue leather box, with a watch and one extra blue nylon band inside. This is the best looking package I have seen among all watches in my collection. The container box is very creative. The watch is big, which has a 43.5mm case diameter, not too big for me, just look ok on my hand. The bezel is not ceramic, that’s a pity, but consider its cost, that’s acceptable. The blue dial looks great, its color looks like the blue in deep ocean, which completely meets the theme of this watch wants to express, that’s 200m water resistant. By the way, the shape of the hour hand and minute hand is very similar to the body of the bluefin, which is used as a series name of the watch. No need to mention the case and bracelet finish, it is superb, the movement is made in Japan, I like the see-through case back design. Now I still have not tried the nylon band on the watch, I wear the stainless steel bracelet so comfortable on my hand.

Tags Bluefin, Tianwang

Borman

Borman Moon Phase Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 9, 2022
No Comments on Borman Moon Phase Watch Review

Simple and classic watches are always popular, when collecting watches, at the very beginning, you may be attracted by some pilot’s watches or diver’s watches that look unique and have a strong visual impact, but after you have a certain amount of these types of watches and having played with them for a while, my taste now has changed, I am more willing to give a high score to those dress watches that look classic and with a certain complicated feature such as moon phase and tourbillon. I have bought several classic dress watches from Chinese brands Sea-gull, Fiyta, Caluola, etc., they look nice, but none of them is like Borman that has a more authentic Germany-originated design. Today, I want to show you another stylish Borman watch, so far it is my most favorite Chinese dress watch.

I bought this watch because I love its styling, its case design and beautiful dial attracted me, and its name “Borman” and the German words on the dial almost fooled me into thinking it is a watch brand coming from Germany. The styling of its case and the dial design are greatly different from most Chinese watches, Borman looks more like a German watch, that’s an important reason why I choose it.

The case of the watch has a diameter up to 41.5mm and is measured to be 11mm in thickness, that’s a wonderful case thickness to me. The case has a polishing face on the lugs and round bezel, while being brushed on the two concave sides, there are some engravings on the right side telling you its water resistance and reference. By the way, the crown has a very delicate satin finished face with high glossy “BORMAN”. In a word, the finish of the case is superb, much better than some homages I bought.

The dial, all things just look perfect. I chose this coffee dial, its color looks gradient and the dial has a radial finish. Absolutely the most important feature of this watch that attracts me deeply is the moon phase display at 6 o’clock. It is a real moon phase function, unfortunately it is based on a period of 31 days instead of 29.5 days like real. Any way, the animation of the growing and decreasing moon is real on this watch, and it looks superb. The design of the hour hand and minute hand is like a sword with a long handle, both hands are skeletonized in the center.

The movement shown through the crystal back looks beautiful, the golden auto rotor has nice fish-scale decoration, and the movement plates also have unique engravings that only belong to Hangzhou 7M01 automatic movement, I know little about this Chinese movement, Borman said it has a power reserve of 80 hours, I do not think so. The watch so far works accurate, it is about 8 to 12 seconds faster each day, that’s a normal inaccuracy for this China movement.

Tags Borman, Moon Phase

Geya

Geya G-Max Forged Carbon RM35-02 Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date September 7, 2022
No Comments on Geya G-Max Forged Carbon RM35-02 Homage Review

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

Fiyta

Review of Fiyta Dragon Hole Diver 300m Blue Watch

Post author By Bob
Post date September 2, 2022
No Comments on Review of Fiyta Dragon Hole Diver 300m Blue Watch

I have always been looking for a diver’s watch with a real ceramic bezel at a reasonable cost, actually I have several pieces of diver’s watches bought from Chinese watch market, but few of them have a ceramic bezel. I looked into Fiyta and found a very unique model that attracted me immediately, it is a Dragon Hole special edition from Fiyta, it is a classic diving watch, with black, blue and green color options, it is the most simple diver’s watch I have seen, but most impressive one in my collection. I chose the blue one, the watch looks very nice and has a very similar outlook to the Tudor Black Bay blue, I love it.

It is the most authentic China brand diver’s watch I have bought, whether the Sea-gull Green diving watch or San Martin homages I reviewed before, they can not be compared with this Fiyta, especially the homage diving watches supplied by San Martin, they are too big and look too roughly made, lace of some elegance. Another reason why I chose this Fiyta as my next tool watch is the dragon you see on the crown and case back, it looks very cool.

The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter up to 43mm and measured to be 13mm in thickness. The case is fully brushed with a solid back that features a dragon engraving. The “Dragon Hole” letterings with latitude and longitude is a deep hole in the sea of Sansha city of Hainan province in China. There is also a dragon logo in matt finish on the polished surface of the screw-in crown. The blue bezel is a big selling point, it is made with real ceramic material, it features a lume pearl at 12 o’clock and is uni-directional rotating. One thing I do not understand is that why Fiyta uses different logo on the crown, on some models, it is a letter “F”, while it is a peace dove on some watches.

The blue dial features big hour markers and wide hands that are applied with lume material. Central hour hand and minute hand are sword-shaped with skeleton stem. A date window with silver frame is positioned next to the 3:00 marker, featuring a black date font in white background. It saying “30m” water resistant on the dial, yes, a great depth, I do not think people will choose this watch and dive to a depth of 300m underwater, anyway, I believe that Fiyta has done a strict waterproofing test on each of their watches.

I have no idea about the movement inside, I tried to ask the sales person of Fiyta, she told me this is a secret, I did not open the case back yet and I am fraid the watch can not keep such a great deep water resistance after opening it. I love the finish on the bracelet, the middle links are brushed, while the links on two sides are polished, this forms a high visual contrast. The watch feels a little heavy because it is fully made with solid stainless steel, and the bracelet has wide links, you can change a rubber band on by yourself, that will be a better fit especially when you do something under water.

Tags Fiyta

Fiyta

Hands-on Review of Fiyta DGA29005 Blue

Post author By Bob
Post date September 1, 2022
No Comments on Hands-on Review of Fiyta DGA29005 Blue

When people get together, probably the watches they mostly talk about are those diving-style models that look very impressive at first glance, with a big size and unique bezel design. While these watches are never your first choice when you are really considering to get a watch to wear. Yes, a diver’s watch will always be in your wishlist, but it not your first need, a mechanical watch that looks more normal and elegant is usually your first choice. Stainless steel case, black or blue dial with silver markers, sword-shaped hour hand and minute hand, these are standard features of an elegant dress watch. Every brand has such type of watches, they are also one of the best sellers, for this Fiyta watch I am going to review, it is the most elegant watch I have in my collection, actually I have several watches like this from Sea-gull or other homage brands, but no one can be compared with this Fiyta. Its stainless steel case, blue dial, slender sweeping second hand and crystal back make me love it deeply. Fiyta sent this watch in a black brand box with one extra black leather strap.

The watch is completely made with 316L stainless steel, the case has a diameter up to 40mm, that’s a size I like, very suitable and not big like some diving-style or pilot watches, the case is measured to be 11.3mm in thickness, it is polished with naturally curved lugs that could better fit your hand, the screw-in crown has a peace dove logo, together with the screw-down crystal back, they guarantee a 50m water resistance of the watch.

The dial is blue, black color also available for this watch, but I think blue is a better fit for such a dress watch, it looks more eye-catching, black looks a bit bored. The radial sunray texture of the dial is very attractive, it is the most important reason for me to chooce this watch. Hour markers are a bit raised from the dial because they are three-dimensional, there are multiple cutting faces on each of these markers, just like the finish of the hour hand and minute hand. At 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, the hour marker adopts Rome numbers. On the top of the hour hand and minute hand, there is a straight line applied with lume material, the slender second hand is very long and sweeping across the dial smoothly. The date window positioned at 3 o’clock also has a good finish, the window has a silver frame, a black date font in background, the date font is exactly in the middle of the window, such simple dial with every element finished in an elegant way is my favorite.

From the see-through back, the movement is a 21-jeweled automatic movement, it is a Citizen automatic movement, I guess, the auto rotor has a simple decoration, with brand name and jewels numbers engraved. Once having a full winding, the watch can work 40 hours continuously. The stainless steel band is ok, it consists of wide and narrow links that are all polished, the buckle has a peace dove logo in matt finish. Actually if the links are brushed and polished alternately, the bracelet finish may look better visually.

Tags Fiyta

Beijing Watch

Beijing Classic Series Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date August 30, 2022
No Comments on Beijing Classic Series Watch Review

Beijing, most of you guys know it is the capital of China, but few know this name will be connected with a watch factory. Beijing Watch Factory, is one of the oldest watch factories founded in China, together with Shanghai Watch Factory and Sea-gull Watch Company, they are the big three in Chinese watch industry. Like the other two, Beijing Watch Factory also has a long watch-making history and it has the ability to develop movements by themselves, the first tourbillon movement made in China came from Beijing Watch Factory. I feel a little strange that Beijing Watch Factory never sell their movements to the public, which means they do not offer movements for other watch brands, the movements coming from Beijing Watch Factory are only used in their watches. This is a different strategy from Sea-gull. Every watch offered by Beijing has a strong Chinese style, I think few of you guys will like them.

For Sea-gull, it is more international, so you will know Sea-gull better. But when people talking about Beijing, perhaps you have no idea about this brand, actually Beijing also offers a lot of classic watches that have good finish and also meet our design aesthetic standards, if you do not mind its unique logo, which is The Tian’Anmen Rostrum.

This Beijing watch looks great and has a nice finish. It is a model from Classic series, the watch has a case diameter up to 40mm, not including the pumpkin-shaped crown, it is measured to be 11mm in thickness. 40mm is a very popular size, it is acceptable for most people, when choosing a dress watch, now I prefer a big size, not the one in 38mm or 39mm, by the way, the design of the lugs makes the watch looks bigger, I like it. The case is brushed, including the thin and round bezel, the crown is too big, but very easy to operate, I hate some watches with a very small crown, sometimes you need to use a big strength to pull out it.

The dial is white, Beijing also offers a black dial version. The logo of The Tian’Anmen Rostrum is very unique, I think it has a special meaning to Beijing Watch Factory. The central second hand is in bright red that will immediately catches your eyes, minute markers are also red dots, Beijing very like using red color. The hour markers are delicately designed, at 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 and 12:00, the hour markers are stainless steel sticks, and the stainless steel marker at 12 o’clock has a pointed tip. Central hour hand and minute hand are in elegant willow shape. Due to the 40mm diameter, the dial still does not look crowded even these long hour markers have occupied a large space. The date window is opened in round with black font in white background, for me, the window looks too small.

I am very happy that the watch adopts an exhibition case back, where you can see the engine inside, which is an automatic movement imported from Japan. I only know that this is not an in-house movement from Beijing. Its auto rotor is skeletonized and has The Tian’Anmen Rostrum stamp in red color, there are not too much decoration made on the movement plates, but seeing from the work made on the auto rotor, it is much better and delicate than all other Chinese micro watch brands.

The watch is equipped with a black leather band that is fitted with a stainless steel deployant clasp. Beijing focuses on details, you will see black stitching outside, while red stitching on the other side of the band. I just received the watch yesterday, its accuracy still needs to be tested, but I trust the quality of Japanese movement.

Tags Beijing

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