Author: Bob

Categories
San Martin

San Martin Sub-style SN0111T Titanium Watch Review

San Martin TC4

Last time, I introduced the background of San Martin, it is absolutely a Chinese watch brand, it seems like such type of homage brands created in China are using the watch parts made by some factories in Dongguan city, however, there are still some things not clear about these watches, I will give you more information about them when reviewing their watches in future. In the past, I reviewed several San Martin watches, one of them is a green Submariner 116610LV homage, which is a hot watch widely discussed in Chinese Watch Forum in reddit. When people opened thread saying want to buy a Submariner homage, many members in reddit will suggest San Martin, I have several San Martin watches, they indeed have higher quality than other Chinese homage watches.

San Martin Black Dial

Today, the San Martin watch I am going to review is another Sub-style homage, but it is not totally a homage of black Submariner, the watch material is different and the watch dial looks slightly different. This San Martin is a custom-made diver’s watch. The case is made with solid Titanium, it is completely brushed, but the edge of the case is well processed with drawing, now many homage watches made in China have this finish but few of them have been done so delicate like San Martin. On the middle of the left case, there is a helium valve, not sure if it has a real function when you take a deep dive. Because of the titanium case, titanium back and titanium bracelet, the watch is only about 105 grams. The black bezel insert is made with ceramic, the lume pearl seems to have a flat top, not domed.

San Martin Black Submariner Homage

The black dial is under the protection of a sapphire crystal face that features anti-reflective coating on the inside, the sapphire crystal is correctly set and it does not have too much exposed above the bezel. I do not like the metal San Martin logo at 12 o’clock, I would rather it have a simple “SAN MARTIN” white printing, the red “TC4”, do you know its meaning? By the way, the hour hand has two types, one is benz hand, the other is sword-shaped hand, and I chose the latter. It seems like San Martin has claimed this watch is 300m waterproof, which has not been proven, but I think you can absolutely wear it in a swimming pool.

San Martin Helium Valve
San Martin Buckle Engraving

The watch is equipped with a PT5000 automatic movement, while San Martin also offers Swiss SW200 option but at a much higher price, PT5000 is good and is very reliable even though it is a Chinese movement. PT5000 is good enough for this homage, if with a SW200, the price is too high and I am afraid not many people will buy the watch. It is said that the PT5000, which was developed by a watch company in Chongqing, has passed the test of The German Offical Chronometer Control, I do not know if this is a fake news.

San Martin Dial Lume
San Martin TC4 Wrist Shot
Categories
Sea-gull

Sea-gull ST5-D Vintage Watch Review

Sea-gull ST5-D

It is another vintage watch from Sea-gull Watch Company, I introduced a lot of Sea-gull watches on my blog, but I found the ones I love most are not these diving-style models, some vintage watches and those models made to pay tribute to old Sea-gull watches are actually more attractive to me. Today, the watch I will show you guys is a vintage Sea-gull watch which now you can not find on the official website of Sea-gull, but some distributors may have it in stock. I love these vintage watches from the big three from China like Sea-gull, Shanghai and Beijing, having been tired of seeing repeated designs on so many modern watches, the designs of these Chinese vintage models sometimes look more classic.

Sea-gull Vintage Watch

The watch has a very unique case shape, which you can hardly see on modern watches, the case is only measured to be 39mm in diameter, but it looks large because of the fat and wide lugs, the whole piece of case has an arched shape that can fit your hand in a more comfortable way, the watch will be suitable for people who usually love to wear the watches whose size is range from 38mm to 41mm. By the way, the case is about 12mm in thickness. The front of the case is polished, while it is brushed on both sides. Both crown and solid case back are screwed down, the back has a big sculpture of Sea-gull bird in polishing on a sanded background.

Sea-gull ST5-D Case

I think this watch will fit people with small wrist size better. The silver dial is a big selling point of the Sea-gull watch, especially the red color usage, which highlights the entire watch. The second hand on the center has a red dot on the top, which echoes with the red font in the date window set at 3 o’clock, this design also enhances the readability of the whole silver dial. The three-dimensional Sea-gull logo has a blue background, this type of logo now can be hardly found on modern Sea-gull watches, and it looks very beautiful.

Sea-gull ST5-D Crown

The Sea-gull watch is equipped with a ST2130 automatic movement, which has 28 jewels, 28800BPH and 42-hour power reserve. The watch comes with a smooth black leather band with black stitching, Sea-gull also offers one stainless steel bracelet for it, both look great on the watch.

Sea-gull ST5-D Case Back
Categories
San Martin

The background of San Martin

In one of my previous posts, I said I will write articles about the background of these homage brands on my blog, because there are a lot of homage watches made in China that have the similar outlook, so some of you guys will doubt that they are just made by the same watch company, yes, I admit that some watch company may have more than one brands, for example, Pagani Design and Benya belong to the same company, however, there is no relationship between most other brands. Today, let us see the background of San Martin.

San Martin is a trademark that was registered by Liao jiaming in China in March 3rd of 2016. In March 20th, 2023, Liao jiaming also registered a similar trademark named San Martin Original. Both trademarks have the same registered address, which is Da Zi Ying Cun, Jingan Town, Changli County, Qinhuangdao City in Heibei Province.

Do a deeper research on google, you will find a company under Liao jiaming, the company name is Dongguan San Martin Watch Co. Ltd, which was founded in June, 2017, and the address is in Changping International Innovation Port No. 23, Building 1, Room 1303, Mulun Village, Changping Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. The company is in Dongdong, while the trademark registered address is in Heibei, so I guess the hometown of Liao jiaming is Qinhuangdao of Heibei. Please check the last picture, there are ten different trademarks registered under this company, besides the San Martin, do you know any others of these trademarks?

By the way, San Martin has their own business website, the address is https://www.sanmartinwatches.com. And they have an official website on aliexpress, the address is https://sanmartin.aliexpress.com/store/1101333575.

San Martin Trademarks
Categories
Pagani Design

Pagani Design IWC Portuguese 7 Days Homage Watch Review

Pagani Design Portuguese 7 Days Homage

You guys must know Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve, it is a very popular watch from IWC, and this watch is even more popular in replica watch field, many guys bought this IWC as their first replica watch, in China, several brands also have made its homage watch, the most famous is the one made by Parnis. Today, I found another homage of Portuguese 7 Days, it is made by Pagani Design, which is a new Chinese homage brand but is the most popular one in Chinese market. Pagani Design is a new rising homage brand created in China, many watch lovers over the world like this brand because they offer quality watches at very reasonable prices. If you have browsed their website, you will know how well their watches are being sold. This Pagani Design watch has a very high similarity to the IWC Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve, if do not see the shield logo, I thought it is mistakenly.

Pagani Design Portuguese White Dial

The Pagani Design looks very elegant, I liked IWC very much, their Portuguese is my dream watch before, this watch is only sold less than $100, you can hardly buy a quality homage in other places with an automatic movement and such an elegant appearance. The watch is 41mm in case diameter and only 13mm in thickness, a very proper size most people can accept, especially under current trend, big watch is very popular, and this watch exactly copies the case design of IWC Portuguese 7 Days, the thin polished bezel makes the dial looks larger than it should be, which gives the wearer a more comfortable time reading experience. And the blue leather band is in line with the dial style that features blue markers and hands. In a word, the entire watch is a combination of elegance that will push you to buy one even have not seen its price first.

Pagani Design Crystal

The dial is white and has elegant blue color on hands and numeral hour markers. I am a little surprised that Pagani Design will use a tridimensional logo, this really adds extra points for this watch. The small dial at 3 o’clock is a power reserve indicator that shows the remaining energy, once being fully winded, the small blue hand will point at the section of “UP”, when the hand is close to the “DOWN” area, means the watch is running out of erengy, you need to wind the watch now. The small second hand is running on the subdial at 9 o’clock, both small dials have well-finished CD patterns.

Pagani Design Logo on Dial

The watch has a crystal back where you can clearly see the decorated auto rotor with a big Pagani Design logo, I do not know which movement it uses, it is said that it has 21,600 vph and 38-hour power reserve. Usually the inaccuracy within 15 seconds to 30 seconds is normal for such an automatic movement. In a word, the quality of this Pagani Design deserves its price and exceeded my expectation.

Pagani Design Power Reserve
Categories
Merkur

Merkur Alarm Watch Review

Merkur Alarm Watch

I am greatly surprised that I find a Chinese alarm watch, first, it is a watch on mens wrist, but has the alarm function. I have never paid attention to alarm watches before, those big Swiss brands also seldom made alarm watches, I read one or two reviews, but never saw an alarm watch in hand before. Merkur is a Chinese watch brand that doing different things, not like many other Chinese brands that just know how to copy and make homage watches, after seeing a lot Merkur watches, I am in love with it more and more. And an alarm watch coming from a Chinese brand is really a big thing.

Merkur Poljot

This is a very simple alarm watch, its functions are hours, minutes, seconds and alarm, no date. Merkur watches are cheap and usually sold at less than $150, but this alarm watch is a little expensive, more than $300, which is still much cheaper than those Swiss brands. The alarm watch is interesting, set the alarm, and the watch will really make a sound, all functions are shown on the dial that has a bit Bauhaus style, especially the Arabic hour markers of 6 and 12. The central red hand is an alarm hand that can be adjusted through the crown at 2 o’clock, check these red numbers on the outermost, you will know how to set the alarm time, and when the hour hand meets the long red hand and both on the same line, the alarm will immediately make a sound.

Merkur Alarm Watch Case Back

It is said that the watch is powered by a Russian alarm movement, which is Soviet Poljot 2612, I do not know this movement, but I think the watch is produced in limited quantity is just because the company can not get too many Poljot movements. The suede leather band just looks ok, if you do not like this type of band, you can change a new one in easy effort.

Merkur Watch Group
Merkur Alarm Watch Wrist Shot
Categories
Shanghai Watch

Shanghai 6003 Mens Watch Review

Shanghai Watch Box

Do you like this watch? I think many of you guys still like this type of mechanical watches because it has a very classic design that was very popular several years ago, that’s the opening window on the dial. Many people who do not know watches thought the working device in the opening is a tourbillon, some watch companies indeed used the word “tourbillon” in the title of the product, but this is not a tourbillon watch, the window opened at 6 o’clock is showing a working balance wheel of the movement. Today, I still see some websites that are selling watches on Aliexpress do not use the “tourbillon” word correctly. Now, back to our today’s topic, it is a review of another Shanghai watch that has multiple functions, which are very convenient for the wearer to know more time information, I think it should be a necessary model in mens watch collection.

Shanghai 6003 in Box

The watch is made with 316L stainless steel, the round bezel is polished, well, I like the bracelet style, the brushing finish on the middle links also looks obvious, which forms a high contrast with the polishing on other parts of the watch. Shanghai Watch Factory also offers one pair of black leather straps for this watch. Besides the crown, there are also three extra pushers on the case, each can be pushed to adjust the feature on the dial. The dial is the place that combines every function of the watch, let’s talk the opening window design at 6 o’clock first, it not only allows you to appreciate the rhythm beauty of the mechanical movement, but also enhances the stability of the entire movement. There are two small dials on the silver dial, the small dial at 9 o’clock is week display, which can be adjusted through the button at 8 o’clock, the month display is set at 3 o’clock, which can be adjusted through the button at 4 o’clock. The date is displayed in a separated window at 12 o’clock, which can be adjusted through the button at 2 o’clock. All functions are real. And the blued steel hands exactly enhance the elegance of the entire watch.

Shanghai Watch Stainless Steel

The watch is powered by a Shanghai 2L27 automatic movement, which can beat 21,600 times per hour, it has 35 jewels and 40-hour power reserve. I know little about Shanghai movement, I saw some negative reviews about this movement, someone said their watch is 35 seconds slower each day, someone said their watch has a 3-minute inaccuracy each day, fortunately my watch still works accurate til now, it gains 15 seconds but that’s acceptable, the quality of Shanghai watch is trusted, but you need to ask them to test for several days more before shipping.

Shanghai 6003 Movement
Shanghai 6003 Wrist Shot
Categories
Merkur

Pierre Paulin Small Seconds Vintage Watch Review

Pierre Paulin Small Seconds

What is Pierre Paulin? It is the name of a watch brand, I saw this brand on the website of Merkur, which is also a custom-made watch brand created in China, not like other Chinese homage watches, Merkur is more creative in design. I introduced Pierre Paulin watches on my blog before, the most popular model is the one that looks similar to Daytona Panda, many people like this watch and have asked me the price, actually, almost all watches made by Merkur have cheap prices except the ones with tourbillon movement. The Pierre Paulin watch I am going to review today is a basic model of Pierre Paulin with simple design, but with elegant style, the watch also offers a lot of fun on the band because the wearer can change different types of bands and they still look nice on the watch.

Pierre Paulin Silver Dial

The case is not big, which is only 38mm in diameter, but checking the pictures, it looks larger than 38mm. The case is totally brushed, it is a whole piece of metal that is made with stainless steel, the brushing on the case does not look very delicate, but I like this finish that looks a bit rough. Due to the manual winding movement inside, the case is only 12mm thick. The solid case back has the engraving of a lion head. And seeing from the back, the connection between the case and band is also very simple for the wearer to remove and change a new band on.

The dial is silver and has a very high readability. In my memory, I do not know which Swiss watch uses this dial design, or is it just the own design of Pierre Paulin? If yes, that’s amazing. The circle with big Arabic numeral hour markers on has the same brushing finish as the case. The blue color just refreshes the entire silver and gray dial. A small dial positioned at 6 o’clock shows the working small seconds hand, which is sweeping smoothly. The outer track-style minute scales always look classic. The watch is powered by a manual winding mechanical movement, I do not suggest you wind too tight each time, just 20 rotations will be enough. The watch comes with a green leather band, actually this type of full grain leather band fits better than any other bands, absolutely you can try a rubber band. By the way, I will love the watch more if it has a see-through crystal back.

Pierre Paulin Case Back
Categories
Sugess

Sugess Breitling Top Time Homage Watch Review

Sugess Breitling Homage

What is Sugess? I never heard this watch before, after checking its website, I know it is another customized watch brand in China, currently I do not know which city this brand is created in, I will write posts to do background survey on these homage watch brands created in China, at that time, I think you guys will have a full understanding of these homage watches. Not like other custom-made watch brands in China, most watches made by Sugess are not diving styles, so I guess this brand is not from the same company as Proxima, San Martin and Steeldive. This Sugess watch I am going to review today has a very similar outlook to the Breitling Top Time, which I knew this watch from its replica, it is very popular, the watch is a big watch, its case diameter is up to 40mm, that does not include the crown and chrono buttons, such size is exactly in line with the trend of big watches. This Sugess watch is made with high grade stainless steel material, it uses sapphire and is equipped with Sea-gull movement, the watch has a working chrono function, so its price is a little higher than the other same type of watches made in China, but still very affordable.

Sugess Breitling Top Time

All selling points of the watch lie in its dial and movement. The dial is blue and has two subdials in white color. The two small dials have square design but with round corners, that look different from most other chrono watches, the center of the two subdials is sunken, this design enhances the spacing sense of the dial and makes it look more tridimensional. The dial also has a very high readability, it uses five different colors, that’s the dial with most colors I have seen, but it does not affect readability of the dial at all, even make a very lively dial. The central second-chronograph hand has a lightning shape, which exactly meets the artistic font style of Sugess. Both small dials have different functions that are real, the one with a yellow small hand at 9 o’clock is displaying the seconds, the small dial with an orange hand at 3 o’clock is a 30-minute chronograph counter. The central lightning second hand is usually fixed, once you push the chrono button at 2 o’clock, it will count, you can also let this hand working all the time, but the energy of the watch will last long. About the movement, I am very happy that the Sugess adopts a see-through crystal back, so that I can see the movement clearly, it is a manual winding movement from Sea-gull, the exact movement model is ST1901, from the back, you can see the machine beauty of the movement. By the way, the watch comes with a blue leather band, you can also order one pair of genuine aligator leather straps from China, there are stores in Guangzhou watch market can do this job.

Sugess Manual Winding
Sugess Wrist Shot

Conclusion:

A fashionable pilot’s watch with highly-readable dial and a very stable Sea-gull movement. The watch has a real chronograph function and features a see-through crystal back that allows you to appreciate the beauty of the working machine inside. A very good-looking pilot’s watch for the young people, and it is very popular watch on the aliexpress, Sugess offers several dial color options and different leather bands for this watch, you can always find your favorite style.

Categories
Shanghai Watch

Shanghai Watch X629 Review

Shanghai Watch Paper Package
Shanghai Watch in Box

I never thought that I will publish reviews about Shanghai watches on my blog, because there are Chinese words “上海” on every Shanghai watch, many people do not like this, however, I just noticed that Shanghai Watch Factory opened a store on Aliexpress, they also want to open the overseas watch market, I do not know if there are many people buying Shanghai watches in the United States and European countries, but now I feel it is necessary to give introduction of some Shanghai watches on my blog, after all, Shanghai watch has a very rich history in Chinese watch industry, it is also one of the biggest watch factories in China. In the 60s and 70s, Shanghai watch was very popular, it was said that every newly married couples will buy one pair of Shanghai watches at that time, and another two necessory items for marriage at that time are one bicycle and one sewing machine, in my memory, when I was a child, I found two Shanghai watches in one drawer of the wardrobe in my home. We have moved to a new home, the old Shanghai watches were lost, some people said that these old Shanghai watches could be sold at high prices, because some persons like to collect.

Shanghai Watch 629

Today, I want to introduce the first Shanghai watch on my blog, please look at the pictures, does it look like Longines? Yes, a bit, but this stainless steel watch is the the type most people are going to buy as the first watch. Other watches like Pilot watch or diver’s watch are usually not their first choices. This Shanghai watch looks elegant, not only because of its classic combination of stainless steel tone, white dial and black numeral hour markers, the blued steel hands enhance the elgance of the entire watch. The watch is made with 304 stainless steel, the case is polished with a smooth round bezel, the case is not big, only 39mm in diameter, most watches in this style have such size, it is only 11mm in thickness, the crown is big, which offers a great convenience for the wearer to pull out and rotate. The watch has a crystal back to show the machine inside, I do not know which automatic movement, but it was said that many Shanghai watches using Miyota 8215 from Japan.

Shanghai Watch Stainless Steel

There are two places on the watch I do not like, it does not use a sapphire but a mineral crystal, and I do not like this bracelet, even though the bracelet has a good finish, while I think the three-section-link bracelet looks better on this watch. The dial is indeed a a good selling point, due to the oblique minutes inner bezel, the tridimensional visual effect of the dial is obvious. The font style of numeral hour markers is exactly in line with that of the Chinese words “上海”. And the hands on the center is in blue color, not painted, it is specially processed. It is exactly the blued steel hands that highlight the elegance of the entire watch. By the way, the factory also offers one pair of black leather straps for this watch.

Shanghai Watch Movement
Shanghai Watch Clasp
Shanghai Watch Wrist Shot
Categories
Beijing Watch

Beijing Fuke 1958 Watch Review

Beijing Watch Box

What is “Fuke” in this title? It is not a series of Beijing Watch, Fuke is not an english word, it is “复刻” in Chinese Pinyin, it has two meanings, but here it means the watches that pay tribute to those vintage models made by Beijing Watch Factory in old times, just like the special edition or limited edition or anniversary edition made by those Swiss brands. I like this Beijing watch more than the dress watches from other Chinese brands, its design features give me enough room to imagine how the first Beijing watch look like. Sea-gull and Beijing Watch are two my favorite Chinese watches, Sea-gull is more international, while Beijing Watch is more Chinese-style.

Beijing 1958 Watch in Box
Beijing Watch with Card

This Beijing watch is a special edition made to pay tribute to the first watch made in 1958, it has a case diameter of 38mm and a case thickness of 10.5mm, only 38mm in diameter, that’s very normal for a dress watch, and for the watches made in the old times, they usually have a smaller size than modern watches, 37mm, 38mm and 39mm are more common. The case does not look like the one you usually see on modern watches, it looks larger than it should be because more case, lugs and bezel are exposed, not like those modern dress watches that have narrowed down the case and bezel to make the dial look larger, that’s the main difference between those vintage watches and modern watches. Actually I love its case design, it looks more solid and we can appreciate the beauty of the case line. The case, bezel and lugs are all polished, it has a solid case back that features a big “BJ” engraving in satin finish. The crown has a Tian An Men sculpture on the face.

Beijing 1958 Watch
Beijing 1958 Case Back

The dial is under the protection of a domed acrylic crystal, this is a classic feature for vintage watches whether from Sea-gull or Beijing, it is a little strange that the watch is stainless steel made, the dial is silver but the hour markers and hands are using golden color. Well, I like this style, the silver dial with golden hour markers and hands, it is first time for me to see such a combination, this is also the uniqueness of the dial designs. The sunray sand brushing finish on the dial is completed very well, there is a golden Tian An Men logo in tridimensional at 12 o’clock.

Beijing 1958 Wrist Shot

At last, the watch is equipped with a B16ZR automatic movement, which has 27 jewels and can beat 21,600 times per hour, once being fully winded, it can continue to work 40 hours. The watch comes with a black calfskin leather strap with a stainless steel buckle, well, I think a brown alligator leather band will look better on this watch. By the way, after having had it for two weeks, the watch gains ten seconds each day.