Author: Bob

Sugess

Sugess Breitling Top Time Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 20, 2023
No Comments on Sugess Breitling Top Time Homage Watch Review

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.

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.

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.

Tags Breitling, Sea-gull, ST1901, Sugess, Top Time

Shanghai Watch

Shanghai Watch X629 Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 17, 2023
No Comments on Shanghai Watch X629 Review

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.

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.

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.

Tags Shanghai Watch, X629

Beijing Watch

Beijing Fuke 1958 Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 14, 2023
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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.

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.

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.

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.

Tags B16ZR, Beijing Watch

Parnis

Parnis Panda Daytona 116500 Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 12, 2023
No Comments on Parnis Panda Daytona 116500 Homage Review

I introduced a lot of Parnis watches before, whether it is the homage of the IWC Portuguese Power Reserve, or the homage of Starbucks Submariner, I love them all. For those homage watches made in China, I have two most favorite ones, they are Parnis and Pagani Design. Both made some same watches, like the homage of Rolex GMT Master and this Daytona homage, in future, I will write some posts comparing the same watches made by them. Parnis has an old history, it might be the first homage watch brand in China, Pagani Design is a new brand but seems to be more popular than Parnis now, especially in Reddit, a lot of watch fans are discussing. Today, I want to share a new Parnis watch, it looks like a Daytona, the famous Panda Daytona we usually call, the watch is also the favorite one to be copied in replica watch industry.

The watch has a finish which most people can accept after all its price is less than $80. The Parnis has a very similar appearance to the Panda Daytona, unfortunately its bezel is not black ceramic made, the chrono buttons looks slightly different, and the watch is powered by a quartz movement, so about the functions, there will be different, however, for such a low price, I think a quartz movement is an optimal solution for this type of homage watch that needs a chrono function.

Let us see its dial first, it is white with three small dials with a black circle for each. They have real functions, the small dial at 6 o’clock has a small second hand that is ticking around the dial, the small dial at 9 o’clock is a 60-minute chronograph counter, while the subdial at 3 o’clock is an hour display in 24-hour format. The bracelet has two different finishes on the links, the middle links are polished, the links on both sides are brushed, you can see the high contrast effect, very obvious. The press-style buckle is very easy to open, with Parnis engraving.

I like this quartz watch, not only due to its close outlook to the Daytona, but the quartz movement also saves you a lot of inconvenience, the watch usually does not need repairing service within one year.

Tags Daytona, Parnis, Quartz

Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas Rolex Submariner Oman Khanjar Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 9, 2023
No Comments on Vakuy Rigas Rolex Submariner Oman Khanjar Homage Review

Absolutely this is a homage watch, a Rolex Submariner homage, but the dial has a mysterious symbol, I did not see it before, searched it online and found it is a famous dagger from Oman, it has a name called Khanjar, did Rolex publish such a watch in the past? If yes, it must be one of these vintage Rolexs made in old times, which now become the objects of homage brands to copy. Now, I am very sure that Parnis and Vakuy Rigas are the same company, the watches made by them have a great similarity. There are many niche brands appeared in Chinese watch market, many are coming from Guangdong, actually made in the city of Dongguan, because a lot of factories there making watch parts, some of them do custom-made work, including this Vakuy Rigas, you can tell them what letters printed on the dial, but I do not think they can do this customized dial printing for orders abroad.

This vintage Submariner homage is loved by many people who can not find the correct watch in the second hand market. The Vakuy Rigas is made with solid 316L stainless steel, the case is entirely brushed except the two sides that are polished, the crown is screwed down with a clean smooth face, no brand logo on it. Vakuy Rigas said the black bezel is ceramic, but I found it is not, it is alloy made, the case has beautiful lug shape and the bezel tooth has a great similarity to that of Submariner, there is no pearl instead of a more obvious red triangle. The black dial is under the protection of a domed mineral crystal, the hour markers use lume material that looks a bit yellowish, that’s two obvious vintage elements you can find on this watch. The watch is driven by a Miyota 8215 automatic movement, I think you have a full understanding of this movement because many Chinese homage brands and replica watches are using this movement. It is not too accurate but you can trust its stability.

Tags Khanjar, Miyota 8215, Submariner, Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 6, 2023
No Comments on Vakuy Rigas Panerai Homage Watch Review

Vakuy Rigas, have you heard of this watch brand before, it is a new homage watch created in China, I saw some watches made by them, most of them are homages of Rolex, Panerai and IWC, like Parnis, it is more like the sub-brand or a brother brand of Parnis. Today, I will share another watch review of Vakuy Rigas, it looks like Panerai, an old model made in the past, but I do not know which PAM it is, the crown has a lock system, which I only saw it on U-Boat before, the watch has a big case that is 44mm in diameter and 18mm in thickness, such big case exactly is in line with the style of Panerai, which is the most famous military watch in Italy. Both Parnis and Vakuy Rigas like to choose these vintage watches or models made in old times to create homage watches. So some people are interested in such type of homage watches just because they can not find these vintage models any more in the market.

The case is polished, and the bezel is brushed, actually I prefer all brushing finish on the watch, it would be more in line with the military watch style. I have checked the brushing finish on the bezel, it does not look that delicate on Pagani Design and Benyar, the Pagani Design has better finish on the case. The bezel is fixed and features metal studs, some studs in the holes are not exactly in the right position, the round hole at 12 o’clock is filled with white lume material, like the round hour markers on the dial.

The dial is unique, I have not seen such grid dial on Panerai watches for a long time, the dial also has an unsymmetrical design because the small-second sundial is set between 10:00 and 11:00, the second hand runs smoothly crossing the small dial, which has fine CD patterns. The small square window at 3 o’clock features white date font in the black background, the magnifier on the mineral crystal face just enlarges the date font to a proper size, not that large on the Submariner.

The watch is powered by a Sea-gull ST25 automatic movement, for such a price less than $80, it is worth to get this watch with such a low price. The watch is equipped with a black rubber strap, while I think a brown leather band made with calfskin will also fits the watch very well.

Buying advice:

This Vakuy Rigas watch perfectly represents the style of a vintage Panerai watch made in the old times. With a Sea-gull movement inside, the watch works stably and usually has very few issues in future use.

Tags Vakuy Rigas

Sea-gull

Sea-gull Ocean Star Orange/Blue GMT Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 5, 2023
No Comments on Sea-gull Ocean Star Orange/Blue GMT Watch Review

It is another diver’s watch I like, the watch is from Sea-full, which is the best Chinese watch I think, I introduced a lot of Sea-gull watches before, they are my most favorite Chinese watches, if you want one diver’s watch from China, I recommend the Ocean Star from Sea-gull. Today, I will introduce another Sea-gull Ocean Star, look at the pictures below, are you very familiar with it? This blue Sea-gull watch looks like a homage of the Omega Planet Ocean, especially its blue and orange color, I do not remember which Omega Planet Ocean model now, but it is not completely copied, the dial has a different design, besides the blue, Sea-gull also offers a green model, the watch is equipped with a stainless steel bracelet, Sea-gull also offers one extra pair of nylon/rubber band is blue and orange color.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Case

The size of the watch is big, made with solid stainless steel, if you choose to wear with a steel bracelet, the watch will be much heavier than other diver’s watches because it has a big case. I like the orange and blue band more, it matches the watch better. The finish of the watch is ok, but unfortunately the bezel is not ceramic made, it is alloy. The case has a diameter of 44mm, a big size, most men won’t choose this size because it is too big, well, the case is not too thick, only about 12.5mm. The case does not look so strong even it has a big size, I would love it more if the crown guards are bigger.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Case Back

The bezel is not ceramic, it is uni-directional rotating and has orange diving scales from 0 to 15 minutes. The bezel tooth have wide mouth design, not deep and sharp like the bezel tooth on Submariner’s bezel. The dial is blue that exactly matches with the blue color on the bezel. The dial has a high readable design, besides the strong and long-lasting lume light, the hour markers and hands have wide design so that can be applied with more lume material, even under a weak light condition, the dial still has a good readability because the high-contrast dial color of blue and orange. There is no extra GMT hand, but with an inner bezel that displays the time of the second time zone, the inner bezel can be adjusted by the button on the case at 10 o’clock.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Wrist Shot

The watch is powered by a ST2130 automatic movement that is independently developed by Sea-Gull Watch Company. The movement has 42-hour power reserve and 28 jewels, it beats 28,800 times per hour. Such type of Sea-gull movement has an inaccuracy of about 15 seconds each day. About the band, the blue nylon(outside) and orange rubber(backside) band fits the watch better. By the way, Sea-gull claims that this watch is water resistant to 200 meters.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Bracelet

Tags Ocean Star, Sea-gull

San Martin

San Martin Submariner 116610LV Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 31, 2023
No Comments on San Martin Submariner 116610LV Homage Review

Actually I do not want to introduce San Martin watches on my blog, they are too good for homage watches, I am not sure how many people are willing to choose a San Martin because its price is a little higher than other homage watches made in China, after I review Pagani Design watches, I more believe that this is the homage most people want to buy from China, with Japanese movement and moderate finish, the most important is the price is more acceptable. However, San Martin is more suitable for those watch fans who are looking for high-end homage watches, I reviewed San Martin before, they customized watches and the finish is really good, they focus on case finish and dial details, a lot of watch fans in Reddit have given San Martin a very high evaluation. Today, I will show you another watch from San Martin, it is a homage watch of the green Submariner 116610LV, Submariner should be the mostly talked watch in the homage field, almost every homage brand has made this watch, and it is the most usual diver’s homage watch, Submariner is also very popular in replica watch industry, in future, I would like to make a summary list of the best Submariner homage watches, today, let me see how is the quality of this green Sub.

This is the Submariner 116610LV homage that looks closest to the real Rolex, its case shape, bezel construction and the green color, they are exact copies of the real green Sub. The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel, it has 40.5mm case diameter and measured to be 13mm in thickness, this is exactly the size of the Submariner 11660LV. The San Martin uses a real green ceramic bezel, the bezel is rotatable and has diving markers coated with platinum, San Martin claims on their website, if being coated with platinum, the markers won’t become dark as time goes by. The bezel is soft and smooth to rotate, with slight resistance. The tooth on the bezel are finished very well, your fingers won’t feel scratched when rotating, but I think they should be deeper. The bezel pearl has a domed face.

The green dial is under protection of the sapphire crystal that features anti-reflective coating inside, there is white lume coating on hour markers and hands, I do not like the shield logo of San Martin, fortunately it uses brand lettering instead of the shield at 12 o’clock. The watch is powered by a NH35 automatic movement, which is supposed to have 15 seconds inaccuracy each day, now it gains 8 seconds, I have had it for two weeks. Submariner is really a necessary diver’s watch you should to get when considering a homage.

Tags 116610LV, Ceramic, NH35, San Martin, Submariner

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

Sea-gull

New-arrival Sea-gull 6165 with Frozen Dial

Post author By Bob
Post date May 29, 2023
No Comments on New-arrival Sea-gull 6165 with Frozen Dial

Today, except these big Swiss brands, there are also a lot of other micro brands in watch industry, when searching on the internet or browsing watch forums or reddit, you will find many niche brands, many of them are created by a small team who have contacts in China to help them find factories to make watch parts, well, among these niche brands, a lot of them are making diver’s watches, yes, many are sub styles, I have to admit that I have been tired to see these watches, the sub-style homage watches are everywhere, especially these homage brands made in China, now I feel boring when see these watches, no creativity, no imagination and only replicating. So, sometimes you will feel so fresh when see a good-looking casual watch, which is considered to be a necessary model for every brands. If you need a casual watch and want to buy from China, the first option I recommend is those traditional watch factories in China, for example, Sea-gull. Today, I want to introduce a new model from Sea-gull, it is ref. 6165 with a frozen dial.

Whenever it is, the best-selling watch of every brand must be those casual watches, I do not know how to call them, or watches that can be worn with mens formal business suits. Well, I do not think this Sea-gull watch is good for formal occasions or to match your business suits, the watch has a ice floe dial, it looks unique and I still have not see any watches using this texture on the dial, but for formal watches, a purely clean dial is more popular, I also introduced good-looking Sea-gull formal watches on my blog before. The watch has a stainless steel case that is measured to be 40mm in diameter and 10mm in thickness, that’s a very good case for a casual watch, the case is polished with a round thin bezel, so it makes the dial looks larger than it should be, the arched lugs are also narrowed down so that they won’t affect the aesthetics of the entire case design. The crown has a letter “S” logo in satin finish. The dial has an ice frozen effect, but not obvious, that’s good because this won’t affect dial readability, everything on the dial looks perfect, especially hour markers and hands, they are perfectly cut and have perfect bevelling. Square window is small enough to show the grande dial design. By the way, the watch has a see-through crystal back, I love the crystal back more than a solid one, the movement inside is a ST2130 that is independently developed by Sea-gull. There is a Sea-gull logo in gold tone on the auto rotor and beautiful fish-scale decoration on the plates. The watch has a stainless steel bracelet, but you can also prepare one pair of black alligator leather band, which will look nice on the watch.

Tags Sea-gull, ST2130

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