Author: Bob

Categories
Pagani Design

Pagani Design Seamaster 007 Spectre Homage Watch Review

Pagani Design Specture 007 with Box

You can not imagine how popular the Seanaster 007 Spectre was when this movie launched in that year, Omega Seamaster is one of the best-selling diver’s watches, plus the charm of Daniel Craig wearing in the movie, a lot of watch fans and 007 movie fans were after this watch, and the replica of this Seamaster 007 made by VSF was also highly welcomed at that time. Pagani Design makes this homage, it looks good and it is a very good-looking diver’s watch, but I do not think it is an exact clone, it is not a successful homage of the Seamaster 007 Spectre. I am not mean the quality of the watch is not good, actually it has a very good quality at this price point, you know, the quality of watches from Pagani Design always deserves their prices. I mean its appearance is similar to Spectre Seamaster 007, but there are color difference and design difference. I do not know if San Martin has this homage model, but if they do make, it will look very close to Seamaster Spectre in appearance.

Pagani Design Specture 007 Homage

The color difference, there are two places, first, the blue color of the watch, it is a bit too bluish, and second, the orange lume material applied on bezel markers, hour markers and hands are too bright, well, I still think this is a good quality Spectre homage watch, its case shape is very correct, very similar to the shape of Seamaster, look at the case, especially the lugs, the arched shape can fit your hand in a more comfortable way, the edge of the lug has a polished finish, which is in contrast with the the brushing of the case. Like the finish of the bracelet, the brushing one middle links and polishing on the links of two sides.

Pagani Design Specture 007 Crown
Pagani Design Specture 007 Case

I like the blue dial, it features skeleton hour markers except the arrow-shaped markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12. The plate on the bottom is fully applied orange lume material, this sandwiched dial structure gives the wearer a better visual enjoyment, but also can be applied with more lume material to guarantee a durable lume light effect of the dial. The movement behind the solid back is a Miyota 8215, well, I will like it more if the watch has a transparent crystal back. The movement is ok, inaccuracy is about +-15 seconds each day, a very good movement chosen by a lot of low-end homage watch brands.

Pagani Design Specture 007 Bracelet
Pagani Design Specture 007 Buckle
Categories
Pagani Design

Pagani Design Milgauss Homage Review

Pagani Design Milgauss Homage

I like Pagani Design, it makes a lot good watches, the quality is not the best, but considering their prices, I think it has the high quality most people are looking for. I know what you guys really concern when buying a watch, two things, quality and its price. Absolutely you want the highest quality, but the highest quality watch needs a high price. So, a good watch with a matching price is also a good option. For example, Pagani Design watches have very low prices, but after checking its finish and movement, you will think it is very worth, even exceed your expectations at this price level. Among so many homage watches made by Pagani Design, my most favorite one is the Oyster Perpetual homage, and this Milgauss green sapphire also looks nice.

Pagani Design Milgauss with Box

The watch has a very similar appearance to Rolex Milgauss, the green sapphire crystal and lightning second hand, two classic features of Milgauss, the watch has a sapphire crystal, but the green hue absolutely does not come from the crystal, it is not green crystal, I think there is a thin layer of green film added between the crystal and inner bezel, so you will see this green hue, which is very strong, too strong, not look natural green. The Pagani Design homage has a black dial with orange lime material applied on hour markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12, together with the orange lightning hand, the orange color improves the dial readability greatly.

Pagani Design Milgauss Crown

I appreciate the finish of Pagani Design watch, for this price level, it almost beat any other homage watches I bought from China. The brushing on the case and bracelet has a high contrast with the smooth polishing on the bezel, I like this strong visual effect on the watch, the edge and every corner of the bracelet are also finished very well, no uncomfortable feeling or touch when wearing. The watch is equipped with a Japanese automatic movement, which is NH35A, many homage watches made by Pagani Design use this movement, this Japanese movement has its advantages such as high stability and durability. And for this 40mm case, you can also do an upgrade job to change a better movement. In future, I will introduce more watches from Pagani Design, I also want to sell them on my site.

Pagani Design Milgauss Bracelet
Pagani Design Milgauss Case Back
Categories
Mysterious Code

Mysterious Code IWC Pilot Mark Homage Watch Review

Mysterious Code Pilot Homage

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

Mysterious Code Pilot Mark

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

Mysterious Code Pilot Case Back

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

Mysterious Code Buckle
Mysterious Code Pilot Watch
Categories
Benyar

Benyar Turquoise Tiffany Blue OP Homage Review

Benyar Watch in Box

Have you ever heard of Benyar watch? Actually I just knew this watch, it is another great homage brand from China, I saw many positive reviews about Benya on the internet, some people said Benyar and Pagani Design are the same company, perhaps this is true, I found this watch when I browsing the website of Pagani Design, so there must be a connection between Pagani Design and Benyar. Some people also said Benyar is cheaper version of Pagani Design, I think this saying describes their relationship much better. I have introduced a lot of Chinese watches on my blog, including the big brands like Sea-gull and Beijing, but what I love most are these cheap homage watches, especially Parnis and Pagani Design, these two watches are my most favorite, one has a glorious past, ther other is currently the hottest homage brand. Today, I want to introduce a Benyar watch with turquoise dial, also named as Tiffany Blue dial, this dial color is very popular in watch industry, both Rolex and Patek Philippe have published watches with the tiffany blue dial, and the Oyster Perpetual watch with Tiffany Blue dial has become the object of many Chinese homage brands to copy.

Benyar Tiffany Blue

Pagani Design also has this Tiffany Blue model, but the price of this Benyar is $38, only half of that Pagani Design, I am a little surprised that a good quality automatic watch is no less than $40, and with good case finish. I compared two of them, and found this Benyar uses a mineral crystal and a Chinese automatic movement, while the Pagani Design uses a sapphire crystal and a Japanese automatic movement, maybe this is the main reason why Pagani Design is expensive than the Benyar.

Benyar Watch Case Back

The case of the watch is 39mm in diameter, Rolex did not make 39mm Oyster Perpetual, well, I do not think this is a mistake on the watch, on the contrary, I like this 39mm size, a very good size for mens casual watch. The case is 11.7mm in thickness, a bit thick I think, but it can not be reduceded because of the Chinese movement inside. The watch features a see-through crystal back, and you can see engravings of brand name BENYAR and logo on the auto rotor, for such a price, I did not expect this.

Benyar Watch Wrist Shot

The advantage of Pagani Design watch lies in its good case finish and good dial, while on this Benyar, the quality on the case and dial finish is not reduced even it has a much lower price. The candom bezel has a very smooth polishing, the turquoise dial has the most authentic blue color I have ever seen. There is a date window that features black font in white background, the date font is a little upper in the window, I do not care about this now, for such a price, with a good case finish and good dial details, as well as a more acceptable crystal back, I should not expect more.

Categories
Mysterious Code

Mysterious Code Submariner Homage Review

Mysterious Code Submariner Watch with Cover

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

Mysterious Code Submariner White Dial Black Ceramic Bezel

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

Mysterious Code Submariner

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

Mysterious Code Submariner White Dial

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

Mysterious Code Submariner Watch Dial Lume
Categories
Pagani Design

Pagani Design Rolex Day-Date Homage Review

Pagani Design Watch in Box

Among so many niche brands appeared in Chinese watch market in recent years, Pageni Design is one of the fast growing watches, they have a lot of watch fans abroad and have accumulated a good reputation, people seem to have recognized this brand even though all watches they made are homages, and Pagani Design seems to walk the same development road of its former Parnis, you know how popular Parnis was at that time, and the downfall makes people almost forget this brand. I am not sure if Pagani Design will have the same result, but completely copying the Swiss watches is not a good idea for Chinese brands, the brands like STEELDIVE, Proxima, Octopus and Pagani Design, their main purpose is to earn money quickly, so they find this way to copy, but if they make innovation in future models, I think they will be finally accepted by us. At current stage, I did a search on reddit and found many positive feedback about watches made by Pagani Design, which is more accepted than other Chinese homage brands.

Pagani Design Rolex Day-Date Homage

The new Pagani Design watch I am going to introduce today is a homage of Rolex Day-Date, the watch has a 36mm case diameter and is measured to be 13mm in case thickness. I love Pagani Design mainly because its case and bracelet have a super finish. The polishing on the lugs, the alternative polishing and brushing on the bracelet makes it look more high-end, just like the luxury brand Rolex Day-Date, for a low price level, with such a good finish, I think it is worth to try. The 36mm size is ok for me, but if they make a 40mm version, I want to buy one. The dial is ice blue, except black, it is my most favorite color on such type of dress watches. The dial is finish in a high-end level, even the watch is sold at a low price, but the finish of every element on the dial does not look low, the texture of the ice blue dial has a delicate sunray finish, when you swing the watch slowly, you will find the dial has a strand of reflected light, the stainless steel Rome hour markers and Pagani Design logo are all finished in tridimensional, you know, to save cost, many brands not willing to use a three-dimensional brand logo on the dial. In a word, the finish of the watch too deserves its price. At last, the watch is equipped with a Sea-gull ST16 automatic movement, that’s really nice, sold less than $100, for such good finish on case and dial with a Sea-gull movement, it already has beaten 98% of homage watches created in Chinese market.

Pagani Design Day Date Wrist Shot
Categories
Sea-gull

Sea-gull Ocean Star Pro 300m Frozen Watch Review

Sea-gull White Box

Besides Parnis, Sea-gull is my most favorite Chinese watch, I have bought several timepieces from them and want to buy more in future, Sea-gull is also the Chinese brand whose watches’ design have close styles to that of Swiss watches, whether the dress watches or diver’s watches made by Sea-gull, you can always see similar designs that could be found on Swiss watches. I like diver’s watches and I have some from Sea-gull and other Chinese homage brands, but I think the best-looking diver’s watch is from Sea-gull Ocean Star, it has a good name, by the way the watches also look nice, it refers to the design of Swiss diving watches but also add their own features in the watch, that’s one important factor that makes Sea-gull more popular abroad. Today, the watch I am going to review is a new model from Ocean Star made by Sea-gull, it is white and blue color, with a special ice crystal dial, I think it will be a very nice timepiece for you to wear in a snowy weather, or wearing it when going skiing.

Sea-gull Ocean Star in Box

I introduced one Ocean Star diver’s watch before, it is a blue model, many people shown their interest and asked me the price. Now this new model is a white snow one, it is a diver’s watch but does not look that tough like other diving-style models, do you like this style? But I like its color and the dial display, as a diver’s watch, it is 300m waterproof, that’s a big depth, well, it you want to make it look more tough and like a diver’s watch for men, you can change a smooth black calf leather band on, the watch still looks nice on a black leather strap.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 300m

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter of 44mm and measured to be 13mm in thickness, a little thick I think, but for a diver’s watch it is acceptable. The watch comes with a white box, absolutely it is customized by Sea-gull for this special edition watch, look at the lugs, its arc shape is very nice for the wearer and the finish has brushing on the front and polishing on the edge, this finish not only gives the user a strong visual effect, but also feels more comfortable to wear. The bezel uses a sapphire crystal cover, the blue and orange markers under are not luminous except the big “N”. I like the design of crown guards, they have delicate finish of brushing and polishing, and the crown is totally under the protection of the guards.

Sea-gull Ocean Star White Wrist Shot

The dial is the most unique place of the watch, it has a special texture that looks like the ice crystal, not like other diver’s watches, the lume on this watch not only appears on the hour markers and hands, but also applied on the main dial, the blue lume light looks beautiful in the dark. The dial has a very good readability, not only because of its strong lume light in the dark conditions, but also the blue and orange color usage forms a high contrast with the main white background. The inner minute-scale bezel is a little straight, the entire bezel will look better if it is a little oblique.

Sea-gull Ocean Star Band

The watch is powered by a ST2130 automatic movement, which is independently developed by Sea-gull Watch Company. The movement beats 28800 times per hour, it has 28 jewels and 42-hour power reserve. The watch comes with a white nylon band, but the stainless steel bracelet version is also available. At last, I think the dial lume is a little too strong and too much, this slightly affect reading time from the dial.

Sea-gull Ocean Star Dial Lume
Categories
Baltany

Baltany Military-style Quartz Watch Review

Baltany Military Watch

In recent years, many brands have appeared in Chinese market to do custom-made work, like the brands San Martin, Proxima, Octopus, STEELDIVE I introduced before, all of them seem to come from the same city in China and customize watches according to the designs of Swiss watches or Japanese watches. Many homage watches they created are beautiful with good prices, I have bought several pieces, however, I think too many brands do a repeated work in this field, that’s not good for the development of China watch industry, and sometimes customers also do not know which one to choose when facing too many options with similar designs. But among those custom-made brands, I think Merkur does a better job than others because they have more excellent watches with their own designs, that’s the right development route which every Chinese watch brand should choose.

Baltany Nylon Strap

Never heard of Baltany before, it seems to have some connection to Proxima and San Martin because their watches’ designs are similar, while still not proved. The Baltany watch I am reviewing is a good military style watch powered by a quartz movement, it has several styles that all look really wonderful, I chose the one with black nylon band. The case is made with 316L stainless steel, not titanium even though it looks not like stainless steel because of its darker matte finish. I like the matte finish on the case, I have a lot of stainless steel watches in polished, it is very nice to try another one that has a different finish on the stainless steel case. And the black nylon band also matches well with this matte case and black dial.

Baltany Quartz Watch
Baltany Stainless Steel Watch

The dial has a very good readability, there are four colors on the dial, the black background, red color on the tip of the central second hand, yellow lume color applied on the arrow-shaped markers and hands, white numeral hour markers. It is powered by a Seiko VK61 quartz movement that offers the watch hours, minutes, small seconds and chronograph functions. The subdial at 6 o’clock has a ticking small second, it will keep moving as long as the battery has power. The small dial at 12 o’clock is a 60-minute chronograph counter. At night, the dial will emit two strong lume light, one is blue on these numeral hour markers, the other is green, both are very strong but I have not tested if they will last for a long time. The dial lume is really a big advantage of those custom-made watch brands in China. The watch looks like on this nato band, well, there are too many band choices for such a military watch, a distressed brown leather band or a black calfskin leather band will also look nice, Baltany gives you choices to select your most favorite band because custom-made watch brand is doing such work.

Baltany Dial
Baltany Crown
Baltany Watch Dial
Categories
Sea-gull

Sea-gull Dongfeng 21 Zuan Watch Review

Dongfeng 21 Zuan Watch

I am always deeply attracted by the history of Chinese watch industry, this pushes me to buy more China brand watches, there are so many amazing mechanical watches from these traditional watch factories in China like Sea-gull, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and so on, some not only design nice watches, but also have fascinating history. Compared with their watches, I more love reading the stories behind these traditional watch factories. The main difference between these Chinese traditional watch factories and new rising homage brands is that the former has their own movements, and Sea-gull is one of the biggest movement suppliers in the world, while a few new homage watches still making up stories to pretend as Swiss brands to cheat customers. The Sea-gull watch I am going to review today is a special model made to pay tribute to the first vintage Dongfeng watch in history of Tianjin Watch Factory, the watch looks nice and it is the best-looking casual watches in my collection.

Sea-gull Dongfeng Case

The Sea-gull watch has a small size that is 38mm in case diameter, this is a size I like, with a small crown, it is very comfortable to wear, and the polished case is only 12mm in thickness. It has a solid case back that has the relief of “东风” and waves in polishing finish, in a sanded background. The entire watch is polished and has arch-shaped lugs that naturally extended from the case to fit your hand in a more comfortable way, I choose the watch with a black leather band, but I could not wait to change the nylon strap on, the nylon band looks better on this watch that has a little vintage flavor.

Sea-gull Dongfeng 21 Zuan

The silver dial is under the protection of a sapphire crystal that has a arched face, the old Dongfeng watch used acrylic face, on the new model, the sapphire crystal can not only prevent scratches, but also is more clear and has a higher transparence to let you read the dial. The arched sapphire crystal face is a distinctive feature of the watch. The silver dial has simple design but it still looks beautiful to me, check the pictures, the radioactive sunray finish is fine and when you shaking the watch slowly, you will find the unique reflected light on the dial, this is really amazing design for such a Chinese watch, I saw few homage watches can do this. There is no date window. On the top of printings “ZhONGGUO TIANJIN”, there is an unique logo.

Sea-gull Dongfeng Dial

The watch is equipped with a ST16 automatic movement, which is independently developed by Sea-gull, the movement beats 21,600 times per hour and has a 36 hours power reserve, I have received it for three weeks, now the watch gains about eight seconds each day, I think this accuracy is acceptable to most people.

Sea-gull Dongfeng Case Back
Categories
Hruodland

Hruodland TV Dial Quartz Watch Review

Hruodland TV Dial

Hruodland, have you ever bought watches from this brand? I just found it and it looks like other brands I reviewed before such as San Martin, Proxima and Heimdallr, Hruodland also makes homage watches like them, many of them are diver’s watches with strong dial lume, absolutely I do respect these homage brands, although they directly copy the designs of Swiss watches, their quality is usually super. My friend in China did some research and found this brand shipped their watches from Dongguan city in Guangdong province of China, some of these brands I mentioned above like San Marin and Heimdallr also make their watches in Dongguan, so some people may think these Chinese homage brands are operated by the same company, sometime I guess so, but I will ask my friend to do more research on their background, after all there are too many such homage watches come from this city, some of them have the connection, but not all of them operated by the same company. I will write an article about them in future. About San Martin, Proxima, Heimdallr, Rdunae and other brands from Dongguan, there is one common ground behind them, I guess they all earned money by selling fake watches before. By the way, there are several websites online selling watches from these homage brands, like WRWatches and WatchDives, they are also not the company of these brands, they are just sales agent.

Hruodland TV Wrist Shot

This Hruodland has a special shape that looks like an old TV, I remembered the first television my dad bought is like the case shape of this watch. I never thought I will buy such a watch in this unique shape, but I was deeply attracted by this beauty when my friend found it on Taobao and sent me, even it is a digital quartz watch, I still decided to buy, the beautiful blue dial, well-finished case and bracelet, practical functions, it is the most distinctive digital watch in my collection. I know it is a homage watch, but I am not sure which watch it copies from.

Hruodland Blue

The watch has a heavy weight even it is only 39mm in diameter, both the case and bracelet are made with solid 316L stainless steel, they have fine brushing, which is in high contrast with the polishing finish on the bezel. The blue dial is the place I like most on the watch, besides, the finish of the stainless steel bracelet can also beat many watches, the edge of each link on the bracelet is polished round and smooth to guarantee a super wearing comfort, and among all my homage watches, the bracelet finish on this Hruodland watch is the best, I think this is one of the reasons why it is sold at a little higher price than other digital watches.

Hruodland Bracelet

The blue dial is beautiful and has a very reasonable layout design that does not look crowded even it has a lot of elements to arrange. Under different light condition, the blue color looks different, the three small dials have their own roles. Small-second subdial is at 6 o’clock, the other two subdials at 9 and 12 are for chronograph display. Two separated windows at 3 o’clock, one for week display, the other is for displaying of date. “HRUODLAND” lettering is on top of the window. The fixed central second hand will start to move when you push the chronograph button at 2 o’clock, this is a watch with working chronograph, the font of week and date is also aligned exactly in the middle of each window. By the way, the central second hand has two wings that look like a airplane.

Hruodland Buckle Engraving

The watch is driven by a Citizen 0S00 quartz chronograph movement, it is said to have a serice life of about 3 years. Hruodland does not offer an extra band for this watch, I still have not configured out which other type of bands will fit it well except this steel bracelet.