Category: Borman

My first subsidiary second Chinese watch is from Sea-gull, I have had it for almost one month now, and the watch still works very well. You guys must buy one small-second automatic watch, it is one of the most elegant dress watches I have seen with a clean dial design. For such a small-second watch, it is not expensive even you choose a Swiss-originated one, but one with more affordable price is the Nomos, which comes from Germany with Bauhaus style, it is a great option to choose a small-second watch, which has a good quality. However, if you are searching online, you will find some small-second watches made in China too, with much lower price and moderate quality, they may be better choices and can save you a lot at the same time. Borman, I found this watch several days ago, it is a germany originated watch, whether it is true or not, I like their watches’ design, which is in line with the aesthetics of Swiss or German watches. This rose gold Borman is the second watch I bought from them, it has a small-second feature and a very solid quality.

The rose gold case is made with inner 316L stainless steel material, not a solid rose gold watch, there is only a layer of rose gold coating on the surface, not sure how thick it is, but it will certainly fade after some days of wearing, we won’t know how long the gold will last before fading, but I suggest you take a very good care of your watch if you want it to keep its original rose gold tone for a long time. The rose gold case, the golden tone on dial, as well as the brown color on the leather band and hand stitching, they are formed a seamless “gold’ style on the watch. The case has a diameter up to 40mm, it is measured to be 9.7mm in thickness, a little thick than I expect, for such type of small-second mechanical watch from the Switzerland or Germany, they will be no thicker than 9mm.

I like its white dial, which features bar-shaped hour markers and hands in rose gold tone. Each hour marker has a three-dimensional finish, so are the central hour hand and minute hand, which are more obvious. There is a small dial at 6 o’clock with a small golden second hand, a date window is opened at 3 o’clock, it features black date font, clearly readable on the white background. By the way, the date window has a multi-level three-dimensional structure, it is nicely finished. The dial is under protection of a highly scratch-resistant sapphire crystal.

About the movement, at this price point, the only option is to choose an automatic movement made in China, I do not know which factory the movement comes from, but its finish displayed via the transparent crystal back looks ok, and the accuracy is about 10 seconds faster each day, which is acceptable for most people after all the watch has a low price. The brown leather band is made with soft and durable calfskin leather, which features embossed crocodile textures on the surface, together with the rose gold case, they enhance the luxury temperament of the entire watch.

I was really shocked by this timepiece when I was making a searching online about good quality designer watches made in China. I thought it is a German brand because of its complications dial and sophisticated craftsmanship, however, after reading the introduction on its website and checking wathces’ prices, I am sure that Borman is a Chinese brand. Borman, I am glad the brand has chosen such a nice name, like the name of a pilot coming from Germany. I checked all watches produced by Borman yesterday and found they are all dress watches, there are no sports models or diver’s watches from Borman, they are doing one specific thing, also a great project, although the watch quality is not as solid as A.Lange or Glashutte from Germany, but Borman really deserves more attention from us.

The case is crafted with solid 316L stainless steel, its diameter is up to 40mm and thickness is about 12mm, this is a very popular case size for most dress watches, by the way, the case is not thick, I like it, some of watches like this made in China are too thick when being integrated with several functions. The fluted pumpkin-shaped crown is easy for the wearer to rotate to adjust time and date, the crown has a glossy high-polished “BORMAN” lettering on a sanded background. By the way, the lug width is 21mm, it is strange that Borman does not use rose gold on case back rim.

The coffee dial breaks through the design traditions of most Chinese watches, it has the aesthetics of mechanical watches made in Germany. Whether the GMT, Moon Phase indicator or week display, they are greatly different from the Chinese watches you usually see. The small dial at 12 o’clock is a world time display that has a true GMT function, but you need to adjust it manually by push the button on the case at 2 o’clock. For example, when you in New York, the main dial tells you local time, but you can adjust the GMT hand to the hour time of another city at the same time. The semicircular indicator at 6 o’clock shows you day and night through the rotating sun and moon disc, it is a false moon phase indicator, it will rotate every 24 hours. The week is displayed at 9 o’clock from “MO” to “SU” alternately. The date window features a black date font in white background. The most interesting thing I found on the dial is its central seconds hand, it is very small, just on the axis of the hand set. The button on the case at 4 o’clock is pressed to adjust the week display.

The watch features an exhibition-style case back that is fixed by eight screws. Behind the central crystal, there is golden movement inside that has beautiful finish on the auto rotor and movement plates. The movement is claimed by Borman with 48-hour power reserve, I do not think so, it is just a very common automatic movement from China, 38-hour power reserve I think, but I still suggest you wind it every night before going to bed to keep a more accurate timing. The watch is equipped with a brown leather band, which is fitted with a deployant clasp that also has beautiful fish-scale patterns like the movement. I like the Borman watch very much, I want to keep it on my wrist every day, because it looks more Swiss made than the other dress watches in my collection.