Cronusart is a company located in Shenzhen of China, they produce both jewelries and watches, and I did not find the jewelry products they have made. The watches from Cronusart have one common feature, which is most are tonneau-shaped, absolutely they did not abandon the spirit of Chinese watches, which is homage. I have checked their official website, a lot of watches are homages of Richard Mille and Frank Muller. Some ladies models indeed attract my eyes by use of creative designs on the dial, I do not know if these creative dial designs are also copied from some Swiss models that I have never seen, anyway, I have an advice for the development of this brand, which is they can combine gems and continue to create novel designs on the dial, providing outstanding watches for ladies.
This Cronusart watch I am going to review today is made with forged carbon material, the watch may look familiar to you because it has a similar appearance to Daytona, but Rolex did not make such a carbon Daytona before, but I know which watch it copies from. This Cronusart watch exactly copies the designs of the carbon DiW Daytona, it is a great homage of the DiW Daytona. You can do a search about “DiW” on google, it is a company that makes customized Swiss watches.
I chose the one with black and orange color, which looks more attractive to me just because of the orange color used on the watch. The case has a diameter of 40mm and is measured to be 12.6mm, the entire case is made with forged carbon, including the bezel, case back and dial, the entire watch has a very light weight.
The use of orange color highlights the watch and enhances its stunning appearance. I did not expect a watch could also use carbon material on the dial, but this watch indeed has a forged carbon dial. Besides the brand logo at 12 o’clock, the orange small dials are not only in line with the orange color on the nylon band, but also enhance the readability of the black dial, they also tell you the operation mode of the watch.
This is a watch with working chronograph, seeing from its dial, the small second hand is running on the subdial at 6 o’clock, the slim and long hand on the center is not second hand, but works for seconds chronograph. The other two small dials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock have their own functions, one for minute chronograph, the other is for hour chronograph. By the way, the brand claims that this watch uses a 4130 movement made by Dandong movement factory, I only heard this movement in replica watch industry, perhaps this company sold fake watches in the past.
The band uses orange nylon on the outside, the inside that contacts your skin uses black leather, this design on the band not only maintains a cool appearance, but also guarantees a very soft and comfortable wearing experience. By the way, it is very easy to remove the band from the watch and replace a new band on.
Before I review the two watches, I want to give a brief introduction of Vakuy Rigas first, indeed I reviewed several Vakuy Rigas watches on my blog before, but a lot of people do not know the background of this brand, I doubted its relationship with Parnis and thought that both are created by the same company, I was not sure about this before, but after receiving this Vakuy Rigas Paul Newman homage watch, I am very sure that Parnis and Vakuy Rigas are run by the same company the shipper has the same address and contact phone number. By the way, the box of this Vakuy Rigas watch is the same as the one of the Parnis Pepsi GMT I reviewed two weeks ago. Check the box and accessories coming with this Vakuy Rigas below:
Both watches have the same finish on the case, brushing on the front and polishing on two sides. While the Pagani Design has a larger than case than the Vakuy Rigas, check the pictures below, the case of the Pagani Design is measured to be 39.8mm in diameter, almost 40mm, but the case of the Vakuy Rigas is only 38mm in diameter. About case thickness, if including case back and crystal, the Pagani Design is 13mm, while the Vakuy Rigas is up to 15.4mm in thickness. Why the Vakuy Rigas is much thicker if it has a smaller case? Because the crystal and movement of the Vakuy Rigas watch add the thickness. I have already checked the crystal on the Vakuy Rigas, it is very thick and too high above the bezel. And the mechanical chronograph movement inside also increases the thickness of the entire watch.
Both watches have brand logo on the crown, each chrono pusher has screw to lock, seeing from the pictures, the screw on the chrono pusher of the Pagani Design watch is in unlock status.
The case diameter of the PaganiThe case thickness of the Pagani.The case thickness of the Vakuy.The case thickenss of the Vakuy.
Conclusion:
When I hold the two watches in hand and you will see the Pagani Design is larger. Pagani Design also looks more fashionable, it is a watch that has a more modern case design and modern finish on the bracelet, while with a panda white dial with a little vintage flavor.
The case size and design of the Vakuy Rigas are closer to that of genuine Rolex Daytona Paul Newman, it has a strong vintage flavor emitting from its case, dial and bracelet.
Crystal:
Pagani Design claims that they use a sapphire crystal on the watch, I did not test. This Vakuy Rigas uses a Acrylic face, we can also call it Plexi Plastic Crystal. As far as I know, the old Daytona Paul Newman impossible to use a sapphire crystal, the plexi plastic crystal on the Vakuy Rigas enhances the vintage flavor of the entire watch.
Dial:
Both watches have a cream white dial, the color is correct. The white match-head markers on the small dials are also correct. I have taken a very close look at the dial on both watches, and I found that the small dials on the Vakuy Rigas have more refined CD patterns. The lume markers next to each stainless steel hour marker, Vakuy Rigas makes them correct, in round shape and correct cyan color. Pagani Design makes them in square shape, and they also look too orange. By the way, the dial lume on both watches is weak even after absorbing enough light under the sun. The central second-chronograph hand on the Vakuy Rigas has a white tip, which is the same as genuine Daytona Paul Newman.
Dial lume on the Pagani.
Functions:
Both watches have hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph functions, while the Pagani Design also has a 24-hour display. Because the movement is different, the Pagani Design is powered by a quartz, while the Vakuy Rigas is equipped with a mechanical chronograph movement, the display of the small dials is not the same, their functions are also not the same. The Pagani Design first, you can see the step-by-step moving small second hand on the subdial at 6 o’clock, the 9:00 subdial is a 60-minute chronograph counter, the 3:00 subdial is for 24-hour display. Then let’s see the dial of the Vakuy Rigas, the display of the small dials is the same as that on genuine Rolex Daytona Paul Newman. A smoothly moving small second hand is on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the other two subdials are 30-minute chronograph counter and 12-hour chronograph counter. Both watches have a real chronograph function, you can start, stop and reset the chronograph by pushing the two buttons on the case.
After checking the details and functions displayed on the dial, I must say the Vakuy Rigas is much closer to genuine Daytona Paul Newman.
Bracelet:
Both watches are made with solid stainless steel. The bracelet of the Pagani Design looks more modern because it uses two different finishes, polishing on the middle links and brushing on two sides. The bracelet of the Vakuy Rigas is entirely brushed, just like the bracelet on real Daytona Paul Newman. Well, for a vintage watch, I prefer the bracelet of the Vakuy Rigas.
The case back of the two watches is also different, on the Pagani Design, there is a racing car pattern, while the case back is empty on the Vakuy Rigas.
Movement:
The Pagani Design is powered by a quartz movement. The Vakuy Rigas watch is driven by a Chinese chronograph movement, which is automatic, I can feel the swinging auto rotor inside when I shake the watch slightly, not a manual winding, it is an automatic movement, I am very sure. On the website of Vakuy, they say it is a Dandong 7750 from China.
Videos:
Buying advice:
Both watches have an acceptable quality, especially the Pagani Design, it is unbelievable that the watch is sold at less than $80 but has such a good quality, with a quartz movement, it is also very convenient for the user. If you do not have enough budget, this Pagani Design, which has been added with several modern elements, will be a good choice. However, if you are looking for a very good homage of the Rolex Daytona Paul Newman watch with very strong vintage flavors, then this Vakuy Rigas will be the best one, it looks very close in every detail, as far as I know, there are few homages of Daytona Paul Newman, Vakuy Rigas should be the best one in the market.
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.
I like vintage watch, some Rolex watches made in old times attract me, when I do a search of Daytona Paul Newman homage on google, I found this brand, Vakuy Rigas, I did not hear it before, and it is the first time for me to buy from Vakuy Rigas, is this also a Chinese brand? Mostly yes, I read some comments on reddit, they talked this brand in Chinese watch section. Well, Vakuy Rigas maybe created by a small watch company in Guangzhou or Dongguan, or it is just a sub-brand of Parnis, who knows. This Vakuy Rigas I bought uses a quartz movement, it looks similar to a Rolex Daytona Paul Newman watch.
Its black bezel, cream white dial, three small dials and red minute scales indeed remind me one Daytona Paul Newman watch I saw online before, this is also the best-selling replica Daytona Paul Newman in the market. When received it two days ago, I felt like it is a real Daytona Paul Newman, very close appearance. The case is totally brushed, the edge and corner on the case and bracelet links are polished very well, they won’t scrape my hand. Two buttons are slightly different, they have screws around, but on Daytona Paul Newman, they are cap style buttons without no screws to lock. The screw-in crown is a little bigger with front a bit raised. The case is measured to be 38mm in diameter, it is a little thick, which is 15mm, but including the Acrylic glass face.
The dial has a layout that looks exactly the same as Paul Newman Daytona, and the match-head markers on the small dials are also classic element on Paul Newman Daytona, but the subdials have different functions. The watch is driven by a quartz movement, which is VK63A from Citizen, the white small hand ticks around the black subdial at 6 o’clock, the small black dial at 3 o’clock is hour display in 24-hour format, while the small black dial at 9 o’clock is 60-minute chronograph counter, I am very happy that the watch has a real chronograph function, when you push the button at 2 o’clock, the central second-chronograph hand will move. I checked the finish of these three small dials, the CD patterns are finished fine.
The bracelet is made with 316L stainless steel with solid links brushed, it features a deployant clasp without engravings. The bracelet quality exceeds my expectation, I thought the links would be loose but actually there is no much space between each link, that’s really nice. By the way, I do not want to try to wear this watch in a swimming pool even my friend told me it is water resistant.
Buying advice:
There are very few Daytona Paul Newman homage watches in the market, as far as I know, two brands are making it, Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas. And this one from Vakuy Rigas uses a quartz movement, I think you should buy it as a permanent own because the quartz movement is so durable. After this purchase, you can find a Paul Newman watch with 7750 movement. Now this Vakuy Rigas quartz watch is only sold at less than 65 USD.
I like vintage Rolex, it is one of my favorite watches, Daytona Paul Newman is a very famous vintage Rolex model, I have one, absolutely it is not a genuine, I bought it in the watch market of Guangzhou, most of you guys know this place, yes, there are many fake watches, from low to high quality. Pagani Design has made a lot of homages, most of them are from Rolex and with quartz movement, from the sales record, we can see they are very popular on the webiste of Pagani Design, many people like such homages with a higly similar outlook and cheap price.
This Pagani Design is a beautiful homage of Daytona Paul Newman, it is exactly the quartz movement that has reduced the cost of the watch, every function of the watch is real, that’s the reason why I choose it. The watch has a case diameter of 40mm and is 13mm thick, a very suitable size for all men’s wrist, the chronograph function works very well.
The case is made with solid 316L stainless steel, some people doubt about this, but I tell you, now few watches use hollow stainless steel, except those very cheap ones under 20 or 30 US Dollars. The case is brushed, it is a little bigger than the original Daytona Paul Newman model, there are two pushers with locking screws to operate the chronograph function. Pagani Design claims the black bezel uses ceramic material, but I do not think it is like real ceramic.
The dial is a classic Paul Newman’s style, it is in off-white color, three small dials feature match-head markers, there are red minute scales on the edge of the dial. The small-second subdial is at 6 o’clock, the small hand works a ticking way because of the quartz battery inside, the 60-minute chronograph is diaplayed on the subdial at 9 o’clock, there is a 24-hour display on the small dial at 3 o’clock. All small dials have real function, when you press the button at 2 o’clock, the central second-chronograph hand will start to work, all functions on the dial are real, that’s the reason I choose this homage watch.
The watch arrived to me in a Pagani Design box, inside the package, there is also one nylon band, a cloth and a screw driver. By the way, the quartz movement inside the watch is coming from Japan, it is a Seiko VK63, which is very reliable and can last for years.
