Having seen a lot of Chinese watches and will continue to do reviews on more watches from China, now I think it is the right time to categorize and give a tiered ranking of these Chinese watches, so that you guys can know them better. When doing this job, I will not refer to any ranking guide on the internet, I am just talking my opinion, and this article will be constantly updated.
S(Superior): Sea-gull, Beijing, Shanghai, Peacock
Sea-gull, which is the first Chinese watch most of you guys know, is the most important watch brand in China. At the same time, Sea-gull not only makes watches, but they are also one of the biggest movement manufacturers in the world. From the basic three-hand watches to complicated technologies like tourbillon, perpetual calendar and minute repeater, you can find in Sea-gull collection. The ST2130, which is made according to ETA 2824, is used in many Sea-gull watches and other niche brand watches. Despite any other eye-catching watches on the market, Seagull is and will always be the foundation of Chinese watches.
Beijing watch is also a great brand and has a history as long as Sea-gull. The first tourbillon watch made in China was from Beijing Watch Factory. Besides, Beijing watch also makes complicated watches such as chronograph, minute repeater, perpetual calendar and tourbillon, Beijing Watch has mastered the art of seamlessly blending Chinese cultural motifs into its timepieces.
Like Sea-gull and Beijing Watch, Shanghai Watch also has had a glorious history. Shanghai Watch is also one of the main movement manufacturers in China, their movement is used by a lot of watches, especially the chronograph movement developed by them. There was a time, Shanghai watch was more popular than Sea-gull, those Shanghai watches made in old times still have a high value in the market today.
The fourth watch in this tier is Peacock, whose predecessor is Liaoning Watch Factory or Dandong Watch Factory, only make high-end watches, most watches have higher prices than the three mentioned above. Their main research is on tourbillon watches, so they have a full set of tourbillon models. Like Sea-gull, Peacock has strong movement development capabilities.
These four watches in S tier may not be the most popular watches in China, but they are all alike in one way, that is they can research and manufacture movements independently.