Month: November 2025

Categories
Rarone

Rarone Max – AP Homage?

There are not many reviews about this Chinese brand, Rarone, I firstly introduced the brand and its watch years ago, that watch has a very creative design, please check my review here https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2022/10/10/rarone-the-rebel-x-watch-review/. Today, I want to bring you another good-looking Rarone watch, does it look similar to AP? At least on the dial it refers to the design of Audemars Piguet, but this Rarone watch looks more lightweight and compact. Audemars Piguet has many classic models, such as the 15400 and 15500, they are the most popular stainless steel watches everyone is pursuing, but I did not see many homages in Chinese watches, the Chinese watch which I have seen with a very close outlook to AP 15500 is the one from Geya, please see my review at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2024/01/25/the-best-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-15500-homage-geya-watch-78083/, but this Geya watch is completely a copy of the original watch just with another brand name on the dial, I know many Chinese brands are doing this thing, but some other brands only borrow one or two design elements and don’t completely copy the original, this is the right direction.

Rarone is not a young brand and they have been producing watches for a long time, but seeing the designs on their watches, Rarone is definitely targeting younger customers. Not like other big brands from China, Rarone does not publish too many models each year, but every timepiece from them have their own designs and always focuses on one point, which is young.

I like this Rarone watch, it is made with stainless steel, the case is measured to be about 41.5mm in diameter and 11mm in thickness. The angular case is brushed with polished edge that feels very smooth, the round bezel sites on the case, it features brushing on the top and polishing on the side. The angular case and round bezel lay the foundation for this watch’s sporty style. The crown set at 2:00 is big, but with the help of the extended “ears” on the case, it does not look that big. And this crown is the element that makes this watch looks younger, if it is placed at 3:00 as usual, then the watch will look more mature.

The Rarone watch is equipped with a Japanese Miyota automatic movement, which I think is a Miyota 8215. The stainless steel bracelet looks high end but the rubber band makes the watch look more sporty.

Rarone AP Homage
Rarone Max
Rarone Max case
Rarone Max Black
Rarone Miyota Movement
Categories
Specht & Sohne

Specht & Sohne VC Historiques Watch Review

I found many people who buy watches from China even do not know much about Chinese watches, in a watch forum, there is one post about ‘which is the best quality three Chinese watches’, I see few people mentioned Sea-gull, much less talk about Peacock, I think both are top two brands among so many Chinese watches. More people vote for those micro brands who make homage watches, like Pagani Design, Parnis, Proxima, Sugess, etc. Some of them have high quality watches, but most of them just offer customers more options in cheap homages, which are not truly high quality. However, we are more interested in these cheap homages, whenever a new Swiss watch launched, many people start looking for homage versions in the Chinese market. Today, I will introduce one brand from China that often releases new homage watches, you can put it in your list.

I introduced two Specht & Sohne watches on my blog before, one of them is the popular Tag Heuer Monaco Homage, please check the review here https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2025/07/06/specht-sohne-tag-heuer-monaco-homage-review/. Before I wrote this article, there are already many reviews about this watch, it is a good Tag Heuer Monaco homage watch, after all, there are very limited choices on the similar watch.

Today, let’s see another homage watch from this brand, which looks very similar to the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222, I did not know this watch before, but when there was a replica watch here in the market, many people bought the replica, and I knew this Vacheron Constantin watch. Maybe the owner of brand Specht & Sohne decided to make its homage after seeing the crazy sale of the replica, after all he is in Guangzhou, which has the biggest market for replica watches.

The watch looks similar to VC 222, but there are big changes on the dial and bezel, and I like the changes. First, the bezel features wavy grooves, with a distinct contrast between the applied polishing and brushing. Second, the dial has a loose wave-textured finish that matches the bezel, the designs on the bezel and dial are great. On the dial, these bar-shaped hour markers lack rounded polishing on the edges, it is acceptable for me, the price is there, only around $110.

The watch is equipped with a Citizen 8215 automatic movement, which has a 21,600BPH and 42-hour power reserve. This movement usually has no issues but has a noisy rotor. Its accuracy is -20 ~ +40 sec/day.

The brand offers two dial styles, the wavy desert dial like the pictures shown below and the smooth dial, the dial color also comes in blue, wine red, golden, sandy yellow, black and gray.

Specht Sohne Golden 222
Specht Sohne Desert Dial
Specht Sohne Gold Bracelet
Specht Sohne Citizen 8215
Specht Sohne Miyota Movement
Specht Sohne Wrist Shot
Categories
Hruodland

Hruodland Panerai Homage?

Hruodland, which has a hard-to-pronounce name, is a custom-made watch brand in China. There are many brands like this that have appeared in the market, we call them micro brand watches. A lot of people like purchasing these watches from China because of their cheap prices. But I do not think every one of these brands has a bright future, just learning from San Martin, which does much better than others.

About Hruodland, after seeing this watch, you will completely understand it is a brand that customizes watches, this watch looks like a Panerai, but it lacks of the classic crown bridge, there is also no brand logo on the watch, Hruodland also offers many dial options for this watch, do you like it? Honestly, I do not like it very much, the watch lacks some classic elements, I do not think it is a successful model if the brand positions it as a vintage watch.

The watch has a big case, which is almost 45mm, not including the crown, the case is 14.5mm thick, because the crystal is domed, I measure it from the top of the crystal. Anyway, because it does not have the crown bridge, the watch appears to have lost its charm, it is like a naked watch.

The watch is equipped with a ST3600 coming from Sea-gull Watch Company. It is a manual winding movement and has 17 jewels, you can see it through the crystal back, there is no auto rotor above the movement plate. With any decoration, it is a naked movement. The ST3600 has a very good stability, many people knew this movement years ago from the fake watch industry because it was used in PAM 127 replica at that time.

The leather band looks quite ordinary, just like the entire watch, with no distinctive features. If the brand wants to make a good-looking vintage watch, I think they have failed.

Plastic box
Hruodland Watch in Box
Hruodland Panerai
Hruodland Panerai Homage
Hruodland Case
Hruodland 6497 Movement