Author: Bob

Categories
Merkur

Merkur Alarm Watch Review

Merkur Alarm Watch

I am greatly surprised that I find a Chinese alarm watch, first, it is a watch on mens wrist, but has the alarm function. I have never paid attention to alarm watches before, those big Swiss brands also seldom made alarm watches, I read one or two reviews, but never saw an alarm watch in hand before. Merkur is a Chinese watch brand that doing different things, not like many other Chinese brands that just know how to copy and make homage watches, after seeing a lot Merkur watches, I am in love with it more and more. And an alarm watch coming from a Chinese brand is really a big thing.

Merkur Poljot

This is a very simple alarm watch, its functions are hours, minutes, seconds and alarm, no date. Merkur watches are cheap and usually sold at less than $150, but this alarm watch is a little expensive, more than $300, which is still much cheaper than those Swiss brands. The alarm watch is interesting, set the alarm, and the watch will really make a sound, all functions are shown on the dial that has a bit Bauhaus style, especially the Arabic hour markers of 6 and 12. The central red hand is an alarm hand that can be adjusted through the crown at 2 o’clock, check these red numbers on the outermost, you will know how to set the alarm time, and when the hour hand meets the long red hand and both on the same line, the alarm will immediately make a sound.

Merkur Alarm Watch Case Back

It is said that the watch is powered by a Russian alarm movement, which is Soviet Poljot 2612, I do not know this movement, but I think the watch is produced in limited quantity is just because the company can not get too many Poljot movements. The suede leather band just looks ok, if you do not like this type of band, you can change a new one in easy effort.

Merkur Watch Group
Merkur Alarm Watch Wrist Shot
Categories
Shanghai Watch

Shanghai 6003 Mens Watch Review

Shanghai Watch Box

Do you like this watch? I think many of you guys still like this type of mechanical watches because it has a very classic design that was very popular several years ago, that’s the opening window on the dial. Many people who do not know watches thought the working device in the opening is a tourbillon, some watch companies indeed used the word “tourbillon” in the title of the product, but this is not a tourbillon watch, the window opened at 6 o’clock is showing a working balance wheel of the movement. Today, I still see some websites that are selling watches on Aliexpress do not use the “tourbillon” word correctly. Now, back to our today’s topic, it is a review of another Shanghai watch that has multiple functions, which are very convenient for the wearer to know more time information, I think it should be a necessary model in mens watch collection.

Shanghai 6003 in Box

The watch is made with 316L stainless steel, the round bezel is polished, well, I like the bracelet style, the brushing finish on the middle links also looks obvious, which forms a high contrast with the polishing on other parts of the watch. Shanghai Watch Factory also offers one pair of black leather straps for this watch. Besides the crown, there are also three extra pushers on the case, each can be pushed to adjust the feature on the dial. The dial is the place that combines every function of the watch, let’s talk the opening window design at 6 o’clock first, it not only allows you to appreciate the rhythm beauty of the mechanical movement, but also enhances the stability of the entire movement. There are two small dials on the silver dial, the small dial at 9 o’clock is week display, which can be adjusted through the button at 8 o’clock, the month display is set at 3 o’clock, which can be adjusted through the button at 4 o’clock. The date is displayed in a separated window at 12 o’clock, which can be adjusted through the button at 2 o’clock. All functions are real. And the blued steel hands exactly enhance the elegance of the entire watch.

Shanghai Watch Stainless Steel

The watch is powered by a Shanghai 2L27 automatic movement, which can beat 21,600 times per hour, it has 35 jewels and 40-hour power reserve. I know little about Shanghai movement, I saw some negative reviews about this movement, someone said their watch is 35 seconds slower each day, someone said their watch has a 3-minute inaccuracy each day, fortunately my watch still works accurate til now, it gains 15 seconds but that’s acceptable, the quality of Shanghai watch is trusted, but you need to ask them to test for several days more before shipping.

Shanghai 6003 Movement
Shanghai 6003 Wrist Shot
Categories
Merkur

Pierre Paulin Small Seconds Vintage Watch Review

Pierre Paulin Small Seconds

What is Pierre Paulin? It is the name of a watch brand, I saw this brand on the website of Merkur, which is also a custom-made watch brand created in China, not like other Chinese homage watches, Merkur is more creative in design. I introduced Pierre Paulin watches on my blog before, the most popular model is the one that looks similar to Daytona Panda, many people like this watch and have asked me the price, actually, almost all watches made by Merkur have cheap prices except the ones with tourbillon movement. The Pierre Paulin watch I am going to review today is a basic model of Pierre Paulin with simple design, but with elegant style, the watch also offers a lot of fun on the band because the wearer can change different types of bands and they still look nice on the watch.

Pierre Paulin Silver Dial

The case is not big, which is only 38mm in diameter, but checking the pictures, it looks larger than 38mm. The case is totally brushed, it is a whole piece of metal that is made with stainless steel, the brushing on the case does not look very delicate, but I like this finish that looks a bit rough. Due to the manual winding movement inside, the case is only 12mm thick. The solid case back has the engraving of a lion head. And seeing from the back, the connection between the case and band is also very simple for the wearer to remove and change a new band on.

The dial is silver and has a very high readability. In my memory, I do not know which Swiss watch uses this dial design, or is it just the own design of Pierre Paulin? If yes, that’s amazing. The circle with big Arabic numeral hour markers on has the same brushing finish as the case. The blue color just refreshes the entire silver and gray dial. A small dial positioned at 6 o’clock shows the working small seconds hand, which is sweeping smoothly. The outer track-style minute scales always look classic. The watch is powered by a manual winding mechanical movement, I do not suggest you wind too tight each time, just 20 rotations will be enough. The watch comes with a green leather band, actually this type of full grain leather band fits better than any other bands, absolutely you can try a rubber band. By the way, I will love the watch more if it has a see-through crystal back.

Pierre Paulin Case Back
Categories
Sugess

Sugess Breitling Top Time Homage Watch Review

Sugess Breitling Homage

What is Sugess? I never heard this watch before, after checking its website, I know it is another customized watch brand in China, currently I do not know which city this brand is created in, I will write posts to do background survey on these homage watch brands created in China, at that time, I think you guys will have a full understanding of these homage watches. Not like other custom-made watch brands in China, most watches made by Sugess are not diving styles, so I guess this brand is not from the same company as Proxima, San Martin and Steeldive. This Sugess watch I am going to review today has a very similar outlook to the Breitling Top Time, which I knew this watch from its replica, it is very popular, the watch is a big watch, its case diameter is up to 40mm, that does not include the crown and chrono buttons, such size is exactly in line with the trend of big watches. This Sugess watch is made with high grade stainless steel material, it uses sapphire and is equipped with Sea-gull movement, the watch has a working chrono function, so its price is a little higher than the other same type of watches made in China, but still very affordable.

Sugess Breitling Top Time

All selling points of the watch lie in its dial and movement. The dial is blue and has two subdials in white color. The two small dials have square design but with round corners, that look different from most other chrono watches, the center of the two subdials is sunken, this design enhances the spacing sense of the dial and makes it look more tridimensional. The dial also has a very high readability, it uses five different colors, that’s the dial with most colors I have seen, but it does not affect readability of the dial at all, even make a very lively dial. The central second-chronograph hand has a lightning shape, which exactly meets the artistic font style of Sugess. Both small dials have different functions that are real, the one with a yellow small hand at 9 o’clock is displaying the seconds, the small dial with an orange hand at 3 o’clock is a 30-minute chronograph counter. The central lightning second hand is usually fixed, once you push the chrono button at 2 o’clock, it will count, you can also let this hand working all the time, but the energy of the watch will last long. About the movement, I am very happy that the Sugess adopts a see-through crystal back, so that I can see the movement clearly, it is a manual winding movement from Sea-gull, the exact movement model is ST1901, from the back, you can see the machine beauty of the movement. By the way, the watch comes with a blue leather band, you can also order one pair of genuine aligator leather straps from China, there are stores in Guangzhou watch market can do this job.

Sugess Manual Winding
Sugess Wrist Shot

Conclusion:

A fashionable pilot’s watch with highly-readable dial and a very stable Sea-gull movement. The watch has a real chronograph function and features a see-through crystal back that allows you to appreciate the beauty of the working machine inside. A very good-looking pilot’s watch for the young people, and it is very popular watch on the aliexpress, Sugess offers several dial color options and different leather bands for this watch, you can always find your favorite style.

Categories
Shanghai Watch

Shanghai Watch X629 Review

Shanghai Watch Paper Package
Shanghai Watch in Box

I never thought that I will publish reviews about Shanghai watches on my blog, because there are Chinese words “上海” on every Shanghai watch, many people do not like this, however, I just noticed that Shanghai Watch Factory opened a store on Aliexpress, they also want to open the overseas watch market, I do not know if there are many people buying Shanghai watches in the United States and European countries, but now I feel it is necessary to give introduction of some Shanghai watches on my blog, after all, Shanghai watch has a very rich history in Chinese watch industry, it is also one of the biggest watch factories in China. In the 60s and 70s, Shanghai watch was very popular, it was said that every newly married couples will buy one pair of Shanghai watches at that time, and another two necessory items for marriage at that time are one bicycle and one sewing machine, in my memory, when I was a child, I found two Shanghai watches in one drawer of the wardrobe in my home. We have moved to a new home, the old Shanghai watches were lost, some people said that these old Shanghai watches could be sold at high prices, because some persons like to collect.

Shanghai Watch 629

Today, I want to introduce the first Shanghai watch on my blog, please look at the pictures, does it look like Longines? Yes, a bit, but this stainless steel watch is the the type most people are going to buy as the first watch. Other watches like Pilot watch or diver’s watch are usually not their first choices. This Shanghai watch looks elegant, not only because of its classic combination of stainless steel tone, white dial and black numeral hour markers, the blued steel hands enhance the elgance of the entire watch. The watch is made with 304 stainless steel, the case is polished with a smooth round bezel, the case is not big, only 39mm in diameter, most watches in this style have such size, it is only 11mm in thickness, the crown is big, which offers a great convenience for the wearer to pull out and rotate. The watch has a crystal back to show the machine inside, I do not know which automatic movement, but it was said that many Shanghai watches using Miyota 8215 from Japan.

Shanghai Watch Stainless Steel

There are two places on the watch I do not like, it does not use a sapphire but a mineral crystal, and I do not like this bracelet, even though the bracelet has a good finish, while I think the three-section-link bracelet looks better on this watch. The dial is indeed a a good selling point, due to the oblique minutes inner bezel, the tridimensional visual effect of the dial is obvious. The font style of numeral hour markers is exactly in line with that of the Chinese words “上海”. And the hands on the center is in blue color, not painted, it is specially processed. It is exactly the blued steel hands that highlight the elegance of the entire watch. By the way, the factory also offers one pair of black leather straps for this watch.

Shanghai Watch Movement
Shanghai Watch Clasp
Shanghai Watch Wrist Shot
Categories
Beijing Watch

Beijing Fuke 1958 Watch Review

Beijing Watch Box

What is “Fuke” in this title? It is not a series of Beijing Watch, Fuke is not an english word, it is “复刻” in Chinese Pinyin, it has two meanings, but here it means the watches that pay tribute to those vintage models made by Beijing Watch Factory in old times, just like the special edition or limited edition or anniversary edition made by those Swiss brands. I like this Beijing watch more than the dress watches from other Chinese brands, its design features give me enough room to imagine how the first Beijing watch look like. Sea-gull and Beijing Watch are two my favorite Chinese watches, Sea-gull is more international, while Beijing Watch is more Chinese-style.

Beijing 1958 Watch in Box
Beijing Watch with Card

This Beijing watch is a special edition made to pay tribute to the first watch made in 1958, it has a case diameter of 38mm and a case thickness of 10.5mm, only 38mm in diameter, that’s very normal for a dress watch, and for the watches made in the old times, they usually have a smaller size than modern watches, 37mm, 38mm and 39mm are more common. The case does not look like the one you usually see on modern watches, it looks larger than it should be because more case, lugs and bezel are exposed, not like those modern dress watches that have narrowed down the case and bezel to make the dial look larger, that’s the main difference between those vintage watches and modern watches. Actually I love its case design, it looks more solid and we can appreciate the beauty of the case line. The case, bezel and lugs are all polished, it has a solid case back that features a big “BJ” engraving in satin finish. The crown has a Tian An Men sculpture on the face.

Beijing 1958 Watch
Beijing 1958 Case Back

The dial is under the protection of a domed acrylic crystal, this is a classic feature for vintage watches whether from Sea-gull or Beijing, it is a little strange that the watch is stainless steel made, the dial is silver but the hour markers and hands are using golden color. Well, I like this style, the silver dial with golden hour markers and hands, it is first time for me to see such a combination, this is also the uniqueness of the dial designs. The sunray sand brushing finish on the dial is completed very well, there is a golden Tian An Men logo in tridimensional at 12 o’clock.

Beijing 1958 Wrist Shot

At last, the watch is equipped with a B16ZR automatic movement, which has 27 jewels and can beat 21,600 times per hour, once being fully winded, it can continue to work 40 hours. The watch comes with a black calfskin leather strap with a stainless steel buckle, well, I think a brown alligator leather band will look better on this watch. By the way, after having had it for two weeks, the watch gains ten seconds each day.

Categories
Parnis

Parnis Panda Daytona 116500 Homage Review

Parnis Daytona 116500 Homage

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.

Parnis Daytona Panda
Parnis White Daytona

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.

Parnis Daytona in Box
Parnis Daytona Homage Watch

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.

Parnis Daytona Buckle
Parnis Case Back

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.

Parnis Daytona Dial Lume
Parnis Daytona Wrist Shot
Categories
Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas Rolex Submariner Oman Khanjar Homage Review

Vakuy Rigas Vintage Submariner

Absolutely this is a homage watch, a Rolex Submariner homage, but the dial has a mysterious symbol, I did not see it before, searched it online and found it is a famous dagger from Oman, it has a name called Khanjar, did Rolex publish such a watch in the past? If yes, it must be one of these vintage Rolexs made in old times, which now become the objects of homage brands to copy. Now, I am very sure that Parnis and Vakuy Rigas are the same company, the watches made by them have a great similarity. There are many niche brands appeared in Chinese watch market, many are coming from Guangdong, actually made in the city of Dongguan, because a lot of factories there making watch parts, some of them do custom-made work, including this Vakuy Rigas, you can tell them what letters printed on the dial, but I do not think they can do this customized dial printing for orders abroad.

Vakuy Rigas Oman Khanjar
Vakuy Rigas Submariner Homage

This vintage Submariner homage is loved by many people who can not find the correct watch in the second hand market. The Vakuy Rigas is made with solid 316L stainless steel, the case is entirely brushed except the two sides that are polished, the crown is screwed down with a clean smooth face, no brand logo on it. Vakuy Rigas said the black bezel is ceramic, but I found it is not, it is alloy made, the case has beautiful lug shape and the bezel tooth has a great similarity to that of Submariner, there is no pearl instead of a more obvious red triangle. The black dial is under the protection of a domed mineral crystal, the hour markers use lume material that looks a bit yellowish, that’s two obvious vintage elements you can find on this watch. The watch is driven by a Miyota 8215 automatic movement, I think you have a full understanding of this movement because many Chinese homage brands and replica watches are using this movement. It is not too accurate but you can trust its stability.

Vakuy Rigas Oman Khanjar Submariner
Vakuy Rigas Homage Watch
Vakuy Rigas Bezel
Vakuy Rigas Black Dial
Vakuy Rigas Oman Khanjar Logo
Vakuy Rigas Steel Bracelet
Categories
Vakuy Rigas

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Homage Watch Review

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Homage

Vakuy Rigas, have you heard of this watch brand before, it is a new homage watch created in China, I saw some watches made by them, most of them are homages of Rolex, Panerai and IWC, like Parnis, it is more like the sub-brand or a brother brand of Parnis. Today, I will share another watch review of Vakuy Rigas, it looks like Panerai, an old model made in the past, but I do not know which PAM it is, the crown has a lock system, which I only saw it on U-Boat before, the watch has a big case that is 44mm in diameter and 18mm in thickness, such big case exactly is in line with the style of Panerai, which is the most famous military watch in Italy. Both Parnis and Vakuy Rigas like to choose these vintage watches or models made in old times to create homage watches. So some people are interested in such type of homage watches just because they can not find these vintage models any more in the market.

Vakuy Rigas Panerai with Rubber Band

The case is polished, and the bezel is brushed, actually I prefer all brushing finish on the watch, it would be more in line with the military watch style. I have checked the brushing finish on the bezel, it does not look that delicate on Pagani Design and Benyar, the Pagani Design has better finish on the case. The bezel is fixed and features metal studs, some studs in the holes are not exactly in the right position, the round hole at 12 o’clock is filled with white lume material, like the round hour markers on the dial.

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Locking
Vakuy Rigas Panerai Unscrew
Vakuy Rigas Panerai Case

The dial is unique, I have not seen such grid dial on Panerai watches for a long time, the dial also has an unsymmetrical design because the small-second sundial is set between 10:00 and 11:00, the second hand runs smoothly crossing the small dial, which has fine CD patterns. The small square window at 3 o’clock features white date font in the black background, the magnifier on the mineral crystal face just enlarges the date font to a proper size, not that large on the Submariner.

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Dial
Vakuy Rigas Panerai Small Second

The watch is powered by a Sea-gull ST25 automatic movement, for such a price less than $80, it is worth to get this watch with such a low price. The watch is equipped with a black rubber strap, while I think a brown leather band made with calfskin will also fits the watch very well.

Vakuy Rigas Panerai Case Back

Buying advice:

This Vakuy Rigas watch perfectly represents the style of a vintage Panerai watch made in the old times. With a Sea-gull movement inside, the watch works stably and usually has very few issues in future use.

Categories
Sea-gull

Sea-gull Ocean Star Orange/Blue GMT Watch Review

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange

It is another diver’s watch I like, the watch is from Sea-full, which is the best Chinese watch I think, I introduced a lot of Sea-gull watches before, they are my most favorite Chinese watches, if you want one diver’s watch from China, I recommend the Ocean Star from Sea-gull. Today, I will introduce another Sea-gull Ocean Star, look at the pictures below, are you very familiar with it? This blue Sea-gull watch looks like a homage of the Omega Planet Ocean, especially its blue and orange color, I do not remember which Omega Planet Ocean model now, but it is not completely copied, the dial has a different design, besides the blue, Sea-gull also offers a green model, the watch is equipped with a stainless steel bracelet, Sea-gull also offers one extra pair of nylon/rubber band is blue and orange color.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Case

The size of the watch is big, made with solid stainless steel, if you choose to wear with a steel bracelet, the watch will be much heavier than other diver’s watches because it has a big case. I like the orange and blue band more, it matches the watch better. The finish of the watch is ok, but unfortunately the bezel is not ceramic made, it is alloy. The case has a diameter of 44mm, a big size, most men won’t choose this size because it is too big, well, the case is not too thick, only about 12.5mm. The case does not look so strong even it has a big size, I would love it more if the crown guards are bigger.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Case Back

The bezel is not ceramic, it is uni-directional rotating and has orange diving scales from 0 to 15 minutes. The bezel tooth have wide mouth design, not deep and sharp like the bezel tooth on Submariner’s bezel. The dial is blue that exactly matches with the blue color on the bezel. The dial has a high readable design, besides the strong and long-lasting lume light, the hour markers and hands have wide design so that can be applied with more lume material, even under a weak light condition, the dial still has a good readability because the high-contrast dial color of blue and orange. There is no extra GMT hand, but with an inner bezel that displays the time of the second time zone, the inner bezel can be adjusted by the button on the case at 10 o’clock.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Wrist Shot

The watch is powered by a ST2130 automatic movement that is independently developed by Sea-Gull Watch Company. The movement has 42-hour power reserve and 28 jewels, it beats 28,800 times per hour. Such type of Sea-gull movement has an inaccuracy of about 15 seconds each day. About the band, the blue nylon(outside) and orange rubber(backside) band fits the watch better. By the way, Sea-gull claims that this watch is water resistant to 200 meters.

Sea-gull Ocean Star 200m Blue Orange Bracelet