Author: Bob

Guanqin “Perpetual Calendar” Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 15, 2022
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From its dial, you may think of perpetual calendar, but this is not a perpetual calendar watch, Guanqin does not have the technology to make a perpetual calendar watch, this is a common Guanqin watch features multiple functions. First, I must say that the watch is very cheap, with so many practical functions, the watch is sold at less than 60 US Dollars, on Guanqin website, they also offer different dial color options for this watch, besides the full stainless steel case, there is also choices of two tone.

I chose this full stainless steel model as my fourth Guanqin watch, with a black dial, it looks very elegant. I love sports, I usually wear my Apple watch, G-shock and Sea-gull Ocean Star diver’s watch, but sometimes I found a dress watch with multi-functions is necessary, so I bought this Guanqin watch three weeks ago and just received it, how about it? It is the same quality finish as my other Guanqin watches, but all of my attention was attracted by its dial, I was wondering if all of these functions are real, I checked every one of them and they all worked.

Let’s see the dial first, besides regular time show, there are also displays of year, month, week and date. The year and month are displayed separately in a box in the circle at 12 o’clock. Week from SUN to SAT is shown on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the small hand on the subdial at 3 o’clock is pointing at current date. Ok, how to adjust these functions? It is easy, there are buttons and pushers on the case for you to operate. The invisible button at 10 o’clock can be pressed to adjust the year, the button at 8 o’clock is for adjustment of week. Please note, the two pushers are not for chronograph operation, the watch does not have chrono function, so one pusher above is used to adjust month display, the pusher below is pressed down to adjust date. The last window at 6 o’clock, it is not a tourbillon device, it is just a opening to show the working balance wheel. The hour hand, minute hand and these white square markers are applied with luminous material, the lume light is green in dark conditions.

To be honest, when I decided to buy this watch, I did not expect too much. Fortunately the finish on case and bracelet is ok, and all functions are real. Guanqin claims 30m waterproof on this watch, I do not believe. At such a low price, I am even afraid of wearing it when washing my hands, not to mention swimming in the pool. But that’s ok, I will test its water resistance one day, hope I am the lucky man who has gotten a perfect one. By the way, Guanqin sent one pair of black leather straps and a bracelet removal tool in the box. Now the watch is about one minute slower each day, I have not worn it, I put it still in the box, too keep it working, I need to wind the watch every day.

Tags Guanqin

Starking

Starking Black Skeleton Watch – the Obsidian under the night sky

Post author By Bob
Post date June 10, 2022
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Starking is a Chinese watch brand which I always want to buy from, perhaps Starking is not as popular as some traditional big brands like Tianwang, Beijing and Sea-gull, but the watches made by Starking have one common feature, which is very affordable, when I need to choose a watch as a gift for my girlfriend, I will consider Starking first, because they really make very beautiful and elegant ladies watches, I think their ladies watches are more popular than mens watches. This black one is the fourth Starking watch I am going to review, it also has a sleleton dial, Starking really like using skeleton dial design on their mens watches, and the skeleton was indeed a trend for a while.

The black Starking watch is fully black, except the gold color you can see through its hollow dial. Do you guys love this black model? If not, there are other three options on the website, stainless steel case with black dial, black case with black leather strap, yellow gold case with brown leather strap. The yellow gold one with brown leather strap also looks nice, each of them is less than 60 US Dollars, very cheap.

I can not imagine what type of an automatic watch we can get at the price of 60 US Dollars. The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel and then processed with black pvd coating, the case is 42mm in diameter and is only 11.5mm in thickness, you can not judge the quality of the case finish by those photos on their website, actually the actual watch I received looks better than the one shown on Starking’s site, the finish on the case and bracelet, especially the polishing and brushing alternately applied on the bracelet gives the wearer a good visual enjoyment, the watch gives me a great first impression when I opened the gift box.

The dial has a skeleton design, it shows the golden movement parts behind, you can appreciate the mechanical beauty from the front, the beating soul of the entire machine is shown in front of your eyes. The usage of the inner bezel marked with white indexes enhances the three-dimensional effect of the entire dial. I am a bit disappointed because there is no date show on the dial.

From the see-through crystal back, I see the golden movement, Starking did not make too much decoration on the original movement, which is a common automatic calibre made in China, the big snowflake sculpture is like Starking logo, it is attached on the rotor and will turn when the auto rotor swings. Starking also offers one pair of black leather strap for free, the gift box is small, but with Starking brand information, the watch and leather band are secured inside, a very professional job the Starking has done.

Tags Starking

CIGA Design

CIGA Design MY Series by Michael Young – the black pearl on your wrist

Post author By Bob
Post date June 9, 2022
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CIGA Design is the first Chinese watch brand I have ever seen that has so much creativity in design, every watch created by CIGA Design is a combination of industrial design and mechanical sense. It is different from most Chinese watches, CIGA Design looks more in line with the aesthetics of young people, it breaks through the traditional rules of mechanical watches, follow their industrial design concept, CIGA Design has created many amazing timepieces that have won important prizes from abroad. This watch I bought from CIGA Design is a skeleton model from MY series, it is totally black with a skeleton dial, the watch also has a silver option.

The watch is full black and features a very creative dial, it will look like a black pearl on your wrist, I like the watch very much. On CIGA Design website, many people have bought this watch and given positive reviews. The watch is made with 316L stainless steel, it is fully plated with pvd black coating, including the case, bezel, crown and bracelet. The entire case has an unique construction, check it from the back, the small lugs that connect the bracelet through lock-tite spring bar are hidden on the back, you also can not see the end of the bracelet, such design makes all your focus on the big dial once you see this watch.

The black dial is skeletonized, but it is not completely hollow, some movement components are shown through the skeleton dial, there are also supports and holes on the dial, they form a special pattern on the dial. There are printings of brand name “CIGA Design”and designer name “Michael Young” in white. The dial has a certain slope to bring better visual effect, the design of hour markers and minute markers is like radioactive rays, not hard to read the time from this full black dial because hands are silver, and longer hour markers are easy for you to locate current hour time.

CIGA Design claims that they are using a Sea-gull automatic movement in this watch, I am not sure if this is real because they do not tell us which Sea-gull movement is used in the watch, I doubt and more believe this is just a common Chinese automatic movement, whatever as long as it works accurate. I received the watch five days ago, now it is about one minutes faster. By the way, CIGA Design sends one pair of black leather straps and one screw driver in the book-shaped gift box.

Tags CIGA Design, Sea-gull

STEELDIVE

STEELDIVE Turtle Homage Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 8, 2022
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A Turtle? No, it is just a watch which Seiko published in the past, Turtle is just the nickname of this watch. I have seen many STEELDIVE watches, most of them are diving styles and have similar designs to those Seiko diver’s watches made in the past, you know, these diver’s watches made by Seiko were very popular years ago and now many people are still trying to get them, but they are very rare now in the market, so, the STEELDIVE is a good alternative, with much cheaper prices. I do not know too much about STEELDIVE, but this brand seems to have a high popularity among diver’s watches fans abroad. The STEELDIVE Turtle has three big selling points, strong case, strong superlume and deep water resistance.

The case of the watch looks like the shell of a turtle, the case is made with 316L stainless steel, it is measured to be 43.8mm in diameter and 13.5mm in thickness, the case is fully brushed, it weighs about 90.5 grams without the band. The case is almost 44mm in diameter, almost the same size as Rolex’s Sea-Dweller, but the thickness is acceptable even it looks big. The bezel is uni-directional rotating, it uses a black ceramic insert, bezel markers are applied with superlume material, they will emit a strong blue lume light at night. The case back features a STEELDIVE logo that looks very unique, seeing from the case back, the entire case looks like a turtle’s case more obviously.

Black dial has a high readability, each hour marker and hand are wide, so they can be filled with enough lume material, the superlume on the dial looks a little yellowish, which is slightly different from that on the bezel. The lume light on hour markers and hands is also different, it is green. The dial lume can last for a long time as long as it has absorbed enough light during the day. The second hand has an unique design, there is a round red dot close to its tip, the red dot highlights the entire dial design. By the way, the printings “WATER 200m RESIST” are superfluous, “200m” is enough to show the meaning.

The movement inside is a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, which has 24 jewels, 41-hour power reserve and 21,600bph, the movement also features stop seconds mechanism, this is a very important feature. I always trust the quality of Japanese movement, and most Chinese watches in my collection installed with Japanese movements are more stable than those with Chinese movements. I received the watch three weeks ago, it still keeps time accurate, about two minutes faster each week. Besides the black, STEELDIVE also offers green and blue color options for this watch.

Conclusion:

This is a great homage watch and is the best-selling model on STEELDIVE site. For diver’s watch fans, this is a must-have model in their collection because a diver’s watch with such design means a lot to them. STEELDIVE diver’s watches have two big selling points, stable Japanese movement and strong dial lume, both features can be found on this watch. This STEELDIVE watch is the glory of the old era and never out of date.

Tags NH35, STEELDIVE, Turtle

San Martin

San Martin Bronze Pilot Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 3, 2022
No Comments on San Martin Bronze Pilot Watch Review

I have always been wanting to get a pilot watch, IWC is my most favorite brand to choose from, but it is too expensive, so I am searching for a pilot watch with all classic designs of IWC Pilot’s but without a brand name on the dial. I checked the websites of all Chinese watches I bought before and found this beautiful timepiece, it is exactly the pilot watch I am looking for. Its bronze material and dial design make it look so unique among various pilot watches, I like it very much.

The San Martin pilot watch is made with bronze, the brown leather band perfectly matches the bronze tone of the case, the entire watch has a very uniform style. The case has a diameter of 39mm, not including the crown, this is a size suitable for both men and women, but considering its bronze case, I think only men will buy this pilot watch. The case thickness(crystal included) is about 12mm, which is acceptable to me, it seems like all pilots watches have such similar case thickness.

The dial has a classic and traditional pilot’s watch design, it also looks simple. The dial is divided into two parts, we can easily know the hours and minutes even at night, because all elements we can see on the dial are applied with C3 Superlume, the green lume light is so strong and long lasting. The second hand is white, which differentiates it from the hour markers and hands around. The arrow-shaped marker at 12 o’clock is an eye-catching design of the dial. In a word, the dial has all necessary designs that make it a classic pilot watch.

The brown leather band has a bronze pin buckle. The brown leather band looks perfectly on this bronze watch, I do not think a band in other color or material will fit this watch. The leather band feels very soft and comfortable to wear. The bronze case will be oxidized as time goes by, but it is easy to renew. By the way, I think San Martin should consider a green dial for this watch, it is also a good match for the bronze case. The watch is not expensive, which is less than 160 USD on San Martin’s website.

Tags Bronze, Pilot Watch, San Martin

Sea-gull

Sea-gull 21 Zuan D304 Pilot Chrono Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 2, 2022
No Comments on Sea-gull 21 Zuan D304 Pilot Chrono Watch Review

This watch is a retro pilot watch made in China, it is a great timepiece produced by Sea-gull to pay tribute to those old Chinese pilot watches made by Tianjin Watch factory before. We know the predecessor of Sea-gull is Tianjin Watch Factory, which has made a great contribution to Chinese watch industry. On this watch, I do not see the brand name Sea-gull but only Chinese words “中国” and “天津手表厂”, so I am sure this watch is an anniversary edition which Sea-gull unveiled to show respect to Tianjin Watch Factory. This is completely a vintage pilot watch with retro designs which you only see on some Chinese pilot watches made in old times, I like the mysterious letterings and symbol on the dial, they drive my interest to learn those military watches which Tianjin Watch Factory made for Chinese Army.

The Sea-gull watch is made with 316L stainless steel, the case is polished and has a diameter of 38mm, it is measured to be 13mm in thickness. The crown is screw-down, it tightly fits the case, both pushers can be pressed to operate the chronograph function. The lugs are naturally curved and bent well with the main case, they allow the case to fit your wrist more comfortably. On the case back, on the sunken center, there is a sculpture that consists of one 5-pointed star, one plane in the middle of one pair of wings and “中国.1963”, the sculpture is polished in a sanded background. On the outer edge, the reference of the watch “819.17.1963” is engraved.

The dial is the soul of the entire watch, it is white, but not that pure white, this white dial looks a bit old. The color usage highlights the watch, especially its red second-chronograph hand and the blue color on other hands. There are two small dials, which are positioned at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock separately, both dials have their own purpose and are in blue color, the small dial at 9 o’clock is small seconds display, the subdial at 3 o’clock is a 30-minute chronograph counter. All hour markers are in yellow gold, the five-pointed star at 12 o’clock also has a yellow gold frame, but has red filling. The printings “21 ZUAN” under the five-pointed star means “21 Jewels” of the movement. Any way, there are too many things worth talking about the dial, the color usage also greatly enhances the dial readability.

The movement inside is ST1901 that is independently developed by Sea-gull, it is a very famous manual winding movement that features 21 jewesl, 45-hour power reserve and 21,600bph. The watch comes with a black leather band, I was lucky, because Sea-gull sent me a military green nato band for free. The watch is not cheap, which is almost 700 USD on their store, but if you are really interested in a watch that was specially offered for the Chinese Air Force, this Sea-gull will be a good start. By the way, I found many brands are copying the designs of this Sea-gull pilot watch, but none of them can recover the flavor of this Sea-gull.

Conclusion

This is one of the best-selling watches made in China, it is also one of the Chinese watches that have high positive reviews on both aliexpress and amazon. Although the watch comes from China, it has outstanding designs that are in line with the aesthetics of watch fans in the Europe and United States. In a word, this Sea-gull is a decent quality military watch that should be in your collection box.

This watch has two versions on Sea-gull official website, the difference between them lies in the case size and price. The first edition has a case diameter of 40mm and has a solid case back, and the watch box is more beautiful, but the price is much higher. I more recommend the second version now, it is the latest edition from Sea-gull with an upgraded ST1901 movement that will feature 22 jewels, so you can see “22 ZUAN” on the dial, please check the following pictures below, besides, the second version now features a crystal back, which is liked by more people.

Tags 1963, 21 Zuan, Nato, Nylon, Sea-gull, ST1901

Parnis

Parnis Pirate Skull Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date June 1, 2022
No Comments on Parnis Pirate Skull Watch Review

Parnis is the first homage watch I bought, about ten years ago, I bought a Panerai homage from Parnis, now the watch has stopped, it is in the drawer. At the beginning, Parnis made homage watches of many Swiss brands, at that time, it was also the most prosperous period of the replica watch industry, nowadays, Parnis focus more on developing new models with their own designs, however, this brand is not as popular as it used to be, maybe some of the Panerai or IWC homages they produced in the past have copyright infringement issues. Whatever, on Parnis website, they release new models from time to time, and some really attract me.

This watch I am going to review is from Parnis Pirate series, I do not know when Parnis started to develop their product line under series name, but that’s good, it looks more official. The Parnis Pirate watch looks very unique, the black case with a golden skull on the dial, the watch is a perect timepiece for people who want to look cool.

The case of the Parnis Pirate is 43mm in diameter, it is measured to be 12mm thick. The case is made with 316L stainless steel, with a thick coating of black pvd to prevent fading. The case looks like the head of a cobra. Besides this black pvd version, Parnis also offers stainless steel option for this watch, there are nearly 10 different styles on their website.

The dial is a big skull head that is lifelike in golden color. There are big eyes and tooth of the skull you can see, the hour hand and minute hand have an unique design, which is sword-shaped, did the pirates of the Caribbean use such swords before? The central second hand is also bent. The entire skull head has a strong green lume light in dark conditions, including those triangle hour markers around it. I like the dial design, the watch looks so special, every time when I looking at my watch collection, I want to choose this watch to wear.

Through the crystal back, I saw a golden automatic movement inside, which is Miyota 8N24 imported from Japan, if you do not know much about Japanese movements, I suggest you buy a Chinese designer watch or a high-end replica watch to test, all Japanese movements have a big advantage, which is durable and have few repairing issues. The Miyota 8N24 this Parnis uses has 21 jewels, 42-hour power reserve and 21,600 vph, I have worn this watch for three weeks, it is still good, now it is about 3 minutes faster. Well, if you are going to choose a China brand designer watch, my first recommend is the one with a Japanese movement, you will have few or no movement issues in future.

Tags Miyota 8N24, Parnis, Pirate, Skull

Merkur

Merkur 304 China Pilot Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 31, 2022
No Comments on Merkur 304 China Pilot Watch Review

Merkur offers a lot of watches with novel designs, different from other watch brands coming from China, Merkur is more willing to use the elements of some old Chinese army watches on the design of their products. Sometimes, I was more attracted by the mysterious symbols and novel designs on a watch, rather than its quality, I know the quality of each brand watch is very close within a certain price range, so whether a watch has an innovative design will be the main factor in my decision to buy. As a new designer watch brand in China, Merkur is the first one to use a lot of elements which you could only find on old Chinese army watches, that’s the main reason why I have bought three watches from them.

This 304 pilot is my third watch bought from Merkur. It is a manual winding watch that sets a vintage dial in a modern case frame. On this watch, there are four design elements I like very much, the red star, “航空”, “304” and blue color. Merkur offers three bracelet options for the watch, stainless steel bracelet, black leather strap and khaki nylon strap, I choose the nylon band on their website.

The dial is most attractive, the sunken digit “304” is in dark black, which is still clearly readable on this black dial. Central hour hand and minute hand are in track style with blue frames. the hour hand is special, it has an exteneded tip, so the entire hand looks like having the same length of the minute hand. All Arabic hour markers and two hands are applied with retro yellow luminescence, they will emit a green lume light in dark conditions. The small subdial at 6 o’clock also looks beautiful, it is a display of small seconds with a small blue hand. There is a very small red star ★ above the Chinese words 航空”, which means Pilot, so I think the design inspiration of this watch must come from those old Chinese pilot watches.

The case is brushed, which forms a high contrast with the polished round bezel. The case has a diameter of 38mm, not including the crown, it is measured to be 12mm in thickness and 45mm in length(including the lugs). The crystal face is arched, it is not sapphire but made with acrylic. The solid case back has brand’s name engravings in Chinese.

Inside the case, Merkur claims that they use a Sea-gull TY2901 movement, which is manual winding. This movement has inherited some features of Swiss Venus175. The khaki nylon strap is a perfect fit for this vintage pilot watch, you can also replace it with a brown leather band, it is very easy to do this, tool not needed. In a word, the Merkur 304 is a very good China Pilot watch full of retro flavor.

Tags Merkur, Nylon, Sea-gull

Heimdallr

Heimdallr Diver’s 200m Left-handed Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 30, 2022
No Comments on Heimdallr Diver’s 200m Left-handed Watch Review

In this summer, me and my friends will travel to Hainan Island and surf there, besides a surfboard, I also need a cool looking diver’s watch, I have already bought several timepieces, but my friends saw them before, I need to buy another one which they did not see before, so I will surprise them when go surfing on that day, a watch won’t cost too much but can also dive with me in the sea, so I bought this Heimdallr watch, actually I have several Heimdallr timepieces, this time, I chose another Heimdallr diver’s watch because each Heimdallr watch I bought before has been tested by me to have a perfect water resistant performance, so, before the journey, it is good to choose a brand which I have already familiar with.

I choose the regular black one, there are also other color options about this watch, yellow, blue, green and orange, please choose your favorite one. The watch is big and solid made, it is fully made with solid stainless steel, like a rock and has a heavy weight. This watch is different from my other Heimdallr watches, it features the crown on the left case at 8 o’clock.

It is said that this watch is a homage of a Seiko, I do not know which Seiko watch it copies from, I searched online and did not find the Seiko watch that is similar to this Heimdallr. The case is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter of 41mm and about 13mm in thickness. The rotating bezel features a black ceramic insert with luminous material filled in the round dot at 12 o’clock, it is different from the bezel pearl you see on Rolex Submariner. The screw-down case back also has a shark logo engraving, just like the one you see on the black dial.

I like this dial design, everything looks big, big hour markers, wide hour hand and minute hand, it is very easy to read the time, the watch is equipped with an automatic movement, the central second hand sweeps around the dial with a red tip, which is very eye-catching and also enhances the readability. I think the Seiko watch which this Heimdallr copies from must have a great depth of water resistance, or it does not need to use such a design on the dial, every element has only one purpose, to increase readability of the entire dial. The shark logo of Heimdallr, I like it very much when I firstly know this brand, now I think Heimdallr should change a logo, it does not look official. By the way, the lume light on the dial is strong green.

The watch uses a Japanese automatic movement, which is NH36A. There are four big selling points on this watch, the stable Japan movement, strong dial lume, 200m water resistance and ceramic bezel. Heimdallr can add another selling point to this watch if they could offer one nato band for free.

Tags Heimdallr, NH36A

Guanqin

Guanqin Green Sub Homage Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 26, 2022
No Comments on Guanqin Green Sub Homage Watch Review

Guanqin is a Chinese brand that produces cheap mechanical and quartz watches, with acceptable quality. There are a lot of brands here in China like Guanqin, but not as famous as it, because these brands can not offer a great quality while still keeping the same configuration as Guanqin at the same time. Actually Guanqin is a big watch company, they have a great collection of watches, whose prices range from 20 USD to even 300 USD, so customers will find a lot of choices when browsing their website. Actually there are not many Chinese brands like Guanqin that has such a large collection and occupies a great market share of the low-end watches.

Today, the Guanqin watch I am going to introduce is a homage watch of green Submariner of Rolex, actually this Guanqin is not really a homage, it just looks similar to the green hulk. Before, I bought the black one, and my teammate saw my watch, he like it and bought this green one, now he and me usually exchanged watches to wear.

The watch comes in a box with a Guanqin bag, they also sent me one extra battery and a cloth. The watch is fully made with stainless steel, it has a considerable weight, the case is absolutely solid stainless steel made, but I doubt the bracelet, perhaps it it not solid stainless steel made, it is hollow because I feel the bracelet is a little thin, the crown is not screwed down, so I guess the watch is not 50m water resistant as Guanqin claims, and I suggest you do not wear it when swimming, do not rinse the watch with water. The finish on the case and bracelet is just ok, not that good on watches from big brands, but the polishing on each case corner is also smooth, not hurt your wrist. The green bezel insert is not ceramic made, but also stainless steel.

The green dial has some similar designs to the dial of green sub, such as the hour markers and benz hands. Each hour marker is filled with white luminous material, so are the hands, they will have a green lume light in dark conditions. The green color is different when you compare this watch and the green sub. The watch also uses a magnifier lens on the crystal to show the date more clear.

The watch uses a quartz movement, many Chinese brand watches now use similar designs to Swiss watches and install a quartz movement inside, they are very popular. In the word, the watch can keep time accurate, with a battery, no need to worry that it will stop suddenly, at a low cost, you can not buy such a beautiful watch from other places, by the way, Guanqin offers four color options for this watch.

Tags Guanqin, Quartz

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