Author: Bob

CIGA Design Z Series DLC Skeleton Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 10, 2022
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This is my second CIGA Design watch I received several days ago, it looks very cool and is my most favorite tonneau-shaped Chinese watch.

The history of CIGA Design is very young, but this brand has made a lot of amazing models which we are very pround of, some CIGA Design watches even received important awards from abroad, many people are talking this Chinese brand now. I like CIGA Design, this is the second watch I bought from them, the first one is the X Series Gorilla model. This CIGA Design watch has a full black outlook, I love it, the design of its case and dial is a highlight of the entire watch. I think every one who likes sports style watches will choose it.

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, its surface has a thick DLC black coating, which not only increases the hardness of the case, but also enhances its corrosion resistance. The case has a width of 40.8mm, not including the crown, its height is 48mm, case thickness is 12.3mm, the DLC coating is thick and black color can last a long time, so that the entire watch can keep a cool black outlook for a long time.

The arc-shaped crystal is sapphire that is highly scratch-resistant and is perfectly installed. Under the sapphire crystal, it is the skeleton dial, where you can the golden balance wheel and gears and other machine parts, it looks like skeleton is a big feature of al. most all popular CIGA Design watches. The red color usage on central hands makes the dial more readable. There are white hour markers and minutes scales on the beveled inner bezel, together with the skeletonized dial structure, they give the entire dial a three-dimensional visual effect.

CIGA Design claims that they use a Sea-gull automatic movement in this watch, I am not sure if they use a real Sea-gull, I do not know the model of the movement, maybe it is a basic Sea-gull movement, which has a beating frequency of 21,600 times per hour and 40-hour power reserve, well, maybe the watch can not work 40 hours continuously after being fully winded, I tested it, about 32 hours, that’s ok, I suggest you wind it every morning.

The CIGA Design watch has a black rubber band, which feels very soft, the rubber band also suitable to wear in hot summer, it does not have a bad smell and also dust proof. By the way, the watch comes with one pair of black leather straps, which is free. Besides this DLC black version, CIGA Design also offers three stainless steel models with rubber straps in different colors, there are black, red and blue.

Tags CIGA Design, DLC, Rubber, Sea-gull

Binger

Binger “Moon Phase” Mesh Bracelet Watch Review

Post author By Bob
Post date May 9, 2022
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I like this Binger watch, I bought it one week ago, the watch has a very good finish on case and bracelet, which looks much better than that of other Chinese watches at same price level.

You may know little about Binger, I gave a brief introduction of it in my another post at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2022/04/06/binger-double-tourbillon-moon-phase-watch-review/. The Binger watch I am going to review today, three things I need to explain, first, it does not have date function, the black numbers from 1 to 31 you see on the dial, they are just decoration, there is no window or a small hand to show current date. Second, about the moon phase, it is fake, actually it is a day and night indicator, which rotate automatically. Third, on the lower blue part of the dial, there is a big opening window, it is not a tourbillon decice, so do not believe the word “TOURBILLON” on its left.

It is a fake tourbillon with false moon phase, whatever, that does not mean it is not a good watch, actually all watches made by Binger have a high quality, including this one, Binger also has their own designs, those homage brands can not be compared with Binger.

The Binger has a silver case that is made with 316L stainless steel and is fully polished, the case has a diameter of 42mm and is measured to be 15mm in thickness, actually it is a bit thick for such a dress watch. I always think that Binger has two big advantages, their superior case finish and sapphire crystal. Its case is really manufactured so well when I received the watch, I owned a lot of Chinese watches, only Binger’s case finish never let me disappointed. The round case of this Binger is polished so smooth like a mirror, I do care about the finish more than the function of a watch, this Binger gives me a very good impression at first glance. The sapphire crystal has always been a big selling point since the establishment of Binger, at the earliest stage of development, Binger advertised their watches with saying of the hardest and highly scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, and it succeeded. The crystal of this Binger is a domed sapphire with great transparency.

The dial has an unique design, which is divided into two parts by a silver metal with numbers 1-31. The upper part is silver with a small dial to display 24 hours and the day/night, it looks like an eye. The 24-hour display works automatically and does not need you to adjust, so does the day/night indicator. The lower part of the dial has a beautiful blue color, it has a big opending window to show you a working balance wheel that has its two ends fixed on the dial by screws, so that it can work stable and the movement can offer a more accurate time. The hands and hour markers are cut so well and each gives me a strong three-dimensional sense, the perfect craftmanship of this Binger watch is shown through these small details.

The heart of the watch is beaten by a Chinese automatic movement that is in golden color, you can see the beautiful decoration on movement auto rotor through the crystal back. This Chinese automatic movement is good and has a low cost, by the way, its inaccuracy is within my acceptable range, which is about 15 to 30 seconds faster each day. The watch features a mesh stainless steel bracelet, but it has black and brown leather stap options, the dial also has several choices. Binger never opened a store and they only sell watches online.

Tags Binger

STEELDIVE

STEELDIVE SD1953 – the most solid quality black Sub homage

Post author By Bob
Post date April 27, 2022
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This STEELDIVE is a top quality diver’s watch, it is a popular homage of black Sub with individual design.

STEELDIVE is a custom-made watch brand coming from China, it was established in Guangzhou in 2008, yes, the brand history is very young, but almost a 15-year development history already means a lot for a homage watch brand. STEELDIVE is completely a Chinese watch brand, not from Italy or Australia, like the letters “DIVE” claim in its name, most watches STEELDIVE has made are diver’s models, and all of them are homages of Rolex Submariner, Omega Seamaster, Seiko Tuna, Zenith Pilot, Bell Ross, etc. Til now, STEELDIVE has developed three production lines, they are Military, Green Marine and Army Engineer, each has their own logo design that looks unique and professional. There are a few custom-made watch brands created in China that developed from a small workshop to a big watch company, and received good reputation in this field, the most popular ones among these brands are Heimdallr, San Martin and STEELDIVE, I hope they can provide us with more quality homage watches, and release some watches with their own designs in future.

The STEELDIVE watch is strong and solid made, it is a robust monster. The watch looks like a homage of black Submariner from Rolex, its outlook, dial and bezel all refer the design of Submariner 116610LN, yes, many custom-made homage brands in China have produced this similar model because Submariner is too popular. A homage watch does not mean it has a low quality, this STEELDIVE SD1953 I received is a perfect diver’s watch for men with fine quality.

The case of this STEELDIVE watch is made with 316L stainless steel, it has a diameter of 41mm, not including the crown, the case thickness is about 13.5mm. The entire case has a fine brushing finish, two sides of the case, including the crown guards, are smoothly polished. The bezel uses a black ceramic insert, each marker engraved on the black bezel has the same depth and is filled with Swiss BGW9 SuperLuminova, the lume light you see in dark conditions is blue. There is no pearl set on the triangle mark at 12 o’clock. Both crown and case back have the iconic STEELDIVE logo, which is a combination design of diver gear-mask, flippers and oxygen tanks.

STEELDIVE also uses Swiss BGW9 SuperLuminova on the hour marker, hour hand and minute hand, the lume light is blue, which is the same as that of bezel markers. Brand name STEELDIVE and its logo are printed in white on the black dial. The inner bezel ring is empty and has no engravings. STEELDIVE claims that the watch is 300m waterproof, but I do not think the watch has such a deep water resistance even the crown and case back has a screw-down construction, do not worry, you won’t have any problem when wearing it in a swimming pool.

The engine inside is a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, which has a beating frequency of 21,600 times per hour, date function and hack mechanism. The power reserve capacity is good and can last about 32 hours after being fully wound. I have this watch for almost two months, every week I wore it to the beach and the watch has a great water resistant performance, two of my friends also want to buy one, by the way, the watch now 3 minutes faster each week, but that’s not a problem to me. STEELDIVE sells this watch on their official store, besides the black one, STEELDIVE also offers blue dial and green dial options for this watch, and you can choose a black rubber band with it.

Tags STEELDIVE

Starking

Starking diamond watch – the black pearl on your wrist

Post author By Bob
Post date April 25, 2022
No Comments on Starking diamond watch – the black pearl on your wrist

This Starking is a classic automatic watch with unique design and luxury temperament, with a top rated reliable Japanese movement, while sold at a very cheap price.

Starking is a Chinese watch brand and not young, according to their brand story, they entered the watch market in 1993, well, that’s a long time ago, I got some memories of this brand, they must advertise their watches when I was a child. Starking was founded in Shenzhen, Guangdong, it had some great moments in its history, they often opened watch exhibitions in Hong Kong, but this brand is not as popular as our old big threes of Beijing Watch, Shanghai Watch and Sea-gull. The quality of Starking is just fine, and most of their watches are very affordable, ok quality and cheap price, I think this is the biggest advantage of Starking. By the way, many best sellers on Starking’s official store are ladies watches, which are really attractive.

The Starking watch I am going to introduce today is a stainless steel model with black dial, which looks very common, but its unique dial design makes it different. The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel, it has a case diameter of 41.5mm and is 11.8mm thick, which is a size just matches current big watch trend. The case finish is exquisite, both brushing and polishing are used to create a high-end visual effect, every side of the case, including every corner of the lugs, they are smoothly processed to make sure the watch have a comfortable wearing feeling. The screw-in crown has an engraved snowflake Starking logo.

I like its black dial, which looks unique and has an asymmetrical aesthetic. Among all watches I have seen before, this Starking is the first watch that features a small-second subdial between 4:00 and 6:00, under a low price, the watch has such a creative dial design, I think it already worths your money. Another silver small dial that is positioned at 9 o’clock is for 24-hour display, the small hand on that subdial is not showing the time in the second time zone, it is just a display of current time in a format of 24-hour. The dial has an multi-layer structure that looks obvious, the circle on the center is sunken and has white minutes from 5 to 60, the outer circle has silver hour markers and diamonds set at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock. “STARKING” and brand logo are three-diemensional, not printed, this is another place I like on its dial, you know, many Chinese watches that are sold at such price have their logo and brand name printed on the dial to save the cost.

The movement I see from the crystal back is golden and has beautiful decoration. Starking uses a Miyota 82S7 automatic movement in this watch, it is a very regular automatic movement made in Japan, Miyota 82S7 has a beating frequency of 21,600 times per hour and 21 jewels, the power reserve is great, the watch can work about 35 hours every time when I gave it a full winding, about accuracy, I have this watch for almost three months, now it will be 3 or 4 minutes faster every two weeks, well, this is acceptable for me. At last, Starking offers four different styles for this watch, there are two tone model and full black model to choose.

Tags Diamond, Miyota 82S7, Starking

Sea-gull

Sea-gull Ultra-thin – the most elegant Chinese dress watch for men

Post author By Bob
Post date April 21, 2022
No Comments on Sea-gull Ultra-thin – the most elegant Chinese dress watch for men

This Sea-gull ultra-thin is a combination of elegance of quality, it is the best dress watch I like among my Chinese watches collection.

Sea-gull is the most famous Chinese watch brand, it was established in 1955 in Tianjin of China, during the sixty-six years of development, Sea-gull has laid a solid foundation for the watch-making industry of China and also made a huge contribution, Sea-gull is one of the few watch companies in China that can develop movements by themselves, they are also one of the biggest movement manufacturers in the world, many luxury brands now also buy movements from Sea-gull. I always think Sea-gull is the boss among so many Chinese watch brands, it is the only watch manufacturer in China that owns watchmaking techniques of tourbillon, perpetual calendar and minute repeater. If you want to buy a Chinese watch, I will recommend Sea-gull first.

The Sea-gull watch I am going to review here has a classic Bauhaus style, with an ultra-thin case design, the watch reveals the superior watch-making craftsmanship of Sea-gull. I received this watch in a Sea-gull box, there is also a manual book in Chinese comes with in the box, I immediately decided to use this Sea-gull watch as my first dress watch choice when I opened the package, I love it very much.

The watch has a reference of 819.17.6004, its case has a diameter of 39mm and is measured to be only 8mm in thickness, the silver case is fully polished and made with 316L stainless steel, round bezel, angular lugs with smooth corners, the case has a classic Bauhaus design style. The crown has a “S” logo in sanded finish, which looks very nice, the crown is very small but I found no inconvenience when rotating it to adjust time. The case back has engraving info about waterproof depth, model number and case material, the case back is screwed down and integrated with the case seamlessly.

The dial is white in matte, the dial looks familiar and has somewhat a similar design with Nomos. Each hour marker, including the numbers 3, 9 and 12, uses black and has a big size, with the central hour and minute hand, it is very easy to read time, just need a glance. A sunken small dial at 6 o’clock features a small seconds hand, also in blue color, this blue color used on the watch highlights the entire watch.

The movement uses Sea-gull in-house ST17, which is manual winding and has a beat frequency of 21,600 times per hour. The thickness of movement is about 3.22mm, so it achieves an ultra-thin case that is only 8mm. I have this watch for more than 11 days since I received it, the watch still works very accurate, only 4 seconds faster each day. By the way, the watch can work about 40 hours continuously once giving it a full winding. The Sea-gull Ultra-thin is my first hand-winding mechanical watch.

I chose a black leather band for this watch, the band feels a little stiff at the first time, but it became soft and comfortable to wear in next days. For this watch, Sea-gull also offers a stainless steel bracelet option. Besides, if you are interested in other Sea-gull watches, please check their official site, there you can find a lot of styles, including dress, military, diving or tourbillon.

Tags Sea-gull, ST17

San Martin

San Martin SN004 200m – a high-end custom-made diver’s watch

Post author By Bob
Post date April 20, 2022
No Comments on San Martin SN004 200m – a high-end custom-made diver’s watch

This San Martin is a top quality diver’s watch with several retro design elements.

San Martin is a very young Chinese custom-made watch brand, which was founded by Liao Jiaming in 2016. From a small workshop to a watch company, the development of San Martin brand is very fast, certainly, this must be attributed to the efforts which Liao Jiaming made in watchmaking field. Among so many custom-made watch brands in China, San Martin is the most high-end one, although their watches are still homages of Swiss brands such as Rolex, Tudor, Omega, Zenith, IWC, etc., they really have a very good quality, even much better than some other Chinese homage watches I introduced before. As a high-end custom-made watch brand, San Martin offers a great flexibility for the customers to customize the watches they want, besides, San Martin provides the wearers with a lot of bands made with different types of materials and in various styles, this will bring a lot of fun to the wearer. San Martin never opened a physical store, they only sell watches online.

The San Martin SN004 200m I received is a homage of Tudor Black Bay, it is a very good diving-style watch with retro combinations. The case is made with solid 316L stainless steel, which is fully brushed, except the polished streamlined case edge with glossy face. The case has a diameter of 38mm and is measured to be 13mm in thickness, the size is not big or too small, very suitable for most men. The weight of the entire watch is about 140 grams. The uni-directional rotating bezel features a black ceramic insert, I like ceramic bezel, but I will be more happy with the watch if it uses a metal bezel insert that will enhance the retro temperament.

The crystal uses sapphire, which is arch-shaped and features AR Coating, this sapphire crystal is very hard and highly scratch resistant, it is an important feature that brings this San Martin watch to a new quality level. Certainly, if San Martin chose to use a mineral or even a acrylic face on this watch and reduce its price, I will also accept it, afte all the retro element means a lot to a vintage watch. On the black dial, hour markers and hands are applied with C3 SuperLuminova that looks a bit yellowish, just like the yellow fill on bezel markers, handset is not the style on Tudor Black Bay, it uses iconic Mercedes hands on Rolex Submariner. At 12 o’clock, “San Martin” letters are printed.

The bracelet is a rivet style and made with solid 316L stainless steel, every link is brushed and there is a embossed “SAN MARTIN” logo on the outer face of the buckle. The solid case back is screwed down, it is empty and has nothing on it, no brand logo or water resistance information, very clean. Inside the case back, it uses a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, which beats 21,600 times per hous, the auto rotor is bi-directional winding and has a high winding efficiency. Considering its good finish, high-end feature and reasonable price, this movement is already good enough.

The San Martin SN004 200m is a great quality homage of “Tudor Black Bay”, I love it very much.

Tags San Martin

Proxima

Proxima Diver’s Watch – the unicorn hidden in the deep sea

Post author By Bob
Post date April 19, 2022
No Comments on Proxima Diver’s Watch – the unicorn hidden in the deep sea

This Proxima watch is a strong and robust diving-style model, while keeping a vintage outlook.

Proxima is another custom-made watch brand in China, most of watches they made are diving-style watches, as a fan of diver’s watch, I bought one Proxima watch several weeks ago, now it still works fine. Like San Martin and Steeldive, Proxima is also a very young Chinese brand, which may be founded in a small workshop in Dongguan or Zhongshan of Guangdong, I found many niche brands like Proxima or Steeldive online, they were created in Guangdong of China and are likely to produce diver’s watches at the beginning of their development, because there is a great amount of need for such kind of diver’s watches overseas. Proxima is not an independent watch manufacturer, many parts needed for this watch are not made by themselves, such as the movement, dial, handset, etc., perhaps they only produced the case and bracelet on this watch, and then assembled these parts together. Well, I already saw many good reviews about Proxima here in China and overseas, it is a good choice if you are looking for a diving-style watch.

The Proxima watch has a model number of PX1683, it is big and heavy if with a stainless steel bracelet. The case is 44mm in diameter, not including the crown, it has a thickness of 15.8mm(crystal included). The case is fully brushed, the matte finish on bezel and case is nicely done by a machine, view from the two sides, both have streamlined design and are polished with glossy surface, which is a high contrast with its front brushing finish. By the way, the curved lugs let the watch fit my wrist perfectly, its smoothly polished corners also make the watch comfortable to wear. If you want to buy a custom-made band for this watch, please remember its lug width, which is 20mm.

The dial is under protection of a sapphire crystal that features Swiss standard anti-reflective coating inside. This V3 edition of Proxima watch has improved the dial by using genuine C3 SuperLuminova on hour markers and hands, so the dial lume will be stronger and last longer in dark conditions. By the way, every hour marker, hour hand and minute hand have golden frame, which adds some vintage look to the dial. The printings “PROXIMA”, “SCUBA MASTER” and “PROFESSIONAL 300m” are also in golden tone. The red color use on the central second hand is very eye-catching, it also enhances the readability of the entire dial. Now for every diver’s watch brand in the market, they seem to be very focused on the use of strong lume on the dial.

The solid case back has unique engravings, looks like two ghost fishes. Inside, there is a Japanese automatic movement, which is NH35, the movement is fine for me, I have no need to change another better Japanese or Swiss ETA movement, during these weeks, the watch can keep time accurately, I wind the watch each day, its inaccuracy can be controlled within three mintues each week. Low-end Japanese or Chinese movements can also keep an precise time as long as the shipper adjust it fine before sending.

The Proxima Scuba Master can be equipped with a stainless steel bracelet or a black rubber band, the buckle fitted on the rubber band has a matte finished unicorn logo, which is also the brand’s logo of Proxima. Among my diver’s watches collection, I like this Proxima most and I usually wear it when swimming.

Tags Diver's Watch, Proxima, Rubber

Parnis

Parnis Power Reserve – the ancestor of homage watch in China

Post author By Bob
Post date April 18, 2022
No Comments on Parnis Power Reserve – the ancestor of homage watch in China

It is the first Chinese brand watch I bought, I love its quality, cheap price and real power reserve.

Parnis is the first Chinese watch I bought, I know more about Parnis than other Chinese brand watches like our famous Sea-gull, Shanghai and Beijing. In my memory, the development of Parnis has passed two stages, at the first stage, Parnis mainly copied the design of Rolex, IWC and Panerai, it was a completely homage brand watch made in China, they did not have their own design at that time, by the way, when people talking about Parnis in most watch forums, they only know it is a homage brand coming from Hong Kong. At the second stage, Parnis made some changes and no longer produce homage watches of some brands like Panerai, now you can not find Parnis Panerai homage watches from their online stores, Parnis also developed the watch lines in recent years and added their own designs in these models, that’s a really good thing, at the same time, we also unveiled the mystery of this brand, Parnis is not a Hong Kong brand, it is also not a Swiss brand like they officialy claimed, Parnis is a Chinese watch brand founded in Guangzhou, China.

I am not sure if Parnis is a successful watch brand, but it has sold out a lot of watches in the past years, now the development path of Parnis is being copied by some Chinese watch brands.

This Parnis Power Reserve is a homage watch of IWC Portuguese, I love its design, it looks elegant, perhaps it is the homage watch I love most, certainly the brand must have a name that is good to hear, Parnis is such a brand. The watch I received is silver with white dial and brown leather strap, I like its case design and dial layout, and the watch works very accurate.

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, the case, lugs and round bezel are polished in glossy finish, the case is measured to be 43mm in diameter, not including the crown, it is about 14.5mm thick, because of being equipped with a leather band, the watch is only 93 grams in weight, which has a lightweight wearing feeling.

Parnis Power Reserve Brown Leather Crown

I like the dial, it shows the elegance of such dress watch to the maximum. IWC Portuguese Power Reserve is one of my dream watches, the Parnis Power Reserve fully presents the design essence of Portuguese Power Reserve’s dial. First, the dial has a very nice layout, fan-shaped date display and power reserve display are symmetrically positioned on each half part of the dial, on the upper right, the power reserve display features a small blue hand that is indicating the remaining energy, while on the top left, it is the date display. By the way, the date can be adjusted by pushing the button at 8 o’clock on the case. Every hand you see on the white dial has a blue color, which is the same color as those Arabic numeral hour markers. The window opened at 6 o’clock allows you to see the working balance wheel, which has two ends fixed by blue screws on the dial. The power reserve you see on the dial is real, that’s a big selling point of this Parnis watch, you know, many other Chinese homage watches also have power reserve feature, but not working.

From the crystal back, I see the automatic movement in this watch, the auto rotor and movement plates have beautiful decoration like “fish scales”, the movement actually is a Sea-gull ST2505, which is 38 jeweled and has a 42-hour power reserve, its beat frequency is 21,600 times per hour. The ST2505 really has a beautiful decoration and works very stable. I saw many other Chinese watches whose prices are close to this Parnis or even slightly higher, but their movements’ decoration and stability are not as good as this Parnis watch’s.

At last, I choose a brown leather strap for the watch, also you can find more combinations of dial and strap color on their store. At Parnis official store, there are many models in different series, including Pilot, Pirate, Royal, Commander, Thunder and Navigation.

Tags Parnis, Power Reserve

Pagani Design

Pagani Design “Autavia” – a quality homage watch with affordable price

Post author By Bob
Post date April 14, 2022
No Comments on Pagani Design “Autavia” – a quality homage watch with affordable price

This Pagani Design watch is totally a homage of Tag Autavia, but it has a very good finish on case and bracelet, much worth.

Pagani Design, a Chinese watch brand that was created ten years ago, now has a very good reputation among watch fans all over the world. Pagani Design is totally a homage watch brand, their office is located in Guangzhou, China, most of their watches are homages of Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer and other Swiss brands, you can see most of them are homages of Daytona Panda, GMT-Master Batman, Tudor Black Bay, Omega Seamaster, etc., they copy the designs, replaced with their “PAGANI DESIGN” name and logo, but it seems like many people have positive feedbacks on their watches, and I also very satisfied with this “Tag Heuer Autavia” homage received from Pagani Design.

My first impressive on this watch is it has a very case finish, much better than that of the other watches I bought at the same price level. Some Chinese watches at this price point must have compromise in case and bracelet finish, but this Pagani Design watch doesn’t, even sold at less than 100 USD, the watch still has a top workmanship on case and bracelet. The case is 44mm in diameter, it is a little thick, up to 15mm, the entire watch has a weight of about 173 grams(with steel bracelet). Each corner of the case is processed carefully by the watch master, they feel very smooth without scratch feeling. The glossy polish on case edge and brushing on the front forms a high contrast, which not only gives me a good visual enjoyment, but also brings the workmanship of the case to a new high level.

The blue dial has a texture that is very close to that of Tag Heuer Autavia. Pagani Design presents the dial in a three-dimensional manner, each silver hour marker is precisely cut by machine to keep them in the same size and shape, hour hand, minute hand and the small arrow tip of second hand are filled with white luminous material, the lume light is strong and also lasts for a long time. Basically I am happy with the dial, but the logo is printed, if they can place a 3D silver logo at 12 o’clock, that will be better.

The Pagani Design “Autavia” homage uses a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, I see it through the crystal back. I think you also noticed the words “JAPAN MOVT” on its dial. Whether it is a Seiko NH35 or a Chinese HangZhou movement, it is acceptable for me, after all I do not care too much about the movement inside as long as its daily error is within a certain range, for such a Chinese watch with a vintage dial look, I more care about the fun available in changing the band, I changed a brown leather strap on, it looks really good.

About the water resistance, I wouldn’t expect it to be able to 100m waterproof like Pagani Design has claimed, for a Chinese watch under 100 USD, it will be ok for me if I can wear it when swimming in the pool. Besides the blue, Pagani Design also offers many other color options for this watch.

Pagani Design Watch with Brown Leather Strap

Tags Pagani Design

Merkur

Merkur Red Star – a tribute to the classic Chinese army watch

Post author By Bob
Post date April 13, 2022
No Comments on Merkur Red Star – a tribute to the classic Chinese army watch

For people who are looking for an affordable watch with classic Chinese army elements, this Merkur is a good choice.

Merkur is also a very young custom-made watch brand in Beijing, China, it was founded in 2020, yes, it is very young, and many watch custom-made Chinese watch brands like Merkur have been established in recent years, they offer customers a lot of other choices which they can not get from traditional Chinese watch brands like Sea-gull, Shanghai and Beijing, the competition between these custom brands and traditional big three is a good thing for the development of China’s watch industry. Now Merkur owns several brands, including Merkur, Pierre Paulin, Fod, Seizenn, Red Army, etc., their watches are being widely talked in a lot of watch forums.

The Merkur watch reproduces the design of Chinese army watches manufactured in the 1970s, the case is 38mm in diameter and only 12mm thick, the entire case is delicately brushed, while the round bezel is smoothly polished, that makes a high contrast. On the solid case back, there are engravings of Chinese words “中國製”, which will be “Zhong Guo Zhi” in Pin Yin, means “Made in China”.

The dial protected by the arched mineral crystal face looks a little yellow, it has a classic style of those army watches made in the 1970s. If you know little about Chinese army watches in the old times, you will know three elements on this dial are essential for those army watches, they are the Red Star, “19占防水錶(19 Jeweled Waterproof)” and “中國製(Made in China)”, they look attractive to me and placed a certain role in helping me decide to buy this watch. Hour markers, hour hand and minute hand are made with 316L stainless steel, and then being plated with gold, they all use 3D cutting technology and have an angular clean-cut shape.

The Merkur watch uses a Chinese Hangzhou SL07 manual winding movement, which has a beat rate of 21,600. Considering the price, this movement is a good enough, and the watch still works very accurate since I received it two months ago. The watch came with a spring stainless steel bracelet that has a certain flexibility, but I love the nylon band more, it looks better on this watch, the nylon band is also a good presentation of the military essence of this Merkur Red Star watch.

Merkur not only makes such type of retro Chinese army watches, but their pilot’s watches and diver’s watches are also very attractive with unique designs.

Tags Merkur, Red Star

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