To win a watch for free now.
The rules to participate in the giveaway:
Comment on the post https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2025/04/13/baltany-s4084-watch-review-the-best-rolex-datejust-homage/, and share this post on one watch forum or reddit.
Prize:
The following vintage Shanghai watch.
One winner will be randomly chosen from the comment section.
This giveaway will end on May 30.
It is the first time for me to hear this brand watch, which comes from Shenzhen in China, this watch company uses diamonds on every watch, so their watches are for a certain group of people who really like diamond watches. Today, I will introduce a diamond watch from Tielbo that has a tonneau shape, I still remember another brand from China named Cronusart also makes watches in similar style. I have checked most watches on Tielbo website and they are more suitable for young people, I do not like extra diamonds on my watches, but if some models of Tielbo adopt a bolder design, I will consider to buy one. Check the picture below. This watch has a very attractiv dial design with luxury diamonds, but the watch only has a leather band option, if they offer a steel bracelet deco with diamonds, I will buy one for myself.
This black watch in tonneau shape looks good, but its price is too high, there are diamonds fully decorated on the case, maybe this is the reason for them to sell the watch at a high price. However, I do not know the grade of the diamonds used on this watch, are them really high grade luxury diamonds or just common crystals? Nobody knows, so I guess the company makes a big profit on such diamond watches. I suggest people do not pay a lot of moeny to buy a diamond watch, unless the watch is made by a famous luxury brand.
The watch comes with a very good wooden box, the perfect arch shape of the case can fit your wrist in a very comfortable way. The black case and black rubber band with diamonds make the entire watch cooler. I would consider to buy one if I were 10 years younger. This watch is really a good-looking accessory for a driver or a rapper.
The dial looks ok, but not good enough for such a luxury diamond watch, th dial does not have eye-catching designs, it is just a simple skeleton design, in my opinion, the watch company should apply black surface treatment to these brackets, it will make the watch look better.
Conclusion
The dial design makes me feel this watch is overpriced, and if you do not have a rich knowledge in diamonds, I do not suggest you buy a diamond watch. There are also other outstanding watches made in China, you can check my site.
I introduced an Olevs watch before, it was a digital watch, today, I will give my honest review on this brand, just my opinions, if you have any other thoughts about their watches, please share with us in comments, if my review helps you, I appreciate.
There are different opinions about Olevs in China, a lot of people think it is a Swiss watch because Olevs uses “Switzerland” on the product title on their Taobao site, especially they also hire a celebrity as a spokesperson, but people who have some watch knowledge won’t believe this. Olevs is a Chinese brand that is shipped from Huizhou in Guangdong province of China.
On reddit, people are talking Olevs, on Amazon, Olevs watches are being sold very well, even having a better sales than Sea-gull, I saw the prices of Olevs watches on Amazon are a bit higher than that on their Taobao, but there are still people willing to pay extra prices. The photos on Olevs website are beautiful, the finish on the watch looks bright and it seems like the watch is high quality, actually the pictures of these watches have been photoshoped, you need to see actual pics before making your order with them.
Do not be fooled by the appearances. If you are looking for high quality watches made in China, you can completely ignore Olevs, which is far from being high quality, just look at their prices, you can get the answer. There are three obvious features on Olevs watches, bright finish, premium look dial and shining gold, all these they have made are to convince customers that the watches are high quality. If you have a high expectation on the quality, you will fail. Take this Submariner homage as an example, it is popular, many micro brands make a homage of Submariner at the start of their career, but not every homage is good, this two tone model looks attractive but is not made with good stainless steel material, the crystal is common mineral and movement is cheap automatic movement made in China, which is not as durable as Japanese movements and will have a big inaccuracy after long-time usage, you will know this if you have bought such watches from China, homage watches at the same price level, I will say Steeldive is a better option. The gold on the case and bracelet makes the watch look luxury, but it is a weakness, the gold will fade easily, after that, it will become ugly. The case and bracelet lack of good chamfer polishing, so sometimes there will be scratch feeling when wearing on the watch on hand, the flutes on the bezel, you can even see metal burr if check carefully. In a word, the watch is okay-looking overall but poorly made in details.
All watches like Olevs made in China, do have bright finish, but no bright future.
I introduced Shanghai Watch Factory before, so a lot of people thought that there is only one watch factory in Shanghai, this is not true. Today, I will introduce another watch factory in Shanghai, its name is Diamond, which also has some relationship with Shanghai Watch Factory, because for a period of time, it existed as the Shanghai No.4 Watch Factory, in 1986, its name changed to Shanghai Diamond Watch Factory. Young people living in China may not know this brand, after all most of them even not familiar with Shanghai Watch, but their parents who born in the 1950s or 1960s will still remember iconic diamond logo on the dial, and Diamond watches were very popular at that time. Today, some classic Diamond watches are still being produced by Shanghai Watch Factory or other watch company. In this article, I will show you a Diamond watch with gorgeous look and classic designs.
I remember that I did a review on a similar watch made by Sea-gull, Parnis and Sugess also have watch in this style, it seems like many micro brands in China like producing watches with such designs in the beginning of their development. The case is made of solid 316L stainless steel, it is fully polished with naturally curved lugs that can fit your hand in a more comfortable way. The round bezel looks like a perfect fit for the onion-shaped crown. The case is measured to be 42mm in diameter and 14mm in thickness.
The dial looks amazing, there are two fan-shaped indicators and a big opening, but they do not look crowded on the dial. The small hand at 9:30 on the circular sector is pointing at current date, it can be adjusted through the button on the case at 8 o’clock. The week is displayed through the fan-shaped indicator on the upper right. The big opening window shows a flying wheel with two ended fixed on the dial. The blue hands and artistic black arabic hour markers enhance the elegance of the entire watch. The diamond at 12 o’clock is the brand logo, in our life, diamond is a material that is hard, durable, luxury and rare, the company uses diamond as their brand logo, I think they want to convey their brand concept to customers – an emphasis on quality.
The machine inside is a ST25 movement that comes from Sea-gull watch company. Not sure why a watch coming from Shanghai uses a movement made in Tianjin Sea-gull. This movement has a power reserve of 45 hours and a frequency of 21,600 times per hour. I have had the watch for ten days, now it is 10 seconds faster per day, this is not bad, I like this watch.
Rolex homage watches should be the most popular homages, a lot of micro brands are producing homage watches of Rolex Submariner, Daytona and GMT-Master, but there are very few Datejust homages, this Baltany watch I just bought looks like Rolex Datejust, it has a very good quality, in my memory, I remember that Parnis produced Datejust homages before, but the quality can be not compared with this one from Baltany.
I was really shocked by this Baltany watch when receiving it two days ago, it should be the best Datejust Rolex homage has ever created, I do not know which exact Datejust model it re-creates, Baltany said it takes inspiration of the S4084, but I did not find this Datejust watch online, anyone knows the background of this Datejust watch?
Like the other Baltany watches I have bought, the watch was in a brown leather packet in the black box, there are several accessories in that envelope-style paper bag, including manul book, card, screwdriver and cloth. Compared with my other Chinese watches, Baltany has paid more attention in offering a better packaging and more complete accessories for customers.
The Baltany watch is in two tone, the gold tone on the dial is highly in line with the yellow gold color on the case and bracelet. Besides this yellow gold one, Baltany also has two other styles, stainless steel with silver dial and yellow gold with burgundy dial.
The case is measured to be 36mm in diameter, crown not included, it is less than 12mm in thickness. The fluted bezel in yellow gold makes the watch look more classic. The solid stainless steel case back has circled brushing, from different angles, you can see the light reflection that looks like sunburst finish.
The crown has a big B logo in sanded finish on the polished face.
The dial has a very simple design and amazing sunburst finish. You will absolutely think the watch deserves the money as soon as you see its dial, which has a better finish than some Chinese homages at the same price. The Baltany logo, number 60 and the lume dot at 12 o’clock are perfectly aligned. There is a lume dot on the top of each hour marker.
The jubilee-style bracelet is more comfortable to wear, the golden links on the middle are polished, which forms a high contrast with the brushed stainless steel links on the sides. Only the front of the golden links is plated with yellow gold, the side and back are not. I do not think this is a shortcoming of the watch, if the links are fully wrapped with gold, that will greatly increase the cost of the watch, by the way, if the side of the bracelet that contact your skin has been plated with yellow gold, the sweat will also rust the gold and your bracelet will look more ugly.
Conclusion:
Baltany is my first choice when wanting a vintage-style homage watch. This Baltany S4084 is a good option for people who are looking for a Rolex-Datejust-look formal watch. Besides the dial, the NH35 automatic movement is also another selling point of the watch, I have had the watch for three days, now it gains only 4 seconds.
There have been a big development for Chinese watch industry in the past five years, many new brands have pushed the development of China watches to a small climax. These brands include some homage watches such as San Martin, Steeldive, Octopus, Baltany, etc., but what excites me most is some brands are using ideas to make innovations, in this aspect, I am deeply impressed by Ciga Design and Atowak. Today, I will introduce another interesting watch from China, it is made in Dongguan of Guangdong province, the watch reference is H002, like the Vager Hauers watch I reviewed last time, this Huasuo watch also uses certain Chinese character to convey special meaning. By the way, the biggest highlight on the watch is its dial that uses traditional lacquer craft, besides, you can also see different dial materials on other Huasuo watches, including emerald and lazurite.
Another big selling point of the watch is its movement, which is Swiss SW200, this is a real Swiss movement, which has a very similar structure to ETA 2824-2 but is more cost-efficient. The movement has a power reserve of 38 hours, a beat frequency of 28,800 times per hour and 26 jewels. The daily accuracy is within ±12 seconds, few watches in Chinese watches use this high-end automatic movements. During your future wearing, there will be much less or even no issues on the movement.
The red dial looks like a steelmaking furnace, it uses Chinese lacquer craft, hour markers use Chinese character, the “鋼” has two meanings, first, it means “steel” this material, second, it means tough, hard and strong, on this watch, this Chinese character “鋼” refers more to the second meaning. The other Chinese characters as hour markers have their own meaning.
壹 – 1
贰 – 2
叁 – 3
肆 – 4
伍 – 5
陆 – 6
柒 – 7
捌 – 8
玖 – 9
拾 – 10
十一 – 11
十二 – 12
The dial has a lot of styles, I like the red “鋼” and green “森” most. They also accept customization on dial design.
Conclusion:
It is a top quality watch that has a strong Chinese style and a high-end Swiss movement at the same time. After purchasing this watch, you probably won’t have any repairing issues in future, durability, stability and accuracy are all guaranteed. The round case is thin, the lacquer dial increases the elegance and conveys a special Chinese culture.
No one participated the giveaway I published before, but every giveaway activity I set is real, not a scam, I will choose one winner and send one good watch to him for free. In April, I will choose the following watch as a prize, it is a Escapement Time, with a Seiko VH31 sweeping second quartz movement, sapphire crystal and good quality leather band.
The rules to participate the giveaway:
1.Please share link https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/07/07/baltany-explorer-39mm-homage-review/ on any watch forums.
2.Send me an email to me that contains your work, my email address is berrymoon86@gmail.com.
The giveaway will end on April 20.
I will choose one winner and ship the watch, no shipping cost needed to pay.
Guangdong is one of the earliest provinces in China to implement reform and opening up, there are three famous cities that have connection with watches, Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen. When mentioning Guangzhou, what watches you will think of? Yes, you are right, replicas watches. While what is connection between Dongguan and watches? You may not know most watches parts including cases and bracelets are made in factories of Dongguan, on my blog, some homage watches reviewed also made in Dongguan. In Shenzhen, this is a place of the future and hope of the development of China watches, because I have seen many creative ideas in watch-making come from watch companies in Shenzhen. In brief, fakes in Guangzhou, watch manufacturing in Dongguan, innovation happens in Shenzhen, movements from several cities in northern China like Tianjin, Dandong and Shanghai.
Back to the watch I am going to introduce today, it is a new watch I just found, totally a Chinese style watch, Chinese words on the dial, but this won’t cause inconvenience for you to read time. Do you know this brand? Beside the date window, four Chinese words “維傑豪兹”, which is Vager Hauers in English, this is a watch brand founded in Shenzhen, on their website, I saw an interesting thing, which is Vager Hauers claims that they are an independent watch maker in China, yes, any of these homage brands in China that has a small workshop can be an independent watch brand. Even their watch company has an address registered in Shenzhen, but all watches are shipped from Yunnan, so I guess their watches were assembled in Yunnan.
The watch has a similar outlook to Lange, but is is completely made for the Chinese, if you know some Chinese characters, you will find this watch is very interesting. The dial completely explains to the world how the Chinese understand time. Especially the white bigger subdial on the left, there are twelve Chinese characters, they are “子”, “丑”, “寅”, “卯”, “辰”, “巳”, “午”, “未”, “申”, “酉”, “戌”, “亥”, each of these Chinese characters is called Shichen in Chinese, which represents a time period during the day, that is two hours in modern times. So, this Shichen subdial is actually a 24-hour display in Chinese way. The offcentre small dial on the lower right is a display of the small seconds. On the following, I will explain all Chinese characters on the dial.
拾貳 – 12
元亨利貞 – Yuan Heng Li Zhen, it is is the classic judgment in the I Ching. Here is the meaning:
元: represents the primal force of creation, the source of all things
亨: signifies smooth development, unobstructed progress, and success.
利: indicates that the situation is favorable, bringing benefit when aligned with the right path.
貞: means steadfastness, integrity, and enduring in the right way.
Some people believe that “元”, “亨”, “利”, “貞” indicate the four seasons in a year, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
維傑豪兹 – Vager Hauers, which is the brand name. Besides the date window at 2 o’clock.
叁 – 3
陆 – 6
出離心 – Chu Li Xin, a buddhist concept refers to a deep mental resolve to free oneself from samsara (the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth) and the three poisons (greed, hatred, and delusion). It is not merely about physical withdrawal but a profound shift in perspective—recognizing the suffering and impermanence of worldly pursuits and cultivating a sincere desire for ultimate liberation (nirvana).
時辰大時 – Double Hours Big Hours, the bigger subdial
子 – Zǐ (23:00~1:00)
丑 – Chǒu (1:00~3:00)
寅 – Yín (3:00~5:00)
卯 – Mǎo (5:00~7:00)
辰 – Chén (7:00~9:00)
巳 – Sì (9:00~11:00)
午 – Wǔ (11:00~13:00)
未 – Wèi (13:00~15:00)
申 – Shēn (15:00~17:00)
酉 – Yǒu (17:00~19:00)
戌 – Xū (19:00~21:00)
亥 – Hài (21:00~23:00)
On the smaller subdial:
十五 – 15
三十 – 30
六十 – 60
At last, I want to say its movement, which is a Japanese Miyota 8219, which has a accuracy of ±5 – ±30 seconds.
Conclusion:
A watch with a strong Chinese I Ching culture. It combines traditional Chinese time display method to show you the 24 hours, this is a great innovation. By the way, some concepts of I Ching and Buddhism transferred through the watch may attract a lot of people who like Chinese culture.
Have you learned some Chinese? Because it will be very useful especially when you are buying something from China. Do you know taobao? You can find everything on this shopping platform, and the price is much cheaper than that on other sites, so, learn some Chinese. I often shop on taobao, there are a lot of watches in different styles, some are very cheap, some have attractive designs, I have an idea, if anyone of you guys who want to buy some Chinese watches, please contact me, I can help you buy on taobao, and I know watches, I can do quality check and then ship to you.
Today, I am going to show you another watch I saw on taobao, does any of you guys like this watch? I like this watch and I have been always looking for such type of watches that have a bit military style. I do not see the brand name, there is a five pointed star logo under 12 and “19 ZUAN” printing on the dial, what does “19 Zuan” mean? It is not a brand name, probably means that the movement in that watch has 19 jewels. This watch comes with two types of bands, one is nylon and the other is a leather strap, it looks a bit like one of the Sea-gull watches I introduced before, which is the 21 Zuan Pilot watch and also the best seller, but this watch is using an automatic movement. I like the nylon band, which matches the dial better, while the black leather strap looks more in line with another model in white dial.
Besides its nylon band, my all attention is on the dial. It is not hard to know the function of each small dial, the one at 6 o’clock is for display of small seconds, the power reserve indicator is set between 10 and 11, the small dial at 2 o’clock is date display. Each small hand is blued steel, and the central hour hand and minute hand also have blued steel edge. I like the five pointed star design at 12 o’clock, it is tridimensional with a small red star on the center, the hour markers are also polished very well with smooth edge, you can not find metal burr. The date can be adjusted through the button on the case. When you winding the watch, the small hand on the power reserve indicator will also move.
The watch is powered by a ST1780 movement, which is developed by Sea-gull company, but this movement has a 28 jewels, not 19. This movement owns a stability that has been accepted by a lot of watch fans who love to buy homage watches.
Conclusion:
For watch fans who often buy homage watches made in China, this vintage pilot-style watch is a great choice, it has a bit military style of those Chinese watches made in old times, the Sea-gull machine offers a durable stability.
This is a world of Swiss watches and Japanese watches, what will the watch world be after ten years, can you imagine? The importance of Swiss watch industry will still be there? Or there will be many custom-made watch models to fulfill different needs of the customers? We do not know, but more brands that offer custom-made watches will appear, in future, people won’t care if the brand is famous or luxury that much like before, but they do care if the brand can make the watch for them according to their personal requirements, because this adds more playable elements on the watch. There are already some Chinese brands that are doing such work, most of them are creating homage watches, Merkur is the one of them that is doing better in this field, today, I am going to introduce another Merkur watch, it is a mens automatic watch in rectangular shape, I like it very much, because of my small wrist, this watch fits me very well. I have to say, the case design is the most important place on such square watch, because it needs to show the elegance to the max while maintaining a great wearing comfort at the same time, Merkur does better on this rectangular watch than the Cartier did on the Tank, I like this Merkur watch, the case has a more arched shape that can fit your wrist in a more comfortable way. This green one is a great choice for both men and women. The green dial has a sanded square part on the center, those small square markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 addes extra elegance to the entire watch. The green leather band is perfectly in line with the green dial. By the way, Merkur said that they use a Japanese automatic movement in this watch, there is no second hand and the watch keeps an accurate time so far. Besides, there are a lot of other styles and dial color Merkur has offered for this watch, different dial style combined with different color of leather band, there must be one you like.
