Having always browsed the webistes of the big three watch companies in China, they do not give me too much surprise, actually the designs on their watches are not attractive to most people, and the repeated usage of some Chinese elements is visually fatigue, however, for some niche brands that produce homage watches in China, their watches are more attractive and are more acceptable for these watch fans or collectors, I think this is the gap between Swiss watches and Chinese watches, not only lies in the technology, but also the designs.
For this watch I am going to review, do you notice its brand logo and name on the dial? It saying Tactical Frog. Have you heard of this brand? Perhaps it is the first time for me and you to know this watch, but the name Tactical Frog has been very hot and popular in forums and reddit. Well, Tactical Frog and Heimdallr are registered under the same person, so both watches are produced by the same company. The Tactical Frog in this article is a great homage watch of the Tudor FXD model.
The watch comes in a plastic box with thick sponge pad protecting it. This is a big watch with a case that is almost in 45mm, which includes the crown, it is measured to be 14mm in thickness. The watch is made with titanium, so is the crown, the bezel is blue ceramic with lumed markers and pearl, it is bi-directional rotating, but unfortunately the bezel only has about 45 clicks. The finish on the case is ok, especially at the edge and corner, it is processed very well so you won’t have no comfort when wearing on hand.
The watch is driven by a solar quartz movement, which is VS75B, it offers hours, minutes, small seconds, chrono and 24-hour display functions, you can see these features on the gritty dial. The small second hand is running on the subdial at 9 o’clock, the smaller subdial at 6 o’clock is a 60-minute chronograph counter, while the 24 hour time is shown at 3 o’clock. The dial lume is also very strong, which is the same lume color as the bezel. The long second-chronograph hand on the center has a bright red color that is a spot on the dial, and I really love the frog logo.
The watch comes with a black nylon band with red stripe on the center that is exactly aligned with the red second hand on the dial. The buckle is also titanium made in matte finish. By the way, the company sent me a blue nylon band for free. And you can easily change the band because of the FXD design of the lugs. The watch has a stunning color design, I like it very much.
Like mechanical watches, there are also big three brands of digital watches made in China, they are Skmei, Smael and Synoke. They are very popular and being sold very well on some platforms such as aliexpress, dhgate and amazon. Today, I will make a summary about the top ten digital watches that have a similar style to G-Shock, hope this guide will help you when you are looking for such type of watches for yourself or your child.
1.Skmei
A brand that has been in this field for more than ten years. In the beginning, they only produced G-style digital watches, now they have enriched their products, you can find digital watches, mechanical watches, quartz watches and even smart watches in their store.They also made some eye-catching and beautiful digital watches for children. They offer a black iron box for each watch, please take a look at my review on Skmei 1988, their watch has a great quality.
2.Smael
I think this is the toughest digital watch from China, I got the 8058 model before and made several tests on it, the watch is not only water resistant, but also shows a very good performance in shock resistance, the Smael is high quality, even I step on this watch with my feet vigorously, it is still ok and the LED screen can show you the accurate time.
3.Synoke
Like Skmei, Synoke also has been in this field for more than ten years, the watches from both companies have a similar style. But Synoke gives me an impression that they are more active in digital watches made for students. Some digital watches made for primary school students are very attractive. The watches they made have a great quality, take the 9619B model as an example, it is a full black watch and comes in an iron box like G-Shock, even in a small size, the watch has a good performance in shockness and toughness test. It is a very good watch for men who wear for outdoor activities.
4.Sanda(be cautious)
About Sanda, the digital watches from them have the closest outlook to G-Shock, but I do not have a good impression of this brand, because the first watch I got from them is broken during the toughness test. The LED screen on the Sanda 6030 model is broken and can not show time completely. You can check my review about this watch and will know what has happened then. Perhaps the one the seller just sent me is not too good, I do not know, just be cautilus if you want to pick a watch from them.
5.Stryve
Most digital watches which Stryve makes have a G-shock style. Stryve watches are more suitable for people who have a large wrist because their watches have a bigger size and feel much heavier than other digital watches. Take the one in rainbow color as an example, it is more than 110 grams and has a style which the Brazilian loves more. Stryve has a solid quality and has also passed through several tests I made, I think it deserves a higher position than Sanda in this list.
6.Sport
Is “Sport” a registered watch brand? I did not find any digital watches being sold under this brand name on aliexpress and amazon, but I found a lot of digital watches that are using this name Sport on 1688.com. They are sold at cheap prices and look good, I bought a black one and it works well, the watch has a good performance in shock resistant test and water resistant test. Besides, the name “Sport” is much better than any other brand names to be used by these watches.
7.Ohsen
They make good digital watches that have a very similar look to G-shock. I bought a green model from them before, the watch is very cheap but still comes with a black iron box. The watch also passed through the shock resistant test and water resistant test. For the G-style digital watches they make, they are more suitable for primary school students.
8.FoxBox
You may not hear this watch, it is a sub-brand from Lige watch company in China, actually they do not make too many G-Shock style watches, but there are several pieces that are really in good quality, including the red FB0029 model I introduced on my blog. The watch looks like having a better quality than most other digital watches I reviewed, but its price is also a bit higher. If you want to find G-style digital watches in diverse options, then FoxBox is not a right option.
9.Shhors
This is a small watch-making company and produces digital watches for students and men. The digital watches for primary school students from Shhors have several features of their own. Other models for men are just copies of the G-style watches. It should have ranked higher on this list but I do not have a good experience. The Shhors watch I bought has an unreasonable design, which is their four operation buttons are not under protection and will easily cause misoperation. And there is no metal box included in the package.
10.Olevs
Olevs is famous for making cheap mechanical watches with fancy dial designs, they like to use cheap diamonds and cheap gold plating. Well, you can also find several digital watches on their store, I do not like their design, take the black and golden model I reviewed before, I do not like it because the golden screw-style crown makes the entire watch look a little weird, but if you do not want to spend too much on a golden or two tone automatic mens watch, Olevs may appear in your consideration list.
To complete the top ten digital watches list and rich my blog content, I did a lot of searches about digital watches made in China and finally found the last one I want to review, why I chose this watch? Because it really has a solid quality, there are a lot of other digital watches, but I found that most are for young students. It is the first time for me to hear about Shhors, which is a Chinese brand founded in Jiangmen city of Guangdong, China. This watch has some G-shock styles but also has some features that differentiate it from other digital watches I have reviewed.
Not like mechanical watches, there are not too many brands of digital watches in China, the main reason I think is G-Shock is not expensive and you can also get a very high quality fake G-Shock at a very cheap price. Despite this, there are still some digital watch brands coming from China have earned a high reputation.
Shhors is not a popular brand in this field and their watches are sold at very cheap prices like other brands, but I felt that the quality seems to be a little higher on Shhors, take this watch as an example, there is a round stainless steel piece added on the case for a better protection, the rubber band is also connected to the case more firmly through big screws. During the shock and tough resistance test, the band is really tied strongly and you will feel very secure.
The watch has a big case that is measured to be 53.3mm in diameter, including the crown, the case thickness is about 18.4mm. The crown is not screwed down but this does not affect the watch’s water resistance. The watch has four functions, time, week, chrono and alarm, there is no date display on the dial. The week is displayed on the round indicator set at 12 o’clock, you can easily found current week in a different color background. There are names of different cities on the outer most of dial, they have no real purpose because the watch can not show you the time in the second time zone, the central hands are also showing you the local time.
This watch looks weird, it has an outlook of AP Royal Oak but immitating the dial design of Hublot Sang Bleu, well, that dial design looks very natural and good in such an octagonal AP Royal Oak case, I must say that Vakuy Rigas has done a good job.
The watch has a big case size that is measured 43mm in diameter and 14mm in thickness, it is made with solid 304 stainless steel and has great polishing and brushing on the case, with a long stainless steel bracelet, the entire watch also feels heavy on your hand.
The frontal face of the bezel has a brushing finish that is completed in the same direction as that on the case and bracelet, the edge and every corner of the case are polished, there is nothing on the crown but only matte finish. The watch has the classic AP Royal Oak bracelet being connected to the case naturally and stably, the bracelet is integrated with the case seamlessly, which looks like an extended part of the case. That’s also the reason why so many people like AP Royal Oak, not only because of its sporty outlook, but also the connection of the case and bracelet makes the watch fit your wrist in a more comfortable way, but the premise is that your wrist is big enough.
The dial shows the time in a creative way, where you can see the most mechanical method to display the time. The working or moving steel frame at the center is traditional second hand, next the steel frame with one corner filled with white luminescence is minute hand, the outermost steel frame is hour hand, which is pointing at the hour number printed on the beveled inner bezel. The sapphire crystal has a very good permeability, you can observe the dial clearly at every angle.
At last, the watch has a Japan 8215 movement that is a standard automatic movement from Miyota. This movement now has been widely used in replica watches and homage watches made in China, it is well known for its high stability. I have the watch for three weeks now, it gains 18 seconds each day now but I still love it very much.
Farasute, it is the first time for many people to hear this watch, it has a good name that soulds like a watch brand coming from Germany. Well, I am very sure Farasute makes watches in China, and their headquarter is located in Shenzhen, I did not find two or three classic timepieces they have made that have been popular in watch industry or in homage watch field, but the one I am going to introduce today is a very beautiful model from Farasute, it has a top quality, absolutely its price is not cheap.
I found this watch on Taobao, which is a great shopping app from alibaba group, you can find everything on this platform. I went into the shopping page of Farasute and this watch immediately attracted my attention for its unique movement design, where you can see it through the crystal back. Farasute has four different models to choose for this watch, each is different from the other by dial color combination, the black and white dial color look too formal, I have several timepieces with such type of color combination, so I chose the green one, which looks a little saucy, after I paid, I was told by the seller that the watch needs to be customized first and the process will take about twenty days, I was not worried but more excited, what a timepiece will be created by this project?
Finally I received the watch after waiting for almost twenty five days, everything looks perfect, the watch, box and accessories. I love the wooden box with brown leather inside, among so many Chinese watches I have seen, the Farasute box looks the most high-end. And when I learned that they only produce two hundred pieces of this watch within one year, I know I am very lucky.
The watch has a case that is measured to be 39mm in diameter and about 12mm in thickness. The four lugs have a polished finish and are naturally curved to guarantee a better wearing comfort on your hand. The bezel is green and has a dome sapphire crystal cap. The rim of the case back has polished engravings on a rough sanded background, the center of the back is a crystal window to show an unique movement.
Like the bezel, the dial also has a green color. Every detail on the dial is perfectly completed, hour markers and the brand logo are tridimensional, each hour marker is cut in the same shape and size without metal burr on the edge, please get a closer look at the dial, they look very clean. The three small dials have a sunken design and hve delicate CD patterns decoration, each small dial has their own function, the small second hand is running on the subdial at 6 o’clock, the other two subdials are minute-chronograph counter and hour-chronograph counter. The watch has a working chronograph, you can unscrew the buttons and operate it.
Through the crystal back, we can see the movement, which has an unique auto rotor in golden tone, the entire rotor is made in the shape of the Farasute logo, that’s very impressive. By the way, the movement is 4801 chronograph from Dandong movement factory, it is a very stable movement and usually has no issues. And the stability of this movement has been tested on many watches including some super clones that have been very hot in Chinese market, both its stability and accuracy are trusted.
Sport, I am not sure if this is a registered watch brand, I saw a lot of digital watches sold online use this name. Among these watches, most are for students, so is this watch I am going to introduce today. You can see the word “SPORT” in white on this watch that has a rugged design case, I also did two tests about shock resistance and water resistance on this watch, it passed.
It is black digital watch with simple color combination of black and white, there are white lettering instruction on the black watch. The case is over 53mm and is almost 18mm in thickness, but the entire watch is light in weight, which is only 49 grams. The resin case is really much lighter than some watches made with carbon I saw before.
The case has several pieces of resin knurls to protect the dial and operation buttons on the sides, on the four corners, there are stainless steel screws to lock the entire watch tightly through the front to back. The case back has the engraving of a swimming person in the sea, which means the watch is water resistant. We can also see similar information on the front which is printed with “WR30 BAR”. Each button set on the case has their own purpose and easy to operate.
The dial design is very reasonable. Because the lower section of LED screen has a big space to show you time, you can also easily get the week and date at the same time, although these details are displayed in black font, but I can still read them separately with a great convenience because they have the font in different thickness. There is no specific function for the oicator on the upper left, it is just a decoration.
At last, the digital watch is driven by a quartz battery imported from Japan. I do not know how long it will last, but the battery in my G-Shock has lasted for five years. Maybe the lifetime of the battery in this Sport watch is about 3 years. Whatever, if you have children who are in shools and do not want to spend too much on a watch, then this Sport digital watch will be a perfect gift, it is strongly made and very durable.
I introduced a good homage of Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch with skeleton dial on my blog before, it looks really good, the watch is made by Geya, which is a watch company located in Shenzhen of China, today, I will review another AP Royal Oak homage watch from Geya, after reading this article and checking the pictures, I think you and me will have the same opinion, that is Geya is making the best AP Royal Oak homage. I have seen a lot of homage watches made in China, but none of them have the same good finish as this Geya watch.
Does this watch look familiar to you? It looks like the Royal Oak 15500. When I received the watch, the package is very heavy, the watch is in a high-end black box that looks much better than the boxes of other watches I reviewed here, even better than the box offered by Sea-gull watch. Actually Geya sent several gifts along with the watch, the box has a clever design for the placing of the Geya manual book.
The case has a very close shape to AP Royal Oak but has a bigger size, I measured, the case diameter is more than 43mm, not including the crown, it it bigger than than AP 15500, the case thickness is about 11.7mm. The octagonal bezel has vertical brushing finish with polished screws, each screw on the bezel is fixed in right position, with slot being aligned perfectly, for example, please check the screws at 5 o’clock and 11 o’clock, you will know what I mean. The crown is screw-in and has a drawing “G” logo on the brushed face. The entire watch has a weight of 166 grams.
About the checkered dial, besides this black, Geya also offers white and blue, they are all well made. Every tridimensional hour marker has stainless steel frame and has white luminous material filled in the center. The markers are finished perfectly without metal burr on the edge. The second hand on the center is sweeping the dial very smoothly, the date window is also a close imitation of the one on AP 15500. The brand name GEYA at 12 o’clock has a glossy finish. All things on the dial look good, but the dial is lack of some reflective effect that could be even found on some super clones of AP.
The stainless steel bracelet has the same construction as the AP 15500, the bracelet naturally extends from the case that is being connected through two pins, the bracelet is naturally narrowed down from top to the end, it seems to have merged into a whole piece with the case. On the opening of the clasp, there is G logo and brand name “GEYA” in drawing finish. The entire bracelet has vertical brushing finish that is in line with the finish on the case.
The watch is equipped with an automatic movement, you can totally see the machine through the crystal back. I do not know where exactly the movement is made, maybe from Japan, this movement has a great power reserve, after being delivered, I put the package in still for about 36 hours, the watch still worked accurate after I opened the box. Besides the brand name engraving on the auto rotor, there is no other decoration on the movement plate.
Conclusion:
This is the most beautiful Audemars Piguet Royal Oak homage watch I have ever seen, it has superb case finish and bracelet finish, the movement is accurate and also has considerable power reserve as well as few issues. Considering its price that is less than $150, I think there are no other AP homages that can compete with this one at the same price lever. It is highly recommended.
Ohsen, I do not know too much about its background and I did not find any useful information about Ohsen on the internet, but the digital watches under Ohsen name are sold very well, some digital watches made by Ohsen are for students, they look good, like this one that has a light green color, I think many young students will like it, this watch also has a very cheap price, much cheaper than the digital watches I reviewed in the past, by the way, this light green Ohsen watch is totally a digital watch, there are no hands, only LED screen to show you the time and date information, so there is no crown on the case, actually I love this design, which looks very similar to the design of G-Shock DW5600.
Like the G-Shock, the Ohsen watch comes with a black iron box, there is an instruction paper in the box, the case of the watch is made with one piece of forged resin, the case is measured to be 44.4mm from left to right, and 14.2mm in thickness, not too big and has a very classic square shape. The mineral crystal face is totally under protection of the rubber case, even I knock the watch hard on the table, the mineral crystal is still fine and not broken. These four black words “MODE”, “LIGHT”, “START” and “RESET” are not totally black, we can see white color in some places.
The dial shows you time, date and week, the beating grids above the digits on the dial is an interesting design, actually I am not sure if it has a special function, perhap no, just to add more fun. The rubber band is strongly connected to the case, but the black buckle is just made from plastic, not good. I prefer the stainless steel buckle on my G-Shock.
In a word, if you do not want to spend too much on a digital watch that has good shock resistance and water resistance, then this Ohsen will be a perfect choice, because of its bright color and simple design, I think many students will like it.
Cronusart is a company located in Shenzhen of China, they produce both jewelries and watches, and I did not find the jewelry products they have made. The watches from Cronusart have one common feature, which is most are tonneau-shaped, absolutely they did not abandon the spirit of Chinese watches, which is homage. I have checked their official website, a lot of watches are homages of Richard Mille and Frank Muller. Some ladies models indeed attract my eyes by use of creative designs on the dial, I do not know if these creative dial designs are also copied from some Swiss models that I have never seen, anyway, I have an advice for the development of this brand, which is they can combine gems and continue to create novel designs on the dial, providing outstanding watches for ladies.
This Cronusart watch I am going to review today is made with forged carbon material, the watch may look familiar to you because it has a similar appearance to Daytona, but Rolex did not make such a carbon Daytona before, but I know which watch it copies from. This Cronusart watch exactly copies the designs of the carbon DiW Daytona, it is a great homage of the DiW Daytona. You can do a search about “DiW” on google, it is a company that makes customized Swiss watches.
I chose the one with black and orange color, which looks more attractive to me just because of the orange color used on the watch. The case has a diameter of 40mm and is measured to be 12.6mm, the entire case is made with forged carbon, including the bezel, case back and dial, the entire watch has a very light weight.
The use of orange color highlights the watch and enhances its stunning appearance. I did not expect a watch could also use carbon material on the dial, but this watch indeed has a forged carbon dial. Besides the brand logo at 12 o’clock, the orange small dials are not only in line with the orange color on the nylon band, but also enhance the readability of the black dial, they also tell you the operation mode of the watch.
This is a watch with working chronograph, seeing from its dial, the small second hand is running on the subdial at 6 o’clock, the slim and long hand on the center is not second hand, but works for seconds chronograph. The other two small dials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock have their own functions, one for minute chronograph, the other is for hour chronograph. By the way, the brand claims that this watch uses a 4130 movement made by Dandong movement factory, I only heard this movement in replica watch industry, perhaps this company sold fake watches in the past.
The band uses orange nylon on the outside, the inside that contacts your skin uses black leather, this design on the band not only maintains a cool appearance, but also guarantees a very soft and comfortable wearing experience. By the way, it is very easy to remove the band from the watch and replace a new band on.
Olevs, which is also a Chinese brand founded in Huizhou of Guangdong, is kind of well-know in watch industry. The digital watches, like this one in golden and black tone, are not the mainstream products of Olevs. I have done very little research about this brand and only checked its website, the watches they make have similar styles to the watches made by Binger, but I think Binger watches have a higher quality. Both Olevs and Binger are like to use a design that opens a window to show the balance wheel on the dial, and many watches created by them are in golden tone and are like using diamonds to make them look more luxury, perhaps Chinese customers like this style more.
The digital watch I just bought from Olevs has a great color combination, which is golden and black. I love all things on the watch except its tiny crown and very thin rubber band. By the way, Olevs makes their watches look luxury, but the box coming with the watch look poor quality, and there is only a watch inside, no other accessories.
The watch has a big size, its case is measured to be 51mm from left to right, the case thickness is 16.4mm, however, the entire watch is only 61.6 grams in weight. I like its case, which is one-piece forged, with resin surrounding the entire dial window to give a full protection of the crystal face. During the shock resistance I made on the watch, the case really protects the crystal very well. The four buttons, which are for light, mode and chrono operation, are hidden in the hole but very convenient to operate. The name of each button is engraved in gray color, which has a high legibility on the black case. The crown is very small in golden tone, I prefer a big rubber crown where you can find on other G-style sports watches.
On the dial, there is LED screen in black to show you the week, date, hours, minutes and seconds. The central golden hour hand and minute hand are indicating the golden hour markers and golden minute ring. Black second hand is ticking around the dial. There is a big OLEVS logo in black on the golden background at 9 o’clock. When you push the light button at 10 o’clock, there will be light on the back of the LED screen, so you will be able to read time in the dark conditions. The light will last for seconds after releasing the button.
The black rubber band is much thinner than the one on the other digital watches I reviewed before, but it is nicely connected to the case, even though I pull the straps hard in opposite directions in the video, the band still stays firmly, not broken. The watch is powered by a quartz battery that is imported from Japan, which can last for years.
