Stryve is not a popular brand in the digital watch field, it is not as famous as those digital watch brands I reviewed before such as Sanda, Skmei, etc. Stryve is a brand coming from Shenzhen in China, I do not know too much about its background, perhaps it is made by a company that sells a lot of products, not only watches, a large amount of sellers on the Aliexpress are doing like this. Some watch companies that mainly make mechanical watches also has one digital watch in very cheap price to bring traffic to their website. Stryve is just a very common brand, but this watch I am going to review has an out-of-the-ordinary look that is totally in rainbow color, very fashionable.
The watch comes in an ordinary black paper box, besides the watch, I did not find any other accessories. Stryve offers a lot of colors for this model, but this rainbow color is more popular, which has a little Brazilian style, and the watch has a big size, which is measured to be 52.8mm from left to right, I think a lot of customers in Brazil will like it. By the way, this Stryve watch has a weight of 112.6 grams, which is a little heavy among those digital watches.
The watch has an attractive color, considering its price, the finish is acceptable to me, if they do better polishing and finishing on the screws of the case and the markers on the dial, then this watch will beat a lot of other G-style digital watches. We can see slight burrs on the four screws fixed on the case, and the markers on the dial are not nicely cut, but with rough edges if you check carefully.
The dial has various colors that exactly echoes with the color style of the case. There are several separate sections to show the functions of the watch, between 10 and 11, the window is displaying the week on the top, the month and date is shown below. The round window at 2 o’clock shows you seconds in digital form. The LED screen at 6 o’clock has hours and minutes on. On the center, there are hour hand, minute hand and second hand, each is in different color, the contrasting red and blue color on the hour hand and minute hand brightens the entire dial and enhances the readability.
I made two tests on this watch, including shock resistance and water resistance. After the two tests, the watch still works accurate, the LED screens on the dial are fine and not broken after I knock it very hard on the desk. You can check the last two videos in the article.
If you are a fan of my blog, you may have noticed that I have introduced a lot of Rolex Submariner homage watches produced in China, I bought most of them, took pictures and made comparison reviews, actually most of them have a good quality, and I more hope these reviews can help you a lot when deciding to buy your first watch in China or picking some homage watches to rich your collection. Today, I will make a summary of the top ten best Submariner hulk homage watches made in China, from this list and by reading my previous reviews, you will easily tell which one is the best.
1.Sugess Seaman SP116610LV
Seeing from its model number, Sugess Seaman is a classic homage watch of Submariner hulk 116610LV. I made some searches about Sugess, and found this is a watch company coming from Shenzhen of China, now they have become one of the most popular homage watch brands. In many watch forums and Reddit, a lot of watch fans have admitted that this is the best homage of Submariner hulk. It has a case measured to be 40mm in diameter and 12.5mm in thickness, which is closest to the case size of the Rolex Submariner 116610LV, the Seaman SP116610LV has a green ceramic bezel, its green color on the bezel and dial looks very close to that on hulk Submariner. By the way, the Sugess Seaman uses a Japanese NH35A automatic movement inside, which is very reliable.
Advantages: correct case shape and size, genuine green ceramic bezel insert, Japanese NH35A movement, correct lume color Shortcoming: high price, almost 190 USD on their official site
2.San Martin SN0017
SN0017 is a famous model from San Martin, it has black and green color options, I introduced the green SN0017 on my blog at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/05/31/san-martin-submariner-116610lv-homage-review/, and I also have given a comparison review about the black one between it and the Cronos L6015 as well as the Steeldive SD1953, please check my review at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/08/20/black-submariner-homage-review-cronos-l6015-vs-san-martin-sn0017-vs-steeldive-sd1953/. The SN0017 deserves the second position because it really has a very good finish on the case, dial and bracelet like the Sugess. Among all homage watches created in China, the ones made by San Martin all have good finish, their case finish should be among the best. The case of the SN0017 is 40.5mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness, the bezel also uses real green ceramic. The watch is equipped with a Japanese NH35A automatic movement.
Advantages: good case finish, sunburst dial finish, correct bezel engravings, strong and correct blue lume, stable NH35A movement. Shortcoming: Bracelet structure is not as good as the Sugess Seaman, the top of the bezel pearl is not domed, high price, almost 190 USD.
3.Pagani Design 1639
Why does this watch have such a high position in the list? We know Pagani Design is famous for making cheap homage watches, their Speedmaster, Tiffany Blue Rolex and Daytona homage watches are popular in watch industry, it is the hottest Chinese brand that is being discussed in Reddit. After receiving a Pagani Design watch, you will find its quality exceeds your expecation because you only paid tens of US Dollars, that’s the reason why Pagani Design should rank so high in this list. The Pagani Design 1639, I talked about it in a comparison review here at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/12/12/hulk-submariner-homage-reviewpart-3-pagani-design-1639-vs-vakuy-rigas-v-003-vs-tevise-t801/.
Advantages: good finish on the case and bezel, bezel pearl looks nice, nice sunburst finish on green dial, very reasonable price. Shortcoming: big case over 43mm, weak lume light on the bezel pearl and dial markers.
4.Cronos L6015
I firstly knew Cronos because it makes a good quality Pepsi GMT-Master homage watch, the L6015 is a Submariner homage model of Cronos, which has black and green color choices. The Cronos L6015 hulk Submariner homage has a correct case size and a green ceramic bezel, the bracelet and clasp are nice and have the similar structure to Submariner. The watch uses a NH35A automatic movement.
Advantages: good finish on the case, green ceramic bezel and Japanese NH35A movement. Bezel pearl is slightly dome-shaped, strong blue lume. Shortcoming: Arabic number markers on the bezel are bit thinner, surburst finish on the dial not obvious, too green on the dial.
5.Heimdallr HMSR01
Heimdallr is also a great homage watch brand that has been in this field for years. I have introduced its background information in the first article review about a Heimdallr diver’s watch at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2022/04/09/heimdallr-divers-200m-black-the-big-monster-in-deep-ocean/. Heimdallr is mainly famous for making these homages of Seiko diver’s watches. This green hulk Submariner homage watch HMSR01 from Heimdallr has a great quality, it deserves the fifth position in this list, I like its sunburst finish on the green dial, which is very close to that of green Submariner 116610LV.
Advantages: green dial with sunburst finish, engraved inner bezel, strong lume, Japanese movement Shortcoming: inner bezel is a little high, wrong lume on the bezel pearl, thin bezel markers
6.STEELDIVE SD1953
STEELDIVE is a Chinese brand that is loved by a lot of people, they do make high quality watches and sell them at reasonable prices, when selecting a homage watch from China, STEELDIVE may become the first choice. Among watches made by STEELDIVE, SD1953 is one of the most popular models. STEELDIVE offers a hard plastic box that gives the watch a full protection, there are some accessories coming with the watch such as card, user manual and screwdriver. As far as I know, STEELDIVE does not make a 40mm Submariner homage, the SD1953 has a 41mm case that is measured to be 14mm in thickness, which is much thicker than other Submariner homage watches I saw. The finish on the case and bracelet is very good. The dial has nice printings. With a low price, the quality of the STEELDIVE SD1953 absolutely meets your expectation.
Advantages: good case finish, very nice dial details, strong lume on the bezel and dial, Japanese movement, cheap price. Shortcomings: no bezel pearl, the green color is a little dark on the dial
7.Hruodland F-015
This brand has a strange name, which is hard to pronounce. I knew Hruodland because the Explorer homage watch really caught my attention. I made a comparison review between it and the Heimdallr, both watches are very nice. The Hruodland has a stainless steel case that is measured to be 40.7mm in diameter and 12.4mm in thickness. The bezel uses genuine green ceramic, there are engravings on the inner bezel, the green dial looks great but sunburst finish is not obvious. The watch uses a PT5000 movement made in China, the brand also offers a SW200 movement option for this watch.
Advantages: good finish, strong lume, real ceramic bezel, PT5000 movement Shortcoming: no bezel pearl, the sunburst finish on the dial not too obvious
8.Mysterious Code Submariner
It is one of my most favorite green Submariner homage watches, now it is hard to find this watch on the aliexpress, maybe because of the “SUBMARINER” printing on the dial, it violates the intellectual property right. Now if you want to buy this watch, perhaps need to search it on Taobao and ask one of your friends in China to buy for you. The Mysterious Code Submariner uses real green ceramic on the bezel insert, the dial color also looks great, you can read the review between this watch and the Lige on my blog at https://www.bobswatchstore.com/2023/11/30/hulk-submariner-homage-reviewpart-2-lige-vs-mysterious-code/.
Advantages: ceramic bezel, correct case size, good bezel pearl, correct lume, Miyota 8215 movement Shortcoming: lume not last
9.Lige 6801
About Lige, actually I know little about this watch company, I also do not suggest you buy watches from Lige watch company, because their watches are overpriced in China, while sold at very cheap prices abroad, so I do not think they are trusted. However, this Lige green Submariner homage watch looks nice, especially its green color, better than some watches I mentioned above. I love its tridimensional brand logo on the dial and the see-through design on the back.
Advantages: good finish on the case, good bezel pearl with similar shape to hulk, strong lume, good dial color and details, Shortcoming: wrong lume color, a low-end Chinese movement with short power reserve
10.Vakuy Rigas V-003
There is little information about the background of Vakuy Rigas, actually I know something about this brand, do you know Parnis? It is the earliest homage watch manufacturer in China, now Vakuy Rigas is owned by the same team as Parnis, you can think Vakuy Rigas is a sub-branch of Parnis. The hottest Vakuy Rigas watch being discussed on the internet is the Daytona Paul Newman homage model. This green Submariner homage watch is also in good quality.
Advantages: acceptable quality with very cheap price, good bezel pearl with similar shape to real Submariner, real ceramic bezel(claimed by the dealer), Miyota 8215 movement Shortcoming: the green color on the dial not good, smooth dial without surburst finish
I have written two articles about the comparison between hulk Submariner homages made in China, today, this is the third part of this series, hope these three articles can help you to get one good homage watch of green Submariner. Homage watches occupy a large part of the market here in China, a lot of companies make them, even the big three such as Sea-gull and Shanghai Watch Factory also make the homage watch of the hulk Submariner. Absolutely the quality varies, price also different, some are over 200 USD, some are even under 50 USD, you can choose the right one according to your budget. As a homage watch, they have shortcomings when being compared with the genuine watch, but low price is their big advantage, I have been dong watch reviews for more than 20 years, I only give you guys my most honest opinions on these homages.
Box and Accessories
Both Pagani Design and Tevise come with a black square box, there is a blue cloth inside the box of Pagani Design, while Tevise offers one pair of black leather band for free. About the Vakuy Rigas watch, it comes in an orange plastic box, inside, there is a card, one screw driver and one green nylon strap. In my opinion, the hard plastic box of Vakuy Rigas will give the watch a better protection.
The case diameter of the PaganiThe thickness measurement of the PaganiThe weight of the Pagani DesignCase diameter measurement of the TeviseCase thickness of the TeviseThe weight of the Tevise
Case
Among them, the Pagani Design has the largest case size, which is measured to be 43.3mm in diameter, but its case is not too thick, which is only 12.8mm in thickness. The Tevise watch is also 42.3mm in diameter, while only the Vakuy Rigas watch has a correct case size that is very close to that of Rolex Submariner hulk, which is about 40.8mm. I do not know why Pagani Design adopts such a large size on this green Submariner homage watch, it almost reaches up to the size of the Rolex Sea-Dweller. The Pagani Design and the Vakuy Rigas have a similar case shape and good case finish, while I do not like the case of the Tevise, it is polished to be too bright, especially the bright polishing on the lugs and the bezel teeth, Rolex hulk Submariner does not use this finish. By the way, the middle case of the Tevise looks weird, there is one extra piece of metal on the top, just like the bottom of the bowl.
Bezel
The bezel of the three watches has a color difference with the one on real Rolex hulk Submariner. The finish of the bezel on the Tevise watch is the worst among them, the bezel teeth on the Tevise has a rough finish, they are even a bit scratchy when you touch them by hands. The pearl has a too arched face, I mean the too round face, and these markers on the bezel are not engraved but printed.
Vakuy Rigas claims that they use a real green ceramic bezel insert on this watch, the green color on the bezel of this Vakuy Rigas watch is closest to the green on Rolex 116610LV, the Pagani Design has a darker green, while the green on the bezel of the Tevise watch is too bright, which looks more like the color on the vintage 16610LV.
The Pagani Design watch should have the best quality finish on the bezel, its markers have a deeper engraving than than the Vakuy Rigas, which look more tridimensional. The bezel pearl on both Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas has a similar shape.
Crystal
The Pagani Design and the Vakuy Rigas use sapphire crystal, the Tevise uses a mineral crystal face. The magnifier on the crystal of the Pagani Design has an obvious magnifying effect, while on the Vakuy Rigas and Tevise, the date font is not obviously enlarged through the magnifier.
Dial
Among the three watches, the Pagani Design has the best green color and dial finish. On the dial of both Pagani Design and Tevise, we can see the sunburst finish, while on the dial of the Vakuy Rigas, its green color is a bit dark, and there is no sunburst effect, just smooth green.
By the way, the round hour markers on the dial of the Tevise watch look weird, they have a too arched face, too round on the top, that’s not correct. The triangular hour marker on the Vakuy Rigas is a little larger than that on the Pagani Design.
The lume of the PaganiThe lume of the TeviseThe lume of the Vakuy Rigas
Lume
Both on the Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas, the lume of the bezel pearl and dial is blue, but too weak. The Tevise has a stronger green lume light.
The clasp of the PaganiThe clasp of the TeviseThe clasp of the Vakuy Rigas
Bracelet
Both the Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas have a good finish on the bracelet, which is much better than the finish on the Tevise. The clasp of the Vakuy Rigas has a closer structure than the other two watches.
Tevise movementVakuy Rigas solid case back
Movement
Through the crystal back, we can see it is a NH35A automatic movement inside the Pagani Design. The Tevise watch also has a crystal back, I do not know what movement it is, perhaps the movement is made in China. The Vakuy Rigas has a solid case back, they use a Miyota 8215 automatic movement made in Japan. I have tested the three watches, once being fully winded, the Vakuy Rigas has a longer working time than the other two.
Water Resistance
Both the Pagani Design and Vakuy Rigas are claimed to be 100m water resistant, the Tevise is 30m water resistant, but the crown of the Tevise watch is not screwed down, I do not think its water resistance can be up to 30m.
Conclusion
Among the three watches, I think the Pagani Design 1639 is the best, it has a much better finish on the case and bracelet, and its dial has a great green color, besides, the movement inside the Pagani Design is made in Japan, which is considered to be more reliable than the Chinese movement used in the Tevise. The Pagani Design 1639 should be your first choice among the three, and its price around 80 USD can be also accepted by most people.
The Vakuy Rigas should be the second choice, if they have a better green color on the dial like its bezel, then this watch will be a very good homage of green Submariner. Considering its Japanese Miyota movement and the power reserve I have tested, I still think the Vakuy Rigas is a good watch.
The Tevise watch has the worst finish on the case and bracelet among the three, but considering its price under 30 USD, it is still a good option for those people who have a low budget.
The hulk Submariner has always been one of the best sellers of Rolex, it is also one of the mostly cloned watches, and there are a lot of its homage watches made in China, like the Cronos, San Martin and Steeldive I mentioned in review of black Submariner homage in August, the Hruodland and Heimdallr I just reviewed in my last post, all these Chinese brands make considerable quality homage watches of black Submariner and green hulk Submariner. Today, I will bring another comparison review on the hulk Submariner homage, the two watches I am going to review are Lige and Mysterious Code, this is not the first time for me to talk about these two brands, I introduced Lige watch company in one post about its FoxBox G-style digital watch, and Mysterious Code is well-known for making good homage watches at very cheap prices. Today, let’s see if the hulk Submariner homage watch made by them is the one you are looking for.
Box and Accessories
Both watches come with box, the Lige uses a square leather box with card user manual, the Mysterious Code comes with a big soft cloth box, there is no card and instruction book.
Case
The case of both watches is made with solid stainless steel, Lige claims that they use 316L stainless steel on this watch. The case of the Lige is bigger, which is measured to be 41.3mm in diameter and 13.6mm in thickness. The case of the Mysterious Code watch is about 40.4mm in diameter and 12.7mm in thickness. The Mysterious Code has a case that is closer to hulk Submariner in size. When I holding the two watches in hand, the Lige obviously looks a bit larger. The case back of the Lige is see-through crystal, while the Mysterious Code has a solid case back. I prefer the crystal back on the Lige watch. The brushing finish on the case of the Lige watch is more even and delicate.
the case diameter of the Ligethe case thickness of the LigeLige watch weightMysterious Code Submariner case diameterMysterious Code Submariner case thicknessThe weight of the Mysterious Code watch
Bezel
Mysterious Code claims that they use a green ceramic bezel on this watch, but I think the bezel insert on both watches is not made with real ceramic. Just because each watch has a cheap price. However, in my opinion, the Lige and Mysterious Code have a better bezel than the Hruodland and Heimdallr I reviewed last time, the bezel pearl on both watches looks very close to that of genuine Submariner, the top of the lume pearl is a bit arched, and we can see the bezel pearl on the Lige watch has a green lume light, while on the Mysterious Code, it is blue. On both watches, the bezel does not fit the middle case perfectly, you can see a gap between them.
The bezel teeth on the LigeThe bezel teeth on the Mysterious Code
Crystal
Both Lige and Mysterious Code use sapphire crystal. The crystal is correctly installed on the Lige watch, while it stands a little higher above on the Mysterious Code.
Dial
The green color on the dial of both watches is very close. About the finish, the sunburst finish on the dial of the Lige watch is more obvious, the hour markers on the Ligi also look larger than that of the Mysterious Code. Another difference is the lume light, on Lige, the dial lume is green, while Mysterious Code has a blue dial lume. By the way, I like the tridimensional brand logo on the dial of the Lige watch, the white logo printing on the Mysterious Code is lengthy.
Bracelet
Both watches have a very good quality stainless steel bracelet in similar length. Because of the different case size, the bracelet of the Lige watch is a little wider than that of the Mysterious Code. And the finish on the bracelet is better on the Lige watch. The clasp on the Lige watch also has a closer structure to genuine Submariner.
Movement
The movement inside the Lige is a DG2813, which is a Chinese movement cloned from ETA 2813, this movement was widely used by those low-end and middle quality fake watches. As far as I know, this movement is produced and assembled in Guangzhou. DG2813 has 21 jewels and 44 hours of power reserve, it beats 21,600 times per hour. While Mysterious Code claims that they use a Miyota 8215 automatic movement in the watch, absolutely the Japanese Miyota 8215 is much better than the DG2813.
Conclusion
At last, we can see their own advantages on each watch. The Lige watch has a better finish on the case and bracelet, it also has a very good-looking brand logo on the dial. The Mysterious Code Submariner has a better green color on the dial, the lume light on the bezel pearl and dial is also correct blue, more importantly, the Mysterious Code has a more stable and reliable Miyota 8215 automatic movement from Japan. Even the Mysterious Code is $30 higher than the Lige watch in price, I still suggest you choose it because of its better movement. For a Submariner homage watch with automaitc movement around 30 US Dollars, this Lige watch is also a good option, however, about Lige, this is a very strange brand, their watches usually have deceptive prices, which are very high for Chinese customers but normal for the others.
In the past, I made a comparison review about black Submariner homage watch between Cronos, San Martin and STEELDIVE, many readers love my reviews, some sent emails to me and hope I can continue to share such type of reviews, because a majority of them often buy products from China, absolutely including the watches, so, sometimes such type of buying guide reviews are very helpful to them. On my blog, except the big three companies, I mean Shanghai Watch, Beijing Watch and Sea-gull, most other Chinese brands are actually making homage watches, a lof of watch fans like homages, so in future, I will share reviews on other homage watches made in China. Today, I want to give an introduction on the green Submariner made by Hruodland and Heimdallr, I will show you the difference between them objectively.
Hruodland, a very strange watch name that is difficult to pronounce, this watch company is located in Changping Town of Dongguan City of China, I have discovered that a lot of Chinese homage watches reviewed here are coming from this town in Dongguan City, you guys must know this city, which was more famous 15 year ago than today because of its sexual services. And about Heimdallr, whose watches are also made in the same town as Hruodland, but they are two different companies, the exact address is different, Hruodland has some quality Rolex homages, while Heimadllr is more famous for manufacturing Seiko Diver’s homage watches. In this article, I posted some pictures to compare the hulk Submariner homage between the two brands.
Box and Accessories
Both come with a black box that is made with hard paper sheet, the Hruodland comes in a cube, the Heimadllr’s box is rectangular, Hruodland box seems to be better and it has a card and an instructions book inside, while Heimadllr does not offer a card and a user manual.
Case
Both watches have a case that is in similar size, the Hruodland has a case diameter of 40.7mm and case thickness of 12.4mm, while the Heimadllr watch is measured to be 40.9mm in case diameter and 13.5mm in case thickness, the Heimadllr is a little thicker, perhaps the higher rehaut increases the thickness of the Heimadllr watch, you can check the comparison photos of the inner bezel in the end of the article, the engraved rehaut of the Heimadllr is much higher.
Bezel
The bezel on both watches is made with real green ceramic, while we can see different bezel markers and the bezel pearl, the green color on the bezel also looks a little dark. On the bezel of the Heimdallr, we can notice the engraving depth, which is more obvious than that on the bezel of the Hruodland. The bezel markers are also thinner on the Heimdallr, but they look too white on the Hruodland, because Hruodland applies white lume material on each bezel marker. Two watches have a wrong bezel pearl if comparing them with genuine hulk Submariner, the lume pearl on the Heimdallr looks larger and a little yellow, the bezel pearl on the Hruodland is actually just a lume dot, which is totally in white. By the way, all these bezel markers on the Hruodland can emit a blue lume light in the darkness, while on the Heimdallr, only the bezel pearl is luminous.
Crystal
Both watches use sapphire crystal, which is highly scratch resistant and also has a good transparancy, the crystal on each watch stands a little high above, the date magnifier on both watches has been applied with anti-reflective coating.
Dial
I like the green color of the dial on both watches, not too green, which looks very close to the green color on genuine Submariner watch. The hour markers on the Heimdallr look a little larger than that of the Hruodland, each watch has a sunburst finish on the dial, I like the anchor logo on Hruodland’s dial, there is a word “SUBMERSIBLE” on the dial of the Hruodland. On the dial of the Heimdallr, it is printed “300M”, while it is “200M” on the Hruodland, well, I think both watches can not dive to that depth, the Heimdallr looks stronger and perhaps has a deeper water resistance. The inner bezel, both watches have engravings on the rehaut, while on the Heimdallr, the rehaut is higher and the engravings are more noticeable.
Hruodland lumeHeimdallr lume
Bracelet
Put the two watches on the table, you will find the Heimdallr has a longer stainless steel bracelet, for people who have a large wrist, I think this Heimdallr is more suitable. The entire Heimdallr watch is also heavier, which is 165.4 grams, while the Hruodland is about 159.9 grams. Both watches have a similar clasp structure, I like the bracelet of the Hruodland more because the buckle has a more exquisite anchor logo.
Movement
At last, I want to talk about the movement. The Hruodland uses a PT5000, which is an automatic movement developed in China, this movement has a 28,800bph, 25 jewels and 38 hours power reserve. The Heimdallr is equipped with a NH35A automatic movement that is developed in Japan. NH35A beats 21,600 times per hour, it has 24 jewels and 41 hours of power reserve. Actually both movements are widely used by these homage watches made in China. By the way, Hruodland also offers a higher end Swiss SW200 movement option for this watch.
Price
This Hruodland has a higher price than the Heimdallr because of the more expensive PT5000 movement, no need to upgrade it with a better SW200 movement, that will cost a lot of money.
Conclusion
Among Hruodland and Heimdallr, there is no need to tell which watch is closer to hulk Submariner, in my opinion, every watch has their own selling points, for example, perhaps a lot of people like the fully luminous bezel on the Hruodland, some people may like the engraved rehaut more on the Heimdallr, I can not tell you which watch is better, but in appearance, the Heimdallr has a closer outlook to hulk Submariner. You can decide by yourself, the Heimdallr is sold at $165 on their official site, while the Hruodland is sold at $259 on its site.
Have you heard of Foxbox, I did a searching of “G style digital watches” on the internet and found this watch, it has a name “FOXBOX”, but I found this watch on the website of Lige, was being sold under brand Lige, so I guess Foxbox is just a sub-brand of Lige. I knew Lige watch two months ago when I still reviewed these Chinese homage watches, I learned from Reddit that Lige makes a good quality hulk Submariner homage watch, but when I visited their website, I found a very ridiculous thing, which is that Lige sells their watches to the customers in the Europe and United States at much cheaper prices, while their watches are sold to Chinese customers on Taobao and other platforms in China at more expensive prices, they are cheating Chinese customers, actually this is a very common Chinese brand that opened their office in Guangzhou of China, not a well-known watch.
Today, I will give you a short review about a digital watch from Lige, in future, I will definitely introduce more watches from them, including the hulk Submariner homage, let’s see how is this red digital watch first.
This Foxbox digital watch from Lige is the most tough one I have ever bought, absolutely except the G-Shock. It looks stronger and more robust than the other digital watches I reviewed before, it is really a nice G style digital watch. I chose the red one, the company also offers blue and black options for this watch. When I received the watch, I was really surprised by how strongly it is made, a different feeling it gives to me, more solid and you can feel by just touching the case. This watch also has a higher price than the other digital watches.
The watch comes in a soft pu leather box, there are other accessories like card, cloth and manual book. The entire watch is made with silicon, there are stainless steel screws to help fix the band to the case more stable, so even I pull the two straps very hardly in two opposite directions, they can still be connected on the case firmly. The crystal face is under a good protection because the silicon case is thick and hard, in the video of shock resistance test shown below, I am not afraid to knock the watch on the table with a big strength, much harder than knocking the other digital watches I bought before, the crystal face and LED screen on the dial are all ok after the test. Each button, including the crown, is being protected by the guards set around on the case.
The red dial has two sections on the top and bottom that display date and time separately. The two LED screens have back light when you press the light button set on the case, one button is at 10 o’clock, the other light button is at 6 o’clock. The week is displayed in an interesting way, do you know what day it is shown on the dial? Yes, it is Sunday, the “SU” has a different font color, which is black, while the other letters that represent Monday to Friday are in white at that time. The stainless steel hands on the center are also very convenient for you to read time from the dial.
The Foxbox FB0029 from Lige watch company is a very good digital watch, it is the most solid and strongly made digital watch I have ever gotten. Compared with Skmei, Sanda, Synoke and Smael, This Foxbox watch has the best quality, but its price is absolutely much higher. However, such type of G-Shock style digital watches are not the main products of Lige, I think the company just needs such watch to get more traffic to promote the other watches on their website. So, unfortunately Lige does not make too many G style digital watches, you can only see several options, not as many styles as other digital brands such as Skmei and Synoke.
Synoke is a Chinese brand that was created almost ten years ago, I found their office is in Guangzhou of China, not sure if they have a factory, but most of such watch brands in China like Synoke adopt OEM business mode. I introduced Skmei, Smael and Sanda watches on my blog before, I found there is a big difference between these watches and Synoke, which is most of the digital watches made by Synoke are for young students, they have a smaller size than the watches from Skmei, Smael and Sanda. Just three days ago, I got one Synoke watch and also made several tests on it, the result is I am very satisfied with the quality of Synoke.
The Synoke watch I bought has a model number 9619B, you can easily find it on Synoke official website. When I received it, I felt the watch is much smaller than I expected, because I did not check its dimension before purchasing, but after I made these tests, I changed my opinion, this is the exact tough sports watch I am looking for, I will gift it to my son.
The watch comes in a black iron box in hexagonal, Synoke 9619B also has green color option, I chose the full black one. I measured the case, from top to bottom, it is 44.8mm in height, from left to right, the watch is 39mm in width, and it is measured to be 13.7mm in thickness. The watch has a very light weight, which is only 34.4 grams.
The Synoke watch has a square case shape, actually many people will consider a round case if they are looking for a G style digital watches, but some square digital watches are very classic, my first G-Shock DW-5600 in square shape now still works very well. The case is plastic, I do not know the exact material, but it appears to be extremely flexible.
Under the acrylic face, you can read time, week, date on the LED screen on the dial, the dial is much more readable than the other three digital watches I bought before because the LED screen that displays current time is bigger. The indicator at the top left corner is interesting, it seems like an energy display of the watch, but just a decoration without specific function. You can see white letters on the edge that tell you the function of each button.
The digital watch is driven by a quartz battery imported from Japan, it has a very long service life, by the way, Synoke sent me a replacement battery for free in the box. At last, the watch is equipped with a black nylon band, while you can also choose the watch with a green nylon band on their website.
Here at last I want to show you four videos of the watch.
The first one is just a video to show you the entire watch.
In the second video, I am doing a shock resistance, knocking the table with the watch hardly, including the front of the watch, the face is not broken, and the watch still works accurate after the test.
The third video is a test of the water resistance.
The fourth video is interesting, I put the watch on the floor, standing on one foot on the front of the watch, and stomp hard on the watch, after that, I checked, the Synoke watch is still good.
Actually I knew this brand many years ago when I was finding watches for my clients in Zhanxi watch market, few people knew and bought Smael watches before. It is Aliexpress that makes Smael well known all over the world, now I found more than 600K fans have followed this brand, that’s crazy, because there were only one or two stores selling Smael watches in a building of Zhanxi Road, now Smael has becomes one of the best-selling digital watches on Aliexpress. The background of Smael is simple, the brand trademark is registered by a person whose name is Peng Jie, and the watches are being sold by his company that is located in Jia Tian Clock Building in Yuexiu District of Guangzhou. Many Chinese watches and fakes are in that building.
Today, I will show you a digital watch which I just bought from Smael, model number on their site is 8058, I chose the black and golden model, actually they offer a lot of other colors that are also very attractive.
During the introduction, I will make three tests on the watch, including toughness, shock resistance and water resistance, this watch has a very good performance in all tests. If you want to buy a G-Shock style digital watch at a much cheaper price, while strongly made at the same time, I think Smael is a perfect choice, besides, the Skmei I made tests before is also a very good watch.
The watch comes in a hexagonal iron box, which looks similar to the box G-Shock uses but a little bigger, the center has a see-through crystal window to let you see its inside, the box is very good, but Smael does not offer it for free, by the way, they did not send me the instruction book.
When I received the watch, I was very surprised that it has a very light weight, much lighter than the other two digital watches I have, I weighed, it is less than 67 grams. The watch has a thick case that is made with the same material as most other digital watches. I tested its toughness by pulling the straps hard, the band is connected strongly with the case. The watch also has a very good shock resistance because I knocked it on the table from all sides, it still worked accurate and the LED screen not broken. The case is thick and the dial is lying inside safely. The case is thicker than that of the Sanda 6030 I reviewed last time, but it is a little lighter.
The time on the dial is displayed in two formats, including the central hands mode and the digital display on the LED screen at 3 o’clock. The small screen above “6” shows the seconds, the round LED screen at 9 o’clock is telling you the week and current date. Well, without the help of the back light, it is a little hard to read the digits from the LED screen, you can press the light button. Or choose another model that has a different dial background color.
I also made a test on the watch’s water resistance, just put the watch in a bottle that is filled with water and then shake it, the result is no water enter into the watch. I found Skmei, Sanda and Smael all have no problem in water resistance. Smael claims this watch is 50m water resistant, perhaps I need a more professional equipment to do the test.
Like the Skmei I introduced several weeks ago, Sanda is also one of the best-selling digital sports watches, I did some searches on the internet and found very few dates about this watch, I mean the background of this brand. I saw this watch brand is registered by somebody, no need to mention his name here, and Sanda watches are being sold by a lot of watch companies, this marketing model of Sanda is different from that of Skmei. In September, I bought one Skmei watch and did several tests on it, the result is good, Skmei watch showed a good performance in the tests of toughness, shock resistance and water resistance. Today, I will give a brief review on a Sanda watch and do the same tests on it, let’s see what will happen.
The Sanda watch came with a black box made with hard paper, not like Skmei, it does not have a black iron box, on the black paper box, there is also no brand logo. The box of Sanda looks very simple and ugly, I do not like it.
Now you see the watch, it is big, both the width and height of the watch are over 50mm, the thickness of the watch is over 18mm, I weighed the watch, it has a weight of 70.8 grams, very light for such a big watch. From its dial displays, the watch has several functions, time, date, week, you can gain current time from its central hour hand and minute hand, also the small dial at 9 o’clock also displays time. The watch also has a chrono function, you can start, stop and reset it by pressing the buttons at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock. There are two buttons which you can press to open the light behind the LED screen. There is a paper written with instructions on how to adjust time, date and week on the watch.
Please check the first video, which shows the outlook and all features of the watch.
The second video is a test of the toughness and shock resistance of the watch. please watch the full video. A the beginning, I pulled the straps hard with a great strength, nothing happened and everything looks good, the band is solidly connected on the case. Then I hit it hard on the desk, from each side, after I knocked the front side on the desk, I found the LED screens have issues, which are not broken but can not read the full digits. And then I pulled the straps again with a great strength, one strap that has the buckle on were torn off, it is because the screws have been loose when I knocked the desk with the watch, at last, I installed the strap back and tighten the screws.
The third video is a test of water resistance. I put the watch in a bottle that is filled with water, I shaked the bottle hard, and the result is the water did not enter into the watch. Perhaps I need to buy a more professional equipment to test the watch’s water resistance, but for this Sanda watch, it is absolutely no problem for you to wear it when swimming in the pool or the ocean.
After making the three tests, my opinion is the quality of this Sanda watch is not as good as that of the Skmei 1988 Dual Time I introduced before. Because I used the same method to test the shock resistance, which is knocking the table with the watch, the LED screen of the Skmei still shows everything correctly after the test, while this Sanda could not show the full digits then. The band does not have quality issue, but before wearing it out after receiving the watch, I suggest you check if the screws that help to fix the straps are loose.
This is the best-selling watch on Yelang’s official website, it is a military-watch with quartz movement, few people know Yelang because it is a very young brand created in China, especially their website, which was just launched on Aliexpress in March in 2023. However, in a short period, Yelang has obtained a lot fans, compared with most homage watches I reveiwed on my blog, Yelang watches are not cheap but are sold very well on aliexpress, it seems like the military-style watches that have a strong case design are more popular. Today, I want to show you a good quality Yelang watch which I just received, it has a reference of V1021, this is a big military watch and come with one extra rubber band.
The watch comes in a box that looks a little yellow, on the front, you can see Yelang lettering and brand logo, on one side of the paper box, we can see letters of “H3 Tritium luminous watch”, which indicate the lume system used on the watch. Open the box, we can see the watch laying inside and a brief introduction about the brand on the box. The box is ok and can give enough protection for the watch, but it seems like no Chinese watches are willing to use a wooden box, if I create a watch brand in future, I will consider a more high-end wooden box.
The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel , it is heavy and has a weight of more than 172 grams. The case is strongly made with a diameter of 42mm, its thickness is measured to be 11.5mm, not sure why it is said to be 14.6mm on the website of Yelang. Such type of case just meets current large watch trend and is not too thick, which is more comfortable for everyday wearing. We can see the streamlined polishing finish on the edge of the case, which forms a high contrast with the brushed finish on the case. The beveled round bezel stands a little high above the case base and has a brushing like the case. Well, every part on the case looks large, including the big case, fat bezel and big onion-shaped crown, these are actually essential elements for a military-style watch.
Yelang offers other dial colors for this watch, but I like the blue one most. The most outstanding place on the dial is it uses a different lume system named H3 Tritium. On the dial, we can clearly see the H3 Tritium tube set on each hour marker, no need to absorb light, these markers will emit a strong lume light in the dark conditions. The central hour hand and minute hand are also set with two lume tubes. Please check the dial lume picture below, the blue lume light emitting from the hour markers and hands is strong, and will be more long lasting. By the way, I do not like the logo on the dial, the head of the wolf is ok, but the wings look weird, I think a feral wolf is more suitable to be used as a logo for this watch if Yelang decides to be a military-themed watch brand in future.
The watch is powered by a quartz movement, Yelang claims it is Swiss 715LI-HH6 quartz, never heard of it, not sure how long will it last, maybe two or three years. The stainless steel band looks good on the watch, with the press button, you can easily open the clasp. This watch also comes with one extra black rubber band, but there is no Yelang logo on the buckle of the rubber band.
My advice:
This Yelang is one of the few military-style watches that use H3 Tritium lume system, if you want to try a new wearing experience, then this Yelang watch is very suitable for military watch fans. Robust designed case, strong dial lume and 100m water resistance, I think some will be crazy about it.
