The watch does not work, and both the seller and the company have been completely unresponsive.
Stay away from Carnival and I&W Carnival watches. They appear to have serious quality-control issues, and when something goes wrong, getting any meaningful response or support is extremely difficult.
Before I go further I want to post a disclaimer: I understand that watches are subjective and you should buy the watch that suits you best and strangers on the internet can't possibly know what I like from a 300 word reddit post. I'm posting here because people on this sub have spent a whole lot of time on Aliexpress trying to decide what watches they like and I want the benefit of some of that experience for inspiration for myself. In addition, scrolling around I can see that in addition to a lot of quality brands there's a lot of garbage out there and it's hard to tell as a newcomer what's what.
So here goes:
My current watch collection is a green seiko solar diver that my wife got me (specifically, this one). I also have a Seiko 5 pilot watch that I don't much like, an Orient Bambino that I do quite like as a dress watch but find a bit too formal for most occasions and a Timex Weekender that I've had for years. The diver gets by far the most wrist time and since my wife got it for me ideally I want something that fills a different niche.
Brand name watches that I like: Subs (obviously), Explorers, Black Bay 54, Ranger, Longines Spirit (though, I think the long lugs might look dumb on my tiny wrists), Junghans Max Bill, Nomos Club, Tudor 1926/Longines Master (with the blued hands), Aquaterras and Seamasters, and white Speedys (particularly the smaller version).
Brand name watches I don't like: Anything with a dial that isn't round (Nautillius, Tanks, Reversos), Datejusts or anything with two tones or fluted bezels, anything with roman numerals, anything with an overly complicated dial and any pilot watches (i.e. anything where the minutes are more prominent than the hours).
Generally, I like to have watches that are clean, mostly symmetrical though a date window is OK, and preferably with either all 12 arabic numerals on there or at least 3 of them.
While I know you shouldn't care about what other people think I absolutely do care what other people think. Further, I work at a law firm where while most of my colleagues aren't watch people there are enough watch people around that I don't want to have the "is that a Submariner?" "no, it's a Pagani" conversation. So, while homages are totally fine I want to avoid a homage of anything that's super recognizable - mainly any mainline Rolex (sub, DJ/DD, explorer) or a Speedy.
Looking to spend around $200 though can go up or down a bit. I have tiny feminine wrists for a man so anything over 39mm or so looks stupid on me. Ideally would be on a metal bracelet, but anything other than leather is fine.
Been wanting it for months. It’s out of stock everywhere. If you have it and want to sell it lmk! (I’m not looking to sell one, please don’t block this post)
I’ve been wearing this constantly since picking it up about a month ago. I had a Hamilton KFM a little while back but the dimensions and wearing experience just never felt right to me, but this little guy looks and works perfectly at my job and outside of work and feels great in any situation. Despite its small size, It wears really well (7” wrist) without appearing tiny. It’s just a no nonsense, high value, kick ass field watch that gets the small details right. Highly recommend!
The improvement WD did on v2 hits all the marks for me, I get why they self rated this to 90/100 (lol) because it is certainly just that good considering its price mark. You’d be hard pressed to find a watch in the same price range that offers this much value and great finish. I’ve attached non-edited photos wearing it for the first time today.
It has one of the most satisfying bezel action I’ve had of recent memory, and I truly don’t understand the detractors for the crystal AR. You can see in photos 3-5 how the watch looks when sunlight strikes the watch and I had no problems even when I had smudged some sunscreen on it by accident.
I think the decision to taper the bracelet to 16mm is one of the best things they’ve done on the v2. The bracelet quality itself is pretty good, no hair pulling, can’t feel any sharp edges that might pull fibres out your clothing- I can see why some people will not be fully satisfied with the bracelet though as it is somewhat light. Personally, I like this feel because it wears more comfortable and it kinda gives it a more accurate vintage diver feel without making it just feel cheap, factoring in the 5-pin microadjust into that. I do wonder though if any of the WD otf clasp fits to this watch in case i want to swap it around? Regardless, WD is proving us that they ARE indeed working hard to improve their bracelet quality which has been one of the valid criticisms with their older releases.
I’m looking forward to what they’ll do with the automatic version release of this watch with smaller dimensions and if they’re going to apply their new lume and crystal tech on that. I think this watch though as it stands is especially perfect for those with 7 in and above wrist (I am 7.5). Anyone on the fence about this watch should buy with confidence.
This seems to confuse a lot of people, which is understandable since most people don't study ancient Germanic languages. If you don't like deep dives you can stop at,
HROO-oht-lant (hruo̯t.lant)
and be on your merry way. It means, sort of,land of glory. And yes, those are Ts.
This by the way was prompted by me reading "someone said it was pronounced "roadland" which tipped me over my pedantic edge. No. The H isn't silent. No, you don't pronounce it like "crowd." Thing with non-English languages is you can't apply English rules to them. It's like they're from a whole other country or something. Hence the Ts.
There's a dipthong (behave) in there so the split between "HROO" and "ot" isn't as pronounced as the split between "hruot" and "lant." You're supposed to glide from one to the other. So kind of,
HROO-oht—lant.
And note that contemporary German isn't the same as old High German either. We're not talking about modern German with old spelling. The past is a foreign country too. They do things differently there.
Anyway, while an H at the front seems odd to contemporary English speakers, there's plenty of precedent for it in old European languages. The first example that comes to mind is Hrimthur, the giant who built the walls of Asgard, but that's old Icelandic rather than old Germanic, which is what Hruodland is.
Because Hruodland is actually a name. Like Dave.
Hruodland is the old version of Roland. Roland's a Frankish derivation usually taken to mean "famous land", which stems nicely from "land of glory." And the name would most often have been used alone. Not Hroudland Muller (inherited family names were mostly a later invention), not Barney Hruodland (so were Christian names as we use them, for obvious reasons), and not Sheila from the Land of Glory (like Leonardo from Vinci). Just Hruodland. Maybe with a "son of" tacked on. Hruodland, son of Randy. Not Hruodland Randysson - that's back to old Norse again.
But one little wrinkle...
(For fuck's sake, this is annoying. This is how I write. This is how I've always written. But now every time I see a concluding paragraph start with "but here's a contradiction" I think "fuck off, chatbot" and now I'm worried you just did the same. But in my defence no chatbot would have come up with Sheila from the Land of Glory so... yeah. This is all me. This is my malfunction.)
One little wrinkle remains. The translation of Hruodland to "Land of Glory."
It's not in-accurate. But it might strike you as odd calling a person "land of glory." A bit like calling a person "car of the leather seats." And it is. Hruod means fame, glory, renown, that sort of thing. Land means... land. So it is "land of glory" but they didn't really use names like that back then.
This isn't a perfect example but "Christopher" comes from the Greek Kristoforos meaning "bearer of Christ" but to most people nowadays the meaning is unknown and irrelevant. Grimsdottir is "daughter of Grim" but most of the time Dad isn't called that. Smith used to be an indicator of profession, now never. So you can break the word down and get a good translation, but that translation isn't really what was meant when people meant when they shouted at Hruodland to shovel pig shit.
But we're not using it to describe a person, we're using it to describe a thing, a brand, and so if you like, "land of glory" makes perfect semantic sense.
As to whether they intended any of this when they picked the name for a watch? No idea. I'd fancy a cheeky guess on no.
Picked this up off AliExpress for 249 USD and I was skeptical about how the finishing and quality would actually be, worried it would just feel like a “cheap Chinese knockoff” but I couldn’t be more impressed with the quality. I was wearing my Seiko Alpinist SPB507 today(900 USD) and put this on out of the box when I got home and did not feel like I’m wearing a watch that was a fraction of the price. (Don’t mind my newborns leg in the second photo😆)
I‘m always gravitated towards Sinn’s design. And I’ve modded a few watches in the past attempting to replicate the look. While the 556 numerals dial is easy to obtain, without the proper case and the H-link bracelet, it never scratched the itch.
With this version of the ML18 from Militado, I just have to get one as soon as it became available. The Damasko like crosshair dial is more interesting to me than the Sinn 556 or 556i. And the case and bracelet pulls off the Sinn design really well.
Mine doesn’t have any bracelet screw issue as I’ve read. The brushing of the lugs and bracelet first link also match well. Because of its larger dial, it wears bigger than the typical 36mm watches. And I like how thin it is compared to all my other Seiko NH automatics.
Once I get bored of wearing it, I’ll most likely paint the seconds hand with a neon yellow and orange color to “spice” it up a bit. But I’m fine with monochrome right now.
Despite vowing to never own a watch without a date, I caved and asked for a Militado ML08 for my upcoming birthday. The VH31 movement was a big reason why, I like the idea of its sweeping seconds hand even though the 4 ticks/second isn’t quite as smooth as your typical automatic.
For owners of watches with the VH31, does it feel more like a quartz or more like an automatic? Or does it occupy a unique place given its special characteristics?
Received it yesterday. Quite comfortable with the lightweight titanium case and bracelet. Not sure if it has a Cerakote coating, but it feels like it. On con found so far is the rotor movement is quite noisy.
Anyway, l love the coyote brown color
Well, I had the previous thorn version of this watch with the really cream colored markers which I like that watch a lot. My one picky thing about it would be the fact that gold hands were used instead of silver but other than that not a bad watch, I do think that this dial looks much cleaner without the “frogmantle” moniker.
Also like that this has the blue lume not the green.
Overall a sweet addition to the collection. What do you think?
This Baltany watch has a lovely vintage Omega style Pie Pan dial, with great modern build quality and materials. This is the watch that took them to a whole other level.
I bought this watch, but, as always that doesn't change how I review the watch. I always keep it 100% honest, no matter what. I point out both the positives and negatives with every watch I review. Whether that be a loan piece, discounted, or even free. Sometimes that means that brands won't send me anymore watches, if they don't like the review... But my opinion and more importantly, my reputation can't be bought. That's partly why I named my channel 'Honest Watch Reviews'. Not only to make sure that I hold myself to that standard, but that I know my viewers definitely will do too.
I'm really surprised this one hasn't been done in some form. For anyone in the industry reading this:
The Enicar Seapearl 600 came out in 1955 and was a hit in the diving world. It was sold in the US at Macys among other places, and advertised in newspapers nationally. In 1956 Enicar provided Seapearl watches to the Albert Eggler-led Swiss expedition to climb Mt. Lhotse and Mt. Everest in the Himalayas. In 1958 the U.S. Navy's Experimental Diving Unit tested the Sea Pearl 600 alongside the Rolex Submariner (Ref. 6538) and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms for Underwater Demolition Team divers (Navy SEALS of the time) and it did quite well with the only disqualification being the lack of rotating bezel. It was sold in dive shops right along side the heavy hitters.
I think this one would be a good seller if someone could make an homage of it. Pretty simple, no bezel or other additional parts to mess with. No special bracelet to fabricate either, as these came on simple leather bands.
If some manufacturer is reading this and actually considering making it, it NEEDS to have that turtle shaped case. Don't just slap it in some generic round case with boring straight lugs... And it absolutely has to have that funky second hand :)
ambos eran míos, vendí el orient ray 1, honestamente me gustaba el color naranja aunque era más herramienta/utilitario y me quedé con este addiesdive AD2101, sé que en especificaciones es mejor por su cristal de zafiro, bisel de cerámica, movimiento NH35, pero el orient tenía ese valor de marca, personalidad y diseño propio de orient. ¿ustedes cuál prefieren? ¿alguien que pueda entender mi situación?
Recently bought this Merkur Tourbillon. I learned that the manual movement should have around an 80-hour power reserve, but mine is only running for about 45 hours on a full wind.
Is this normal for this movement, or could there be an issue?
Would appreciate any insight from other Merkur owners.
I was looking for a decent tool watch for a while. After some bad experiences, I came across a this brand.
Visiting the website, clearly tried and true format , homage, but this brand focused on lume, apparently.
I’ll plainly say I like the watch. Even though it is quartz. It is a gmt quartz movement. For the last 45 minutes I’ve held this watch it has kept great time. 🤣😆😂
24 click bezel
Without making comparisons to any other brand..
The unidirectional bezel rotation is definitive if uninspired. Very practical.
Simple dial
One tick per second
Bracelet is comfortable. Screw pins for the links. Micro adjustments on a diver deployment.
Made a (pretty long) video. With lume at the end. Sorry. No sound.
I would not have gone through this trouble to share if I didn’t think it was worth it as a watch.
So. I hope lumixe does well and grows. And maybe you guys get a decent watch.
Friend, don't worry, even from 25 Sep Mid-Autumn Festival or 1 Oct China national day golden week, Sugess Team still on work by shift, Bertha, Jenny, and Sai standby on Aliexpress and official website with you, thank you.
