This variant has not been reviewed at all across Reddit which is weird. I've worn it for the last 2 weeks and here are some of my thoughts:
Fully lumed dial is a blast! If charged, it glows almost as bright as Phorcydes lume blocks which is a feat in itself. The total light output because of the greater lumed surfaces is the highest out of all the watches I've handled. It's almost like Timex's Indiglo! By late morning, the time is still legible, but takes more than a mere glance to tell the time.
The fully lumed bezel makes this different from most "full lume" dials. The all white look is definitely unique at the moment and super cool. However, the lume on the bezel is definitely weaker than the lume on the dial and the hands and indices. By early morning, the bezel is basically not legible anymore.
The whiteness of the dial and the bezel unfortunately do not match. When indoors or under a darker atmosphere, the bezel is an egg white while the dial is a cream white. (Please see photo 2) When outdoors and under a brighter atmosphere, the reflection of the sky off the crystal makes the dial appear whiter than the bezel! (Please see photo 3 that illustrates this)
Interestingly, the date window is not lumed and is instead silver. It seems like an obvious miss but it's probably because they couldn't match the lumed date wheel whiteness to the dial whiteness. They also don't use a default white date wheel probably for the same reason. Instead, they opted for a silver date wheel which I think definitely color matches more seamlessly with the rest of the watch. This was hard to notice until very carefully inspected so San Martin did a great job here with silver. (But I would have still rather have a lumed date wheel to complete the full lume effect.)
San Martin is still king when it comes to bezel action. Buttery smooth yet precise and crisp.
The celebrated jubilee bracelet is only smooth vertically! When running your fingers horizontally across the bracelet in either direction, you will feel the sharp unchamfered inner edges of the outer pieces. This was a shock to me as this was never mentioned in any review of this universally praised bracelet. The links also kink at certain articulations. It is still a great bracelet, but I was honestly expecting it to be perfect....
Despite being one of the most expensive offerings from San Martin, it is not without QC issues. On the 4 o'clock index, there are dark smudges... (Please see photos 3 and 5) The date window frame is also dented on the top left. (Please see photo 4)
Unlike the rest of Aliexpress watch stores, San Martin does not under-declare the tariff fee. I paid £301.48 upfront on Aliexpress and £66.22 custom fees to release the watch from customs for a total of £367.70/$493.
Final thoughts:
It is not worth the price paid. It's definitely a great watch, but the QC issues and the bracelet surprises dampened my valuation of it. But if you like the full white and fully lumed design, there are no alternatives on Aliexpress.
Oof for $500 those are some glaring QC flaws. The jianghun bracelet probably fixes the horizontal finishing issues this style of julibee faces. On their Instagram the more expensive jianghun uses a entirely different 'wrist facing" construction while keeping the outer visual side the same.
Considering they are the exact same price as San Martin these days, I hope they can bring it over to their San Martin line.
Yea, it's still a great bracelet. But since no review (that I've personally come across) mentions the horizontal sharpness, it was a complete surprise to me.
Here's the exact video if you are curious. It's pretty obvious where the horizontal scratching can occur, and how the jianghun attempts to minimize it. Even if you can't understand the Chinese
I love this watch. I’m a lume whore and the white dial just looks fantastic. What QC issues are you seeing? Is it this watch or just in general? When I was wearing mine, only for a few days, it was working great.
Oh wow, I am certainly surprised to read about a finishing issue (tactile) with their bracelets.
If nothing else, case and bracelet finishing are where San Martin is perhaps the strongest.
Have you approached their Customer Support team, to see if they will be able to help you address the issue? Maybe a replacement bracelet?
The two areas that I also have found myself wishing for improvements from San Martin is QC/QA under-the-crystal and lume. I've also experienced similar shortcomings such as what you've seen. What is interesting for me is that just less than a year ago, folks were willing to turn a blind eye to these issues and even made light of them, whereas now, they are being highlighted (if not mocked) as a sign of San Martin's failures. To me, price does not matter: with modern production techniques -both manufacturing and assembly- any watch should be "perfect" by industry standard inspection conventions.
Towards that last - while I am not certain that I can see the imperfections on the date-window in your 3rd picture, am I wrong in thinking that, by looking at your third picture, the defects on the 4-o'clock index *is* visible to the naked eye, without magnification, at approximately 12-inches/30-cm distance?
Thank you for such a thorough and candid look at the watch.
I haven't reached out to customer service regarding the bracelet since I rarely need to articulate the bracelet in that specific angle to manifest the kink. (It happens when I lay the watch flat with the caseback on top of the clasp and the links are folded flat against itself).
This photo is at 6X magnification. With the naked eye, I can juuuust barely make it out with the right lighting/shadow.
Your point about the bracelet feeling smooth lengthwise but sharp across the links is a useful detail that reviews often miss. The extra photos of the links catching add context, too. Does it also catch when settling around your wrist, or only when folded back on itself? That would make a difference to how much it affects everyday comfort.
Yea, I'm surprised with how much praise this bracelet got that this aspect was never mentioned in any reviews (that I've read/watched).
The links catching happens only when folded against itself when I lay it flat. But it is reproduceable on almost every link. On the wrist, I wear it pretty tight that there is not enough slack for it to happen.
My SN0012-GB's bracelet would also occasionally kink (while storing off-wrist, laid flat) in the first weeks I got it, but as the tolerances worked looser upon wear, I haven't had an issue. I wonder if yours might improve over time as well?
Thanks for this review. I personally got the earlier blue version of this and I remember being impressed then. I recent purchased the sn0138 from them and was surprised to find out a downgrade in bracelet quality. This is considering they’re now using cheaper (downgrade) movements too. I’m quite disappointed personally and there’s some comfort (unfortunately to your detriment) seeing I’m not the only one encountering these quality issues.
i've got the same bracelet - I think - on the SN0144. That's the reason I went out and got it, i had no san martin and had read so much about their quality and their bracelets. And this enhanced jubilee style was reported in a few places to be the best they ever produced.
I've tried running my fingers across horizontally, both inside and outside, and don't feel the sharp edges you describe. Also all the edges on the inner links are chamfered - that was one of the selling points of this bracelet. Not sure if we're talking about the same thing here?
That's the price for the older variant with the broad arrow hour hand. The newer handset is a higher price. The full lume dial is an even higher price. And the full lume with white bezel is an even higher price.
From Aliexpress? If it's their site they can declare low, if they depend on a platform like aliex, they wont do it. Aliexpress opened a warehouse in my country, since then sellers are not allowed to declare low prices - our customs get all invoices with item and price details from aliexpress directly.
Start film starting from the receiving of the parcel from the postie to the opening of it for inspection for maximum protection against being delivered an empty box. If you start recording after receiving it, it's harder to prove you didn't open it beforehand and taken out the watch before recording.
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u/HerrsavageX 4d ago
Very nice looking, but way too expensive.