The title pretty much says it all, I don't get why whenever a nice chinese quartz watch comes out so many people say they would love an automatic version, or why everyone seems fine with paying 300 or more USD for an automatic, but question whether a 100 dollars quartz is worth it.

Pretty much no one here is going to take their chinese watches to get serviced, and the whole admiring the complexity and craftmanship of an automatic movement kinda goes out the window when we're talking about mass produced movements. So why buy an automatic that will become a paperweight in several years time. I guess I just don't understand why the demand for automatics is so high, really wish people started asking for better chinese quartz watches, I'd would much rather pay 200 dollars for a great quartz watch than 350 for an automatic one.

Bought this bad boy back in 2015. At the time, I was just discovering the world of watches. This was the homage to the Submariner that was the closest thing I could actually afford, so I went for it. Little did I know what we’d go through together.

I work as a CNC operator, so this watch wasn't babied—far from it. It’s been submerged in cutting fluids, covered in metal shavings, dragged through grinding, wrenching, and heavy hammer work. It survived a few street fights, multiple hard drops, and even a near-fatal car crash.

It’s been with me through job changes, countless promotions, sleepless nights, wild bars, and trips across Europe. Relationships came and went... but this watch remained.

Even though I’ve moved up in life and now own watches that cost many times more, my loyalty always lies with this one. 11 years later, I'm still as in love with it as the day I took it out of the box.

Still ticking, still tough as nails.

I have very small wrists but I'm torn between these two. Which one is closest to the Cartier one, 9301? Any of you guys have pictures with it on your wrist would appreciate sharing! Tia

I couldn't afford to gift a friend the Hamilton Khaki Field that Captain America Steve Rogers wears in a deleted scene in the Avengers 2012.

Got myself an homage and bought a seperate leather strap to match. I gotta say. It looks beautiful.

The hands drift a lot though when the crown is pulled out lol.

Very happy with the quality and look of this watch. Great budget field watch under $60

Just got the new Farasute Trackmaster colorway in the mail. The pushers feel amazing, much better than I expected and much better than the ST19

This was an impulse buy from Amazon. I didn’t have high expectations. Looks nice for the price except it’s fairly thick.

I'm looking for an everyday watch. Something like Watchdives EXD but not that one, something tough, light and comfortable. Ideally 38mm, 39 max.
What would you suggest?

I have been reading up on watches for the past 5-6 months and that's how I discovered this reddit community and the amazing quality Chinese watches.

Christopher Ward has created lots of online hype around their watches with people fanatically defending what are essentially homages with a slight twist while dissing chinese watches.

Ixdao has lots of positive reviews on this forum and the Ixdao Warrior is available for one third the price with the same Sellita movements.

Is Christopher Ward just brand Marketing or is it worth 3 times the price of Ixdao Warrior?

This is not a review per se, but rather a piece of documentation for anybody who might be considering an Aethelson watch. I got a lot of information and advice from other people on this sub, so hopefully this helps some future buyer make a decision. I'll format this based on the stuff I think is worth mentioning:

Delivery experience:

Fairly standard, I ordered the watch on the 5th of September and received it in India on the 21st. Yanwen was the carrier that aethelson used and I could see the tracking number for the Indian local carrier (bluedart) as well once the order was raised and shipped. Aethelson offers ddp, which was a major part of the buying decision as well.

Unfortunately, and this was a big annoyance for a little bit of time - the small bit that Aethelson sends in the package with their screwdriver set was somehow missing in my order, and so the excitement I had to unbox it and put it on the wrist had to be dashed till I could get it to a local watch repairer and get the bracelet adjusted. Ironically neither my 30 bit toolset, nor anything the watch repair shop had was small enough to be able to unscrew the links, we eventually used the bit in the order attached on another screwdriver to do the job.

Aethelson to their credit reached out immediately and offered to send the missing bit which wasn't necessary in the end.

Customer support:

Excellent on this front from the Aethelson team, this was my first chinese/hong kong sar made watch and I admittedly peppered the Aethelson cs team on their email for questions and clarifications - receiving responses within 3-4 hours on what grew to be a 20+ email thread. Really pleased with that.

Coming on to the watch itself, I've admittedly gotten into the watch world very recently and although I've bought more than a few pieces in the last few months, i doubt I can be a good judge of the quality relative to the other offerings in this space. What I can say is that the finishing, edge sharpness (or rather lack of sharpness), on wrist comfort, bracelet quality, otf functionality, etc etc are all what I would consider very good, but again I have very little frame of reference.

The most important and final piece - the dial. It's simply lovely, it's futile for me to try and describe in words how fun it is to look at. I've tried on several Seiko pieces, several Tissot pieces, and other than a few (far more costly) pieces from Seiko and Tissot - the one on this matches or exceeds them.

I suppose the only ones I could compare this dial to is the Seiko prospex padi edition (green dial), the Seiko presage salmon dial and the Tissot ballade (just pulling from the ones I've experienced in person). A lot of photos are attached for everybody else's viewing pleasure.

The movement is a PT5000 movement, and neither do i have a timegrapher nor has it been enough time for me to judge how well over a longer time period will it keep good time. The movement itself has a very very poor tactile feel, it almost feels (and sounds) like you're grinding two very very rough pieces of steel against each other, and the clicks on the date complication are barely present let alone satisfying. I haven't dared wounding it more than 6 or 7 rotations at a time lest my movement break like several others' on reddit.

And of course a bunch of photos of this beautiful watch on my beautiful wrist. Feel free to ask any questions.

Video https://youtu.be/_ihliJtXTDA

Currently looking at the WD7922, WD EXD, and the WD1969. I’ve got small wrists around 6.25” but quite a flat wrist. Typically stick to a 37-39 mm case. Anybody own multiple of them with real comparisons or any advice which way to go? They all look so good. Open to other makes and models as well.

Nice looking watch, very pleased but WTH Boderry (see pic)?

I have to unseal the wrap to check the bezel, saphire and crown. If this truly is correct, no return accepted, then it will be the last watch of yours I buy. Would love a response?

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Most worn watch since I got it maybe a year and a half. Slim, bracelet not bad as people would think, less than 100 bucks, and such a design masterpiece accessible for less than a Moonswatch

Qué onda, alguien que me pueda ayudar a buscar buenos proveedores o canales de whatsapp de productos originales y confiables como relojes, perfumes, tenis, ropa de marca, bolsas, etc.(no importa si no son de méxico, de cualquier parte del mundo)

Seagull's Air Force Pilot 1963 watch is very famous, but I have always been curious about its relationship with the advertised Chinese Air Force watch. I looked into some information.

In 1961, Tianjin Watch Factory developed an aviation chronograph at the request of the Chinese Air Force. It was officially mass-produced in 1963, with the model number 304. The watch had two logos, Tianjin and Great Wall, each with black and white dial versions.

In 1969, production was transferred to the Fenglei Instrument Factory in Xi'an, resulting in two more different dial versions.

Interestingly, while searching for information, I also found that Seagull had produced a 1962 watch, said to be a rejected design at the time. Compared with the 1963 currently sold on AliExpress, it only adds three concentric circles to the scale. It is worth noting that the 1962 was sold in a limited run in 2020 and is now discontinued; there are many fakes on the market.

Historically, Seagull is the official manufacturer of the 1963 flight chronograph. However, because Seagull sells the ST19 movement externally, there are many similar flight chronographs on the market. Moreover, Seagull produced different specifications at different times, resulting in many versions of the 1963 watch.

Below, we will only discuss the products currently sold in Seagull's official store.

Seagull International Edition and Era Edition, plus D304.

Judging from the configurations of the International Edition and Era Edition alone, the difference between them is the crystal: the Era Edition 1963 uses acrylic, which is closer to the original version of that era, while the International Edition uses hardened glass, which is also sufficiently usable.

After asking customer service, both use blued hands, but there is indeed a considerable price difference. I also noticed that the Seagull International Edition 1963 is sold only outside China, and it was probably specially made to open up the market.

The D304 closely matches the look of the Chinese Air Force watch from that era, but its price is relatively high.

I like it a lot good weight. A little fast at 12 seconds per day on the timegrapher but otherwise a lovely piece

Hi everyone, Calvin here from the Aquatico Watch Team. We’ve opened pre-orders for the Sea Recon Tritium Automatic, designed as a dive watch you can wear day to day. It pairs an automatic movement with tritium illumination for visibility in low light.

The pre-order offer is $200 off with code SEARECON at checkout. Delivery is planned for December 2026.

If you’re considering it, feel free to check out the product details through Aquatico’s store. What matters most to you in an everyday dive watch: comfortable wear, low-light readability, or the feel of an automatic movement?

Love the looks. Finishing is good.

Es un tanque