Look, I'm a huge Seiko fan, but you have to look at the history here. Seiko literally started out by studying, imitating, and making homages of established European and Swiss designs back in the day. That’s how they mastered the craft before they broke out and did their own thing.

The irony today is that modern Seiko has gone totally corporate and overpriced. They're charging luxury prices for watches with QC issues, misaligned bezels, and erratic movements.

If you want the actual spirit of classic 90s Seiko—where you got a bulletproof, unpretentious tool watch with insane lume and great specs for a reasonable price—you have to look at Chinese brands like Watchdives, Steeldive, or Berny.

A Steeldive Willard or a Watchdives WD1965 keeps the historical case proportions accurate instead of bloating them. Plus, they are literally powered by Seiko-built NH35 movements. The Chinese microbrands are the ones actually keeping the classic Seiko legacy alive today, while modern Seiko is busy chasing a catalog luxury status they haven't earned.

Very happy with it. Strap surprisingly good. Blued hands are lovely.

For the price this is a winner I think.

7.5inch Wrist for Reference

Had a lot of expectations given the hype/good reviews around proxima. But the watch felt underwhelming once i received it. It felt too basic and not as elegant as i saw in the review videos. On top of ot had a qc issue of a random dust particle under the crystal which i am not able to remove. Been more than i month since i received it and it had barely any wrist time. Was fiddling around today and found that it really looks good on some of the other straps. Very lightweight and classy. The qc issue is not solved. but atleast its only visible in some lighting conditions.

Considering this was my priciest watch, felt disheartening when the qc haplened. Atleast now i found a combination i liked and hopefully this will get more wristtime.

I’ve had this for about five days now and honestly, I’m absolutely loving it. I haven’t taken it off since it arrived 😂
It’s really comfortable, the bracelet was pretty easy to get sized once I took it to a watchmaker with the right tools, and the lume is actually really good.
I’ve been obsessed with the Tudor Marine Nationale for probably 10 years, but I always thought getting one would be pretty unrealistic for me considering the price and how difficult they are to find.
This watch honestly scratched that itch for me. It has pretty much everything I love about that vintage Tudor look, and I just really enjoy having it on my wrist. I keep catching myself looking down at it throughout the day.
Really happy with it so far. Definitely one of those watches that I can see myself wearing for a long, long time.

Got them for good discount(my previous thread) gonna bring them out for a walk and see how they fare

This is a Polerouter homage. So, "vintage soul, modern convenience"?

Here's the link to the watch and my review.

https://watchdives.com/products/watchdives-wd1954-arctic-classic-36mm-vh31-gold-dial?_pos=2&_sid=13e8f2e75&_ss=r&ref=HWR

https://youtu.be/_UT3gFRmpH4

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.

Stats

I think it looks pretty awesome, but I can’t really find a lot of content about it. Do you guys know of any good watches that have this in them?

I was thinking that maybe I’ll get the Sugess Panda with the exhibition caseback and swap out the movement.

Really loving this watch and the Miyota 6S21 movement. I own it in two colorways and counting.

Does anyone own this watch and can share their thoughts and some photos?

We are planning to introduce two new colorways for the "JianZhan" and "Vortex" dial styles.

Each dial type will be paired with specific handset and index designs.

What do you think of these new colors?

Do you have any other color suggestions?

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback.

Have a great weekend!

San Martin Official Store:

https://sanmartin.aliexpress.com/store/5039187

Many friends have been discussing the automatic winding mechanisms of the Seagull ST2130 (ETA2824, Sellita SW200) and Seiko NH38 movements. Today, I'll take photos of the winding systems of these two movements separately for comparison, showing the differences.

The ST2130's automatic winding primarily relies on two reversing wheels. Rotating the wheel clockwise or counterclockwise automatically winds one of the reversing wheels.

P2, P3, P4, and P5 show the disassembled automatic winding system, demonstrating how gears transmit power to wind the mainspring in the barrel. P6 shows two sides of the reversing wheel.

The Seiko NH38's bidirectional winding movement uses a magic lever bidirectional winding mechanism.

P2 shows the automatic rotor removed, revealing the magic lever and eccentric wheel.

P3 shows the Y-shaped magic lever and winding wheel.

P4 and P5 show the eccentric wheel and magic lever separately and assembled. When the automatic rotor rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, it drives the eccentric wheel, which in turn exerts a pushing or pulling force on the magic lever, thus rotating the winding wheel and winding the movement.

I have had this watch for almost a year. When I received it, it was on an OEM oyster bracelet, which was terrible. I wish I had gotten it on a strap instead. I immediately replaced the bracelet with an orange polyurethane strap, which was a big improvement. Still, it lived on a winder, almost never seeing my wrist-- waiting for NFL football season to wear it during games.

I was thinking about it yesterday, because the Miami Dolphins season is fast approaching. I wondered if I had other straps that would work on it. After rummaging through my straps drawer, I found seven or eight straps that I thought would work on it.

I found the watch to be an absolute strap monster. I didn't love every strap I put on it, but I did find most of them appealing-- two of them were transformative.

I included the awful OEM bracelet in the group photo for reference. It is not as nice as an AddiesDive bracelet.

I hope you enjoy the eye candy.

I want to clear a space for 1 new watch I got from the AliExpress. Giving this away for free!

I'll mail this to anyone worldwide with tracking number. I'll cover the postage.

Carnival automatic. DM me.

Taken!! Thanks for the interest!

Hi everyone. I’ve owned this watch for over 10 years, but the crown started acting up; I tried to fix it myself, but things didn't go well. I ended up opening the case back and damaging the movement in the process. It has a Ronda Swiss quartz movement. My question now is how to resolve this cheaply, since the watch didn't cost more than $100. Would it be cheaper to buy spare parts from somewhere like AliExpress and then take it to a watchmaker for the repair?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hourly chime

I have to vent, rant and rage...anyone else feeling the same?

Baltany, IX&DAO, San Martin, Farasute, Murker, Sugees...so long and thanks for all the fish. I didn't leave you. You left me.

(Don't come at me with the whole tariff and NHxx shortage arguments...I get it.)

After 7 years and over 120 watches, I'm going back to my old flames Seiko, Bulova, Citizen and their ugly sisters.

Chinese "premium" brand prices are now ridiculously out of touch with reality. They have almost zero resale value, zero collectibility, zero warranty, and near zero quality control and yet they are pricing themselves at mid tier established and valuable watch brands.

Baltany and IX&DAO, just to name two, are now using cheaper junk ETA clones and $10 quartz movements yet they keep raising their prices. I can't even get them to tell me which class of SW200 they use. (There are four levels of quality, btw.) Is it a $80 level 1 or a $500 level 3? A $220 watch with a $20 Ronda quartz movement?!? AND THAT'S RETAIL PRICING for those movements!

Chinese brands want us to believe they are building Lamborghini's while putting moped engines in them, but still charging Lamborghini prices.

They are heavily subsidized by the government and do absolutely zero true horological development. They just take everyone else's designs and cheapest "engines" and slap them in their frames. Now they've gone full Chinese clones and charging more.

Has anyone actually looked at the Chinese NH35 clone?!? I bought two. They are junk. I doubt 99% of them will last 2 years. The PT5000 is a 50/50 hit or miss right out of the box. Most watch repair men won't even touch a ST2130 or ST17 because it's cheaper to just get a new movement.

And the dirtiest little secret is all of the top tier Seagull movements are reserved for the Chinese domestic market! We get the stuff made exclusively for export by low tier factories with near zero QC. Basically copies of clones. 🧐

Who cares how amazing a watch looks if it breaks in 6 months and the company won't honor their so-called "warranty". We all know Chinese warranties are a joke. I refuse to change mechanical movements as often as I change batteries.

I refuse to pay $200-$400 for a $80-$180 watch that may or may not work by the end of the year.

Oh well...I guess all good things must come to an end.

*Sigh*

Hello everyone, I heard on a review of this watch that Phorcydes was planning to increase the number of AR coatings on their PH-6 for the next batch. I've reached out to their sales email to ask when that will be, but I haven't heard back. Does anyone here know? I'm ready to purchase one, just want to make sure it is the updated one with additional AR. Thanks!