Of course, many of us cannot drop 5k on a watch. Many of us struggle to spend £100 on a watch nowadays, especially being that the clock on our mobile phones are more accurate than any mechanical watch, no matter how expensive they may be. Many people feel that they have no need for a watch. I, on the other hand disagree. Everyone needs a Submariner in their life, even if it is a cheap Chinese homage.

The sterile Submariner homage watch is the perfect way to get the “Submariner” in your life. Costing only around $70-$80, it is an enjoyable cheap thrill. How does it fare? Let’s take a closer look…

The case

The mineral crystal has a lovely big dome. This is a vital feature for diving watches as it stops the reflections you would get with a flat crystal. It does a good job at keeping reflections at bay out of the water too, especially as there does not appear to be any sort of AR coating on it.

The stainless steel case is well machined and is well finished. The top and bottom are brushed, whilst the sides are polished. There is a (what looks like) a helium release valve like what is found on the side of the Rolex deep sea sea dweller. I highly doubt it works on this watch, but looks good and adds something interesting to the case. I personally wouldn’t risk taking it into water though.

The 60 click bezel has a surprisingly nice action. The lume dot at 12 looks good, but the scalloped edging on it is a little sharp.

The plain unsigned crown has good grip. It is easy to unscrew and the thread appears to be good and solid.

There is a very thick rehaut. It comes within the crystal a couple of mm before going down into the dial. This is just like the Rolex DSSD, where it says “original gas escape valve”. So this “Submariner” homage is starting to appear to be a love child of both a Sub and a DSSD, as it has elements if both.

The dial

The dial is matt black. I like the hour markers, lumed dots with a polished steel ring around them, bar 12 being a triangle, and 6 and 9 being a baton. When these different parts of steel catch the light, it makes the watch look great. The lume is poo, as you would expect on a cheap Chinese watch. The hands are classic Rolex style, with a “Mercedes” hour hand. The date window is at 3.

The bracelet

The bracket looks quality and really catches the eye. It has a highly polished centre link and a brushed link either side. The links are all well machined and are solid stainless steel. It is easy to resize thanks to the good quality screws securing the links together. It also has solid end links, which fit snug up to the case. The clasp does not have any locking feature, all you do is merely pull at the end and it pops open. Not very safe! It does look nice however. When you shake it, it sounds a little tchinky, if you know what I mean, but I understand that the real Rolex bracelets can feel a tad flimsy anyway. But, the oyster style bracelet is well known to be one of the most comfortable bracelets on any watch, and this version is no exception.

The movement

The watch has a DG2813 automatic movement in. Wholesale, these go for the dizzying price of around $5. 21,000 bhp – that’s 6 ticks per second. Looks a little bit jerky on a second hand like this one. Not fantastic accuracy.

Final Thoughts

All in all, although it is a little cheap feeling, it looks great on the wrist. From afar, it really looks the part. You cannot deny how well Rolex have done in designing the Submariner. The Parnis does a good job of stealing this design. I am very happy with the quality of this watch for the price I paid for it, and therefore, I would recommend it to someone who wanted a cheap Submariner thrill without buying an all-out replica.

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I decided to try out a simple Big Pilot homage. It was on my list of “I must buy one to try it out, just because”. You cannot really say that you are an avid watch collector if you have not had a B-Uhr in your hands at least once.

This is a link to the exact one I got from Manbushijie:
http://www.manbushijie.com/productshow-233-6.html

Apart from being ripped off with $25 postage, I was happy with the overall transaction. It took a week to arrive. It was held in customs for a couple of days, but went though all ok.

I decided on the grey dial, because firstly I haven’t seen many this colour around, and that it looks slightly softer than a large lumpy black dialled watch sitting on your wrist. I was happy with my decision.

The dial

The lume is non-existent. But, I like how it is a creamy colour – almost “vintage”. This off colour works well with the grey dial. It is classic big pilot styling, with the hour numbers all around the dial bar 12, 9, 6 and 3. The 12 marker is not a number, but rather a triangle and 2 dots either side of the top point. There are various views on the origin of this, one is that the original B-Uhrs didn’t have hour numbers, but rather batons, so obviously 12 needed to be different. Another reason is that when using the watch as a compass, the 12 would act as a point to N. Either way, it is good design. The seconds at 9 dial is a little different to the usual Big Pilots. It has a concentric circle pattern in the dial, and the 60 seconds marker is written in red. A nice little way of getting some colour in the dial, albeit a tiny amount.

Everything on the dial is very well printed, and the hands are flawless, very well machined considering the price. Even the very small numbers printed in the seconds dial are perfect.

The case

The 47mm case has some slightly sharp edges, but they don’t really bother me. It is all brushed, which is the cheapest way to finish stainless steel. Apparently the bezel is polished, but I can’t see it. It is made with 316L stainless steel.

The dial is mineral crystal, and you can see a blue sheen if you hit the light right – a thin layer of anti-reflective coating. Hopefully on the underside so it doesn’t get scratched off! It is ever so slightly domed.

The case back has a large mineral crystal so you can see the movement.

The classic onion crown is very well made, with very good grip. Thankfully it is not roughly machined so changing the time and winding the watch doesn’t rub your fingers! The very end of the crown is the only part of the watch which is polished.

The strap

The strap is very comfortable. You barely even notice you are wearing the watch! The underneath is so soft, when you are wearing you don’t get any rub or discomfort, which is great for the size of the watch. The strap is very thick leather too, roughly 4mm. I like the tan colour, matched with the cream stitching. The tang buckle is large, and is all polished.

The movement

It is powered by the workhorse that is the 17 Jewel Asian 6497 movement. Looks good, apart from the guilloche in places seems a bit rough, but only when you really look hard at it. It is dead easy to work, when the crown is in, you can twist it and wind it up, then pull it out and set the time. That’s it. Not amazing time keeping, but easily adjusted using the swan neck. It runs at 21,600 beats per hour – that’s 6 ticks per second.

Final Comments

I think for the price, and if this particular style appeals to you, I would definitely recommend one of these Big Pilot homage watches. It has impressive wrist presence, and I like how surprisingly comfortable it sits. One word of warning though – if you wear your watches on your left hand, be careful of the crown jabbing into your hand when you pull your hand up!

I hope this brief review will come in handy for people considering one of these! Some more pics below.

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This Panerai homage watch is a stunning example of how far Chinese watch making has come. Panerai (or PAM) homages and replicas are widely available and also are pretty cheap (as in around $60).

This particular watch is one of my all time favourites, simply because everyone is impressed by it. The skeleton movement, which is a Asian version of the Unitas 6497, is simply stunning to watch.

This movement is a great workhorse. Chances are, you will never need to service it, and why would you if a service will cost as much as the watch?! It is pretty darn loud, but that is part of its character. Seeing all the gubbins inside move around and hearing it tick at 6 times per second (21,600 bph) is great. It has a standard 40 hours power reserve on a full wind.

This watch has a mineral crystal front and back. You can (which I would recommend) get sapphire crystals installed when the watch is being sent at an extra cost of around $25-$30. If you want any further info on where to get one of these from, feel free to contact me.

The strap is a standard Chinese leather strap, although it is nice and thick. I have never needed to feel or want to have to change it, so it is good enough. The case size is a pretty hefty 44mm. For some, that is far too big. But, this doesn’t feel overbearing at all. I have a pretty standard ~7 inch wrist, and it looks and feels fine on me. The wrist presence – now this is what it is all about. When you wear this watch, people literally bend their necks at right angles to see what you are wearing. It is very bold and it looks much more expensive than it actually is. A great feature on it is the Panerai crown guard and the flip down lever. It works very well, and looks the business. Flap it down, and give the watch a wind or pull out the crown to change the time.

I would highly recommend any PAM homage, every collection needs one! This one in particular though, is a definite winner for me.

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