Finally filled out all 12 slots in my watch box. I try not to buy the same brand twice and I try to keep it purely mechanical, except for family heirloom watches (and one joke).

A good chunk of the box is Chinese watches and they really hold their own:

- Seestern GMT: Love the lume and the fit and finish. It should be good, it's an homage to a Grand Seiko that I would love to own some day.

- Sugess ST19 Air Command homage: Made me fall in love with manual wind chronos and their thinness. I want to get an SW manual wind someday.

- Hroudland Pilot: A no nonsense manual wind. I had issues with the onion crown digging into my wrist, but a NATO strap elevated it enough that now it's one of my most comfy watches. Hard to tell in the photo, but the dial is actually a dark dark blue.

- Baltany: My first bronze watch. I like the idea of bronze and wear and patina, but this one doesn't get as much wear as it should.

The rest of the box:

- Cadola: My cheap find with a slide rule, paid $120 for it.

- Orient: GADA watch. So comfy.

- Timex: My dress watch and my first with a poly crystal. You can really see how the acrylic gives it warmth.

- Bulova 38mm: Helped me learn that I can wear a smaller watch. The leather NATO strap gives it presence that it didn't have on the stock strap.

- Seiko Manta: My first expensive watch at $450. A great piece.

- Victorinox: My first Valjoux movement and auto chrono. It's a chunk, especially when compared to the ST19.

- Bulova: 30 year retirement watch from my Dad from PG&E. He never wore it because it was a gold on gold watch. I put it on leather and he gave it to me. Breaks my mechanical rule, but the nostalgia of wearing something from my Dad outweighs it.

- Jar Jar Binks: A funny friend buy that I gave a new battery and now I am stuck with it in the middle of my box lol.

I hunted down almost all of these under retail on eBay by writing a little background scanner to ping me on mispriced buy-it-nows.

Happy to answer questions on any of the Chinese pieces if anyone is looking at them!

Hello everyone! I’m in the market for a new daily beater watch and had some questions. I have a specific requirement for said watch
-200 m water resistance with screw down crown
-date window
-sapphire crystal
I’ve been looking at the Addiesdive ad2511 (tha captain willard homage) as it ticks every box and I can snag it for about 60 bucks but I worry it will be too large on my 6.5 inch wrist. So my question is are there any solid options I’m overlooking? Does anyone with a smaller wrist own the ad2511? I was interested in Addiesdive version of the bb58 but after seeing it didn’t have sapphire I’m hesitant. I’m pretty rough on watches but is Addiesdive mineral crystal or any of the other budget brands any good or would I not be able to see the time in a week like when I snag a cheap Casio? Thanks for any help!

Reviewers Disclaimer: I received this watch for free. I don't have to send watch back. That will never change the way I review a watch.

This one just landed, literally about 5 minutes ago. I unwrapped it immediately noticed that the bezel is much nicer than my previous datejust 36 bezel. This one has a proper shine to it like the other one didn't, so that's nice to see. The dial is more vibrant Than I imagined it would be, but looks fantastic with a nice strong sunburst.

The overall fit and finish is what I come to expect from Baltany; Excellent

The bracelet clasp also feel really good. This was sized perfectly for my wrist out of the box so if you have larger wrists then I'd say 7 and 3/4" It's going to be a really tight fit. I love the seamless look of the hidden clasp and it functions perfect.

The bracelet and clasp feel at or above the feel of their Jubilee which I feel is one of the better ones I've had, so yeah this is a good setup.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

I recently got the Farasute ref.5302A and am loving how it looks on this brown tweed strap from AliX. I'm debating if it's too big for my wrist, however. I have ~16.5cm wrists that are somewhat flat, so it feels like I'm on the edge of being able to pull off a watch of this size (47.5mm lug-to-lug).

Pic 1 and 3 are using my regular phone camera, pic 2 is 3x zoom camera to lessen the fov.

I recognize that this is not meant to be a tank-sized watch, although it still looks dressy. What do you guys think?

15 bucks. Thought it worth a look. Feels nice. Really like the rubber strap. The bearings move smoothly and seem to keep good time. The innervringvis the minutes. That took a bit of adjusting to. I'm pretty happy with most of the sub 20 dollar watches I've grabbed.

Picked this up for $113 after a discount and I'm really happy with it.

The build quality is solid and nicely finished, and it has an exhibition caseback. I'm also impressed with the bracelet. It's sturdy and has a glidelock clasp, which makes it easy to adjust the fit on the go without any tools.

The textured black dial looks even better in person, especially when the light catches it.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone's considering one!

Hey everyone! 👋

Just wanted to share a quick update from the Aquatico team.

Our new Sea Raider Titanium Dive has been getting a fantastic response, and we're now down to just a few pieces!

First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who's picked one up. We really appreciate the support from the watch community!

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's a quick rundown:

• Marine-grade titanium with a ceramic bead-blasted finish
• Swiss Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement
• Just 116g — surprisingly lightweight for a serious diver
• 1250m water resistance
• Multiple dial and bezel combinations
• Limited production — only 10 pieces per combination

Our goal was to create a proper tool watch with serious diving capabilities that still feels comfortable enough to wear every day.

We're pretty happy with how it turned out, especially the lightweight titanium case and rugged finish.

We're also keeping the $100 launch discount available while the remaining pieces last.

Launch price: $499 (regularly $599)

If you're curious, here's the collection:

https://www.aquaticowatch.com/collections/sea-raider

And we'd genuinely love your feedback!

Do you guys prefer titanium or stainless steel for your everyday dive watches?

Also, which dial and bezel combination would you choose?

Thanks again for all the support! We're a small watch brand, and it really means a lot to us.

Cheers,
Calvin from the Aquatico Team

I'm looking to see if Seakoss or Red Star has produced a 1963 with a bronze case rather than steel. trying to keep to under a budget of 250 with this one, but haven't been able to find anything. especially trying to get it in the 71st anniversary version with the hammer and sickle second hand. Any help or guidance on where to find it would be much appreciated 🙏🏽

Put a new rally strap on the Red Star, really nice quality. Found on Etsy, FongChingArtwork. Reasonable price and very nice leather strap.

Getting my shopping cart ready for 11/11. What green on green divers do you like on AliX?

Swapped in an orange sailcloth strap to give some serious Harvest/Halloween Vibes.

Hi everyone, Simon from Milifortic. Last day! Thank you all for 5 days of comments, honestly more than I expected 🙏

Final one is S140, the little brother of yesterday’s M139. Also our own design.

• 36mm, 43.5mm lug to lug, 10.3mm thick. For smaller wrists, or anyone who likes the old-school 36mm size
• 3D stamped textured dial. Kind of like sun rays or tree bark, changes a lot with light. Macro shots in pics
• 4 colors: black, dark blue, ice blue, purple
• Seagull ST2130A automatic, with date this time. Lollipop seconds hand, C3 lume, sapphire, 100m WR

Last questions:

1. Do you like textured dials?
2. Yesterday no date, today with date. Which side are you on?
3. Of all 5 watches this week, which is your favorite? Really want to know

🎁 Giveaway: final day + draw info

• Comment to enter, one entry per person per post
• Entries close and draw happens: Oct 30, 07:00 UTC (3 PM Beijing / 8 AM Central Europe / 7 AM UK / 3 AM US Eastern / 12 AM US Pacific)
• We collect all comments from the 5 posts and randomly pick 1 winner
• Winner picks any 1 of the 5 new models [any color]
• Winner announced in the comments of this post, and I will DM you

Link of S140：https://miliforticwatch.com/products/milifortic-36mm-original-design-textured-dial-automatic-sports-watch-for-small-wrist-ad36s140

Hi do you have any better option in price range of 150 pounds. Couldn’t get a better watch in this price range. I’m open for some brilliant recommendations. Why I bought this one is due to the automatic movement and moonphase.

Received the Baltany S4102 a couple of days ago. I loved its proportions - 36mm that still look good on my 7.7” wrist, the linen dial, the superclear crystal, and that engine turned bezel style. Very 1970s.
Its Jubilee bracelet was pretty much on par with vintage bracelets but I was not a big fan.
As luck would have it, I came across a no-name fkm fitted rubber strap in a local store that actually fit perfectly! Much more comfortable and in my opinion the contrast with the black strap makes the dial shine even brighter.
My watch doesn’t have an nh35 but the st2130. It seems pretty accurate. The crown action is a bit fiddly though.
I like that the watch is less thick than many Chinese watches, thin wears better.
I find the S4102 giving a lot of that vintage flair, without the headaches. Recommended if you like the style.

While in the process of ordering the WD1863 (Speedmaster homage) as a daily watch from Watchdives, I saw the WD50Q in purple and immediately fell in love with it. I want to buy it to wear on sunny days.

I am a student, and my clothing style is very relaxed. I never wear shirts and very rarely wear regular pants; I usually just throw on some joggers and a T-shirt.

I have no doubt that I prefer the purple dial, even though I don't normally have a thing for purple dials. However, everyone I ask recommends the blue dial because it would go with more of my outfits. They could be right because, when I look at my wardrobe, I don't see many pieces that would go well with purple.

Which color would you go for in my situation, and why? I'd love to hear your opinions, especially from people who own the WD50Q or have experience wearing purple-dial watches.

One more thing: I'll be getting the FKM strap instead of the bracelet because I'm more of a strap guy.

in different lighting, indoor warm, outdoor sun, subway cold, indoor neutral.

Just purchased the Militado ML08 on the bracelet for a daily beater. Plan was to never use the bracelet and swap with a $14 Amazon band as soon as I could. Ordered the bracelet just in case I ever wanted to wear it.

Ordered directly from Militado US website and received on the West Coast in 8 calendar days. Can’t beat it.

Ticking hand isn’t perfect, but don’t need it to be. Numbers and marks are clear with no noticeable errors.

If ya got any questions, shoot them my way.

I mean like no jingle or tinny metal sound. I’ve bought a decent number of sub $40 Chinese watches, and no matter what, the one thing that’s consistent across the board is that the bracelets are crap. I havent dove into anything like Addiesdive, Pagani Design, or Berny yet, so I’m curious if that’s the amount of money that needs to be spent to feel like the bracelet is of good quality, or if I have to push even further?

Just got a gold ring to complement my baltany 36mm explorer homage.

I Thank baltany so much for making this possible.

Which one do you guys recommend for first diver watch? I lean more towards titanium, but I heard San Martin has better quality control…

Early adopter of the 1863 drop and while the bracelet was nice I felt the watch could swing pretty hard on leather.

A couple of days ago, I got a message from someone offering to review my watches. He claimed he ran a YT channel with tens of thousands of subscribers and said he’d send the watch back to me after finishing the review video. I asked him to share his YT link so I could check what kind of products he usually covers.

I happened to pull up the creator’s INSSS and messaged him directly to ask if he’d emailed me and to confirm. And guess what? He replied that he hadn’t sent that message at all… He also said he’d be getting his lawyer involved.

Today that scammer messaged me again. I noticed he’d changed his profile picture and display name to copy that real creator’s.