Nice review, I appreciate that you disassemble the watch to have a close up look at the dial features unobstructed! I like the vintage style of this watch + the small touch of MOP, not too much. Just found out i wasnt subscribed, until now!
I don’t usually like Roman Numerals, but this one I like. And I know it’s stupid, but I always complain about their use of Mineral Glass and they addressed that also. Wow. This one is really great. Thanks for the great review!
I like the care taken around the bottom of the Roman numerals to make a circle on the dial. Agree that the sub second had could be done better. Perhaps something that goes better with the MOP sundial material. Black?
I am contemplating making a video where I remove the sub hand, strip the paint and then thermally blue it. It really depends on how well I can polish it first .
In relation to the red second hand Mike. Some time ago, I had an older Casio G Shock with basically illegible hour/minute hands. I pulled it apart & painted them with a gloss red nail polish from my daughter!🤣 Worked a treat. With this, I’d pick up either a dark blue or whatever colour nail polish & do the same.😵💫 Honestly I’d be ok with the red second hand, but I do get your point.👍🏼
@@andrewd7586 to be fair I have the ability to strip the paint off it give it a polish and then thermally blue it. Might even consider making a little video out of it.
I like it. The website says "Merkur self-developed manual hand movement" - take that with a grain of salt, but it may be made for them by H.K. Precision or one of the other "smaller-than-Sea-Gull" Chinese manufacturers.
Interesting looking thing, probably not for me, but it does have a certain retro style (totally agree about the sub second hand, i'd prefer blued). If i was to go for one of them it would be the one with the black subdial
Second hand should be blued as well. My wife has a 1917 Elgin 0s in a watch conversion that I bought and serviced. I like it. Nice bezel too. If I bought it I would just change it to a blued second hand. I got lots of them. I would wear it.
I completely agree on the small seconds hand, keep it matching. HOWEVER, there's a MUCH bigger issue on the dial. Four in roman numerals is IV, not IIII ! I don't think I could get past that tbh.
No mate. Look at just about all other Roman numeral watches . They all show IIII and it’s for balance of the dial. Look at the iconic Cartier tank for instance
@@mywatchreviewsOMG. I'd never noticed that before. I can't look at the tank the same way now 😂 Edit: I checked that Thomas Tompion clock I saw at Petworth house and it's the same! Every day is a school day!
I like it, but agree on the red seconds hand, would prefer it to match the other blue hands, also the seconds track printing looks off centre, and would prefer that to match the dial and not be mother of pearl. Very demanding of me, I know!
If I would change 2 things about this watch it would be the seconds hand (the red colour doesn't suit the rest of the watch in my opinion) and make it smaller and bit higher up. So it doesn't take a bite out of the VI.
You have to take the movement as it comes, when you don‘t make movements by yourself. So you can‘t move the seconds hand around as you like. And you're right about the red hand. it has to be blue as well. :-)
@@knutjunker2019 In that case I would have removed the VI. Having a bite out of the number looks bad in my opinion. (Other people may not mind it though.)
This is a shame, I like the style, but the second hand should be blue as you said. The minute hand is a little short and that finishing on the sides of the case is shocking. Great in depth review as always 👍
I was thinking how really great this looks, but finding out about the subdial, that's a double whammy to vegans along with the strap, so I wouldn't buy it. The movement looks like a Tongji that you get on £10.00 Winner submariners etc, they are great depending on the quality of each maker, I had a Winner bauhaus where it was about +2 per day, brilliant! But it failed in the canon pinion area after a few weeks, so I sold it as a broken watch.
Yes definitely a Tongji or "Chinese Standard Movement" - manufactured in a lot of different factories to wildly different levels of QA, and sometimes cased up without any oil. They usually come out quite well after a service though.
It should be a 36mm. Baltany are doing really well with their 36mm watches, but here they try to be 'all things to all men' and end up satisfying neither the big wrist or small wrist factions. The red subsecond hand is quirky but interesting for all that. What really ruins it is the mother of pearl?? I've nothing at all against m.o.p. If the whole dial had been done in it I could have lived with it; but just on the sub dial is bizarre. With the the red second ASWELL it looks like it's from another watch. Typical Chinese design; it starts of well and then BANG, they make some hideous design blunder.
Every watch with Roman numerals uses the IIII instead of IV. This is not correct, of course, but it has always been done this way for the sake of visual balance. Because it has been done this way for hundreds of years, it is not mentioned. Take a look at old tower clocks, for example. Only very rarely do you see the IV on a clock, and when you do, it doesn't look good.
Oh what a beauty! Such a lovely watch for this price
The salmon one is such a beauty
I have to say for the price point, there’s nothing I really dislike about it. Great review and very fair ! Keep safe Mike 😊
Nice review, I appreciate that you disassemble the watch to have a close up look at the dial features unobstructed! I like the vintage style of this watch + the small touch of MOP, not too much.
Just found out i wasnt subscribed, until now!
@@RIOLOGY thank you
Excellent review! Of course I prefer second hand in blue...! Special thanks for showing us the movement!
What a Delight .. Good quality - Good Value - Good Review.
Thank you kindly!
I don’t usually like Roman Numerals, but this one I like. And I know it’s stupid, but I always complain about their use of Mineral Glass and they addressed that also. Wow. This one is really great. Thanks for the great review!
I think that the 'red' second hand is a nod to the traditional "Doctor's watch" with the red hand for easy viewing to measure a pulse.
😉
Love that watch as I am a big fan of old pocket watches. Would you put it up as a prize for your subs or potential ones?
I agree that it should have a blue seconds hand but otherwise this is a really lovely piece. My wife also really liked it.
Very nice. 👍👍👍
Love it!
What a beauty 🔥
I like the care taken around the bottom of the Roman numerals to make a circle on the dial. Agree that the sub second had could be done better. Perhaps something that goes better with the MOP sundial material. Black?
I am contemplating making a video where I remove the sub hand, strip the paint and then thermally blue it.
It really depends on how well I can polish it first .
I Like this one
In relation to the red second hand Mike. Some time ago, I had an older Casio G Shock with basically illegible hour/minute hands. I pulled it apart & painted them with a gloss red nail polish from my daughter!🤣 Worked a treat. With this, I’d pick up either a dark blue or whatever colour nail polish & do the same.😵💫 Honestly I’d be ok with the red second hand, but I do get your point.👍🏼
@@andrewd7586 to be fair I have the ability to strip the paint off it give it a polish and then thermally blue it. Might even consider making a little video out of it.
@ In my former life I was a heat treatment tradesman. So this was a part of my everyday work, but on an industrial scale. 😉
@ sweet. I sell 01 tool steel as part of my day job. A lot of this and D2 goes to the hardeners
@@mywatchreviews Small world isn’t it? Cheers from “Down Under”!🍻🇦🇺
I like it. The website says "Merkur self-developed manual hand movement" - take that with a grain of salt, but it may be made for them by H.K. Precision or one of the other "smaller-than-Sea-Gull" Chinese manufacturers.
In my experience, they've used tongji Chinese standard movements that are decorated. Reliable for me, anyways.
Interesting looking thing, probably not for me, but it does have a certain retro style (totally agree about the sub second hand, i'd prefer blued). If i was to go for one of them it would be the one with the black subdial
Second hand should be blued as well. My wife has a 1917 Elgin 0s in a watch conversion that I bought and serviced.
I like it. Nice bezel too.
If I bought it I would just change it to a blued second hand. I got lots of them.
I would wear it.
I might have to try that
I completely agree on the small seconds hand, keep it matching. HOWEVER, there's a MUCH bigger issue on the dial. Four in roman numerals is IV, not IIII ! I don't think I could get past that tbh.
No mate. Look at just about all other Roman numeral watches . They all show IIII and it’s for balance of the dial. Look at the iconic Cartier tank for instance
@@mywatchreviewsOMG. I'd never noticed that before. I can't look at the tank the same way now 😂
Edit: I checked that Thomas Tompion clock I saw at Petworth house and it's the same! Every day is a school day!
Actually the Romans used IV when adding or subtracting. On their sundials however, they used IIII.
I like it, but agree on the red seconds hand, would prefer it to match the other blue hands, also the seconds track printing looks off centre, and would prefer that to match the dial and not be mother of pearl. Very demanding of me, I know!
What was the amplitude? There was a reflection on the time grapher screen.
I noticed in edit. I can’t remember now but it was high 200s
It was 246 degrees... you can catch a couple glimpses of it when Mike's hand blocked the light that was reflecting on the screen.
The red second hand clashes with the blued hands
Looks like a slightly modified Tongji movement to me, aka the Chinese Standard Movement.
If I would change 2 things about this watch it would be the seconds hand (the red colour doesn't suit the rest of the watch in my opinion) and make it smaller and bit higher up. So it doesn't take a bite out of the VI.
You have to take the movement as it comes, when you don‘t make movements by yourself. So you can‘t move the seconds hand around as you like. And you're right about the red hand. it has to be blue as well. :-)
@@knutjunker2019 In that case I would have removed the VI. Having a bite out of the number looks bad in my opinion. (Other people may not mind it though.)
This is a shame, I like the style, but the second hand should be blue as you said. The minute hand is a little short and that finishing on the sides of the case is shocking. Great in depth review as always 👍
The good thing about the sides is that when wearing you don’t see it at all.
@@mywatchreviews Good point 😁
I like it but that red sub-seconds hand is just wrong. Salmon dial may be the way to go.
At the price….. not bad!
I really like it but I think 38mm is too big for this type of watch. At 36mm I would have bought it on the spot.
I kind of agree but 38 is the compromise for all the big wrist guys out there
Nice, but not for me. As you said, the seconds hand should be blued, not scarlet!
Isn't it time they change the North Korean caseback design ? :) Thx for th ereview, I like it a lot, but I can't stand Merkur's casebacks.
@@ccr6042 fair comment.
I was thinking how really great this looks, but finding out about the subdial, that's a double whammy to vegans along with the strap, so I wouldn't buy it.
The movement looks like a Tongji that you get on £10.00 Winner submariners etc, they are great depending on the quality of each maker, I had a Winner bauhaus where it was about +2 per day, brilliant! But it failed in the canon pinion area after a few weeks, so I sold it as a broken watch.
Yes definitely a Tongji or "Chinese Standard Movement" - manufactured in a lot of different factories to wildly different levels of QA, and sometimes cased up without any oil. They usually come out quite well after a service though.
Strap is leather but just feels like it’s not.
Nice, but don't need the small thingy with the red hand, I like a normal big second hand, and non Roman numbers, we beat the Romans in 6 AD..
:)
Size of case?
From memory 38mm I do measure it in the video
@@mywatchreviews Thanks, I must have missed it.
It should be a 36mm. Baltany are doing really well with their 36mm watches, but here they try to be 'all things to all men' and end up satisfying neither the big wrist or small wrist factions.
The red subsecond hand is quirky but interesting for all that.
What really ruins it is the mother of pearl?? I've nothing at all against m.o.p. If the whole dial had been done in it I could have lived with it; but just on the sub dial is bizarre.
With the the red second ASWELL it looks like it's from another watch.
Typical Chinese design; it starts of well and then BANG, they make some hideous design blunder.
Talking about all the Watch details and then you miss the fact the misspelled the roman ‘4’ that should be IV and not IIII…..
Every watch with Roman numerals uses the IIII instead of IV. This is not correct, of course, but it has always been done this way for the sake of visual balance. Because it has been done this way for hundreds of years, it is not mentioned. Take a look at old tower clocks, for example.
Only very rarely do you see the IV on a clock, and when you do, it doesn't look good.
No most watches and clocks will use IIII. Just look at other examples on google image.
I really am not a fan of Roman numerals, so I would pass on this watch.