Chinese watches: ranked by quality?

[Hoofy]

Well, my "duration test" was interesting but not for the right reasons. Since the "How long has your Chinese watch lasted?" thread I started a couple of weeks ago, I was wearing my Soki automatic (sub-a-like) whenever I could. Problem is, I don't like to sleep wearing a watch and the power reserve was so poor (5 hours?) that unless I was willing to wind it before going to bed, it'd be dead in the morning. So after about 8 days of enduring the watch (it's a bugger to wind only because putting the crown back in place was fiddly), I decided to switch to testing an Alpha (Bond Seamaster Pro-a-like). It seems to have a much better power reserve, so no more painful fingertips!

It got me thinking, though... clearly Alpha is better than Soki (but it was about 5 times the price!)... but how do you lot rank the various brands in terms of quality? From memory, there's Parnis, Sea-Gull, Alpha, Tao International, whoever rebrands Aeromatic and Tauchmeister and Goer. What's your order, then, from best to worst in your experience? Feel free to add any brands I've missed out.

[chrisispringles]

My Parnis has been running non stop since early january and seems to be within +10s a day of accurate. The case and strap are also pretty nice considering it cost £50.

[Hoofy]

Didn't know you could get a blank face Parnis! Looks good. Damned good with the accuracy, too, by the sound of it.

[clockworks]

I've got a few Parnis watches, as well as at least one Getat. They are all manual wind, with Chinese clone ETA 6497/8 "pocket watch" movements. Some of them have needed lubricating (apparently the movements are supplied dry, and some assemblers save a few pennies by not oiling them), but they all work very nicely. I've put them on the timing machine, and they appear to have been set up pretty well - minimal beat error, and a nice straight trace.

[Hoofy]

And your ranking by quality?

[Hoofy]

NeMiSiS said:

I don't think Chinese and quality should be used in the same sentence, especially when talking about watch build.

Food on the other hand is a different matter.

True. But just like I could attempt to build a watch and the quality would be rated "piss poor - did a toddler do this?" it's a level of relative quality. In my example above, Alpha > Soki.

[Dakkon]

I have a Parnis power reserve tourbillon and it is remarkably accurate

[clockworks]

Dakkon said:

I have a Parnis power reserve tourbillon and it is remarkably accurate

Is that a real tourbillon, or a watch with the dial cut away to show the balance? I know that the Chinese have made some decent tourbillon watches at very reasonable prices, but I haven't seen a Parnis tourbillon.

As for quality ranking, Getat is a little better than Parnis for the quality of the case and dial, but the movements are very similar, if not identical. With a little tweaking, they are all running within 10s a day. I'd put Getat quality on a par with with Seiko's low-priced 7s26 offerings.

Be in no doubt that the Chinese are capable of producing stuff that's on a par with the best that the Swiss or Germans can make. They don't do it yet, as the market isn't ready for it. Quality and price will gradually increase over the next 10 or 20 years.

At one time, Swiss quality was way behind British.....

[Hoofy]

Oh right. That's pretty good if it's 7s26 quality!

[sparkyhx]

I have

Parnis 'portugese' power reserve for about 3 years - its COSC accurate.

2 * Tao international, big date and retrograde - again no issues and timing wise they are adequate. 12 Months

Minorva TRUE Tourbillon again no issues, had this about 18 months

2 * Pan Homages - again, more than adequate accuracy

[sneijder]

Sea Gull are the real deal, the marketing is crap and they seemingly have no interest in the US or European market.

Most of the designs aren't to my liking, but I have a 1963 Chinese air force reissue as have many others on here.

To dismiss Sea Gull as Chinese tat is a bit blinkered. They are a huge company with an impressive HQ to boot.

I'm not sure if Parnis is one company, I have a feeling it might be a few factories collaborating. I don't have one.

Getat is two blokes in a room swamped with work, I had one with a Sea Gull movement (I think)

Goer are Korean and utter ste from what I've seen.

There's a whole Chinese Watch forum on Watchuseek that you'd enjoy OP.

Have a look at Perpetual watches too, they always fall under the radar.

[NJH]

Funny that, I bought one of those Seagull chinese air force reissue chronos the other year. Paid over the odds to get one from the states all fettled and that. Was great at first but after about a month the timekeeping was not great, and the chrono stop start mechanism inaccurate in that sometimes it would jump as much as 3 seconds on a stop. Thing is I have had a few chronos that are 40 yrs old or more that work perfectly so I don't understand this, my cal 12 Heuer for example was serviced 3 years ago and has never been out by more than a few seconds a day and works flawlessly. The Seagull was a great looking watch and smooth to wind just very disappointed by the performance of the movement especially given that this one had been regulated by a respected US watchsmith. Not convinced at all personally and Seagull are supposed to be the pinnacle from China. I gave it to my brother as a present and he really likes the thing for its looks so is happy.

[Hoofy]

That's a shame. Sea-Gull is supposed to be the best.

Yes, Goer is a bit rubbish - I have one and it gains about 2 minutes a day.

Gonna have a look at Watchuseek.

[FreeLitres]

sparkyhx said:

I have

Parnis 'portugese' power reserve for about 3 years - its COSC accurate.

Any pics? What colour face is it?

[al1991]

In my experience:

Getat > Alpha > Parnis, Aeromatic.

Which, incidentally, is in order of most expensive to least.

[Hoofy]

al1991 said:

In my experience:

Getat > Alpha > Parnis, Aeromatic.

Which, incidentally, is in order of most expensive to least.

Aeromatics can be quite expensive! Do you think they're worse than Alphas? I haven't decided. I've had 2 in the past and have a couple of Alphas now but not sure.

[sparkyhx]

FreeLitres said:

sparkyhx said:

I have

Parnis 'portugese' power reserve for about 3 years - its COSC accurate.

Any pics? What colour face is it?

no pics but its the cream dial with blue hands - plenty of photos knocking around.




see this also http://forums.watchuseek.com/f71/parnis-power-rese...
ah - this one

Mine's on blue Toshi - stap cost more than the watch

Edited by sparkyhx on Sunday 29th April 21:57

[FreeLitres]

I nearly pulled the trigger on one of those last night on Amazon, but I was really looking for a black faced one.

Does it keep decent time?

ETA: Just to clarify, I was talking about buying a watch online, not shooting an ethnic minority.

Edited by FreeLitres on Sunday 29th April 21:44

[blueg33]

My Experience

Overall Quality (aesthetics, case, movement etc Tao > Alpha
Time Keeping Alpha > Tao

Time Keeping - Alpha = Omega

[sparkyhx]

FreeLitres said:

I nearly pulled the trigger on one of those last night on Amazon, but I was really looking for a black faced one.

Does it keep decent time?

ETA: Just to clarify, I was talking about buying a watch online, not shooting an ethnic minority.

Edited by FreeLitres on Sunday 29th April 21:44

mine is pretty much COSC standard it runs about +5 secs a day - BUT DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A GUIDE - Chinese watches can be hit and miss with quality and accuracy. I have been lucky with every one of mine. - there are bad ones out there. That is not to say they can't be regulated to run accurately just that out of the box they can vary massively.