Buy this Chinese Watch. And I Mean it. · Watch Lover

Buy this Chinese Watch. And I Mean it.

The Sea-Gull 1963 Is a great timepiece, and deserves a quick history lesson, because this watch gets misunderstood constantly.

In 1961, the Swiss company Venus needed money to develop new movements. They sold their entire Cal.175 chronograph production line, a caliber which equipped some of the best chronos of that time — machinery, tooling, blueprints — to the Tianjin Watch Factory in China. Legally. Commercially. Venus got the capital. Tianjin got the know-how.

Tianjin improved the movement (19 jewels instead of 17, anti-shock, higher beat rate), built watches around it for the Chinese Air Force, and delivered the first 1,400 pieces to pilots in 1966. That's the Sea-Gull 1963. Not a fake. Not a replica. A military chronograph built on legitimately purchased Swiss machinery.

The key detail: the ST19 uses a column-wheel chronograph mechanism. The same architecture used in quality Swiss pieces of the 1940s and '50s. The same feature that Swiss brands today charge thousands extra to offer. The Sea-Gull has it by original design.

Venus hardly exists. Sea-Gull just celebrated its 70th anniversary.

At $200-800 depending on the version, it's the most honest value proposition in mechanical chronographs. Column-wheel movement, real military history, Swiss DNA, fraction of the Swiss price.

Does anyone here own one? 👇

0 comments

Buy this Chinese Watch. And I Mean it.