Pagani Design Diver

 Pagani Design

Safe from China

My year of belonging to Watch Gang brought me an appreciation of Chinese made watches. I knew watches were made in China-many Fossil Watches are made there, and I have a few of those, and more than a few of the watches I got through Watch Gang were made in China. Though many of them weren’t particularly my style, as I wrote in my reviews, they all seemed to keep time okay.

I buy things from AliExpress pretty often-it’s great for computer stuff-usb drives, external disk drives, cords, etc., and I’ve picked up a few watches off the site as well. My hard ceiling for watches from AliExpress is $100. After that, I might as well buy a name brand. AliExpress allegedly has some name brand watches, but around the internet it states that they’re fakes.

I decided that I wanted a new skin-diver type watch, and that I was actually going to use it as a beater-a watch to wear to the beach, while doing yard work, fixing things around the house and other mundane tasks, so I thought a cheap Chinese watch from Aliexpress would fit the bill. I also wanted it to be mechanical-I hate picking up a watch with a dead battery. And I wanted a watch that had a face of about 39-40mm, (though I’d go up to 42mm), my preferred watch face size.

After the Omega/Swatch was released a while back, several watch reviewers popped up on Youtube saying that the Omega/Swatch wasn’t really worth it, and if you wanted a good Omega Speedmaster homage, to buy the Pagani Design from Aliexpress. The cost was about $115 compared to Swatch’s $270 (if you can find one), and the specs were much closer to an actual Omega.

I think that misses the point. If I’m buying an Omega/Swatch, I’m buying it because it’s an Omega/Swatch. A Timex quartz will tell time just as well. I want the label-oh and if you'd like to buy me an Omega Speedmaster or the Omega/Swatch, I'll take it.

Unwrapped

Which brings me back to Pagani Design. Several of their watches had positive reviews, and they had a skin-diver that met my requirements. It cost $53.95 in one of the frequent AliExpress sales (it's $62.47 as I write this), and I wanted a nato band for it, which added another $3.95.

Original band

It arrived fairly quickly in an ordinary box covering another ordinary box. Inside, the watch was packed well, and I realized fairly quickly that it had some heft. Things that I like right away-the black and orange color scheme gives the watch a serious look, but with a little pop. It has a screw down crown and a large date window. There’s an exhibition back, and a scratch resistant sapphire crystal. It’s also powered by a Seiko NH35 movement.

Things that I don’t like-I didn’t care for the band, so I knew that I was going to change that. The lume isn’t very good, fading out fairly quickly. It seems to be about 30 seconds fast every 24 hours (I should mention that a watch running fast is probably a good thing for me-I’m more likely to show up on time). At 42mm, it's a little bigger than I wanted.


Unexpected likes-the colors pop more than I thought they would. There are no sharp edges. I’ve gone swimming with it several times, and it’s water resistant. I don't know that I'd actually do any diving with it, but it is rated to 100m, certainly enough for me to reach the bottom of a swimming pool.

Black and Orange nato band

Sapphire Crystal

As you all know, I’ve got several watches, and I keep putting this one back on. It’s going to be my watch of the Summer, and certainly worth the $60 I put into it.

I’ve three other AliExpress watches, and I’ll get to all of them soon.

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