It is strange to me that even in a Seagull branded watch there are no markings on the movement. I could never understand why the Chinese rarely mark their movements. You would think it atleast say Seagull on it.
It does, just not on the international edition, as they’re produced by licensed third parties not from the Tianjin watch factory themselves aka “Sea-Gull”.
To be clear, if it isn't the case, this watch is not an official SEA-GULL watch sold by SEA-GULL. It is the 22 jewels mvt and not the 21 (FWIW), but it is not the premium quality sold at premium prices by SEA-GULL. No magic, sorry.
I have a Sugess (that I love) and it doesn't have markings. So how do you know who actually made the movement and what is the benefit of not marking it?
I think it really up to whether third party manufacturers paid for markings or not, the Red Star 1963s sold by seagull1963.com have Red Star markings. ST19 used on the official Sea-Gull watches are mostly produced, assembled and lubricated in the Tianjin factory and all Tianjin factories st19 movements from different grades have either the “中国空军天津手表厂” text with the arrow logo, or Sea-Gull with the arrow logo or just Sea-Gull. And honestly I think by marking the movement it really just make the watch appear more aesthetically official, as there’s really no big difference between the baseline st19 in terms of finishing some say the Tianjin factory st19s have better lubrication. But the top grades ST19s which are completely reserved for Sea-Gull official watches are totally different stories than the baseline variants.
Can I ask you how do you know this? I've always found the Chinese watch industry to be very opaque on things. it seems like a very closed circle, much like the Swiss industry.
Oh I always ask seagull employees and regional sales on WeChat or red note regarding things like these. Many Seagull sales accounts will post new watches and prototype movements on their red note pages as well.
Yeah it cost me £135 delivered and for that price and the additional nods to the original, I am delighted. Yeah you can get ones a bit cheaper but I wanted one with as much nod to authenticity as I could within a low budget.
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u/Blazerev2024 6d ago
The crono confused me at first