King Wang Likes to Watch

As well as being about a purchase made and the weeks of anticipation in wait, this is a small rant about Wangers. This is perhaps a continuation of an idea I started here about social media and people who can't think but follow; magical thinkers (you know, wankers and narcissists).

Its been only a week since I ordered a watch on Ali which I'm keen to get, so this leads me to wonder how Wangers who buy into the Rolex dream can wait for 2 years for a watch that costs in the tens of thousands (not just the tens).

While looking around AliExpress I ended up getting "suggested" this watch by Ali

So its a quartz (not a mechanical) and sure looks like a direct copy of the Breitling Top Time to me.

Which makes me wonder about how the people who buy into Rolex feel about waiting for years "for the call" to say "your watch is now available. I mean sure Rolex is a quality brand, but is it in any way worth that cost (and I don't just mean the money)?

Let me be clear here: this watch is not a homage, it is a blatant knock-off and (for emphasis) I am not promoting or encouraging you to buy this; thus there is no link nor promotion of this watch here.

I also expect this watch to be complete shite, but even still, how could I resist. I mean if it actually presents OK and if it actually has a functioning chronograph mechanism ... I'm no calibre snob, so even though its quartz its worth examining. Not least because I don't know of any quartz movements which actually have a 30 minute sub dial counter (most have 60 minutes which makes reading the subdial vexing to say the least).

However it underscores why I like Chinese Watches and why I am personally against Rolex as a brand. Now, to be clear I don't care if others buy Rolex, people can do what they want, but my point is this:

When does it become somehow acceptable to force people to "prove their brand loyalty" by making purchases of stuff they don't want, just so they can be put in the waiting list for what they do want. Lets forget about the fact that one has to pay tens of thousands for a watch of which the same quality could be had from a Chinese watch for one one hundredth of the price.

This video is worth watching:

I can only describe this fascination with Rolex as King Wang (or the Emperors New Clothes).

To me the King is Dead, long live the King ... King Wang 

...(chants go up of King Wang King Wang kingwangkingwangkingwankingwanking )

CADISEN DEUS homage

So, after much deliberation between the Sugess and the CADISEN versions of this watch I put my money down on the CADISEN.

For me the deciding factors were:

• smaller size case (51mm is actually wider than my 6.5" wrist)
• the pushers
• the chronograph seconds hand

I was concerned about the more subdued colour scheme, but I'll get back to that.

Smaller size, I couldn't conscion having a watch which is actually lug to lug wider than my actual wrist, its farcical. One day people will look back at the trend of watches and consider it like  Flairs or Safari Suits. If I had a 9" wrist maybe.

The pushers. The CADISEN has a different choice of Chronograph "stop/start" and "reset" pushers which are actually also found on a Breitling watch;

and frankly I find the "traditional" pushers to be like Chrome versions of Prawns Eyes.

Lastly I thought that the "lightening bolt" Chrono second hand of the Sugess was not my bag. I'll come back to that.

So with my expectations laid out I'd like to review the watch and give my The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

In a word the good is the specifications and component list

• fit and size was exactly as I expected
• hand alignment on the dial was perfect
• colour coding of the hands (time in yellow, chrono in orange) worked as expected
• the two sub dial ST1901 movement was everything I'd expected of it
• it came with the Swan neck regulator (the latest adaptation on the ST19xx)
• case finishing was as good as any proper commercial watch (so not like Baltany or Pagani)
• Crystal and AR (inside only) was excellent
• weight was good

You can see here that the weight of the CADISEN is very comparable to the weight of my Seiko SRPE. Note the annotations to the image of the CADISEN, I'll come back to that.

Now this leads me to talk about the case, and something I've not once seen mentioned (except in error) anywhere; be that Reddit or YouTube. Its almost like nobody reviewing these things has eye or knows what a watch looks like. The point is that on the lugs are protrusions that could be thought of as covers for drilled lugs or pins for attaching the strap. They are neither and are simply a feature of the case styling. You can see above how the positions of these faux lug pins are not inline with where the center of the spring bar is (see red circles and lines).

Most curious

The next thing about the case that I like, which is also not discussed anywhere, is the convex nature of the bezel. Its hard to be sure of that from the picture above, so this angle should make that pretty clear:

So both the upper and lower halves follow that same design cue. Combined with the screw down back (rather than the screw in back) it adds a really nice touch to the watch. You can again see the faux pins I mentioned on the lugs here

The crown is a good size (and needs to be for winding and feel of that) and operation is good. 

The Bad

So what could possibly be bad here? Basically the problem is that a good watch is not just the list of its specifications.

I'll declare up front that I do need readers (reading glasses) to see fine print, but outside in daylight I don't. I can read the time on every watch I have: except the CADISEN where I have to really give it a look.

Why? Well you can begin to see it in the picture above, and that is the hands. In an effort to put more lume area on the hands they've really taken up a lot of the width of the middle of the hand making seeing the hand (rather than the lume) difficult. 

This results in the hand edge being than half a millimeter per side of the lume patch on the CADISEN and you frequently just can't see the rest of the hand. Indeed its bloody hard in some lighting (especially indoor artificial light) where the colour of the lume (which isn't glowing) blends in with the colour of the face and all you can see is two stubby hands. So telling the hour from the minute becomes something of a small study. Further in low light your ability to see colours fades off slowly into the black and white (its a rods and cones thing) and so the use of colour as the "tool of contrast" gradually fades.

if you take a step back from the screen (or hold your phone further away) you'll see that the hour hand becomes a little harder to see. Adding in a little blur makes it worse. This massively increases the time taken to actually read the time (but who uses a watch for that?). For instance this shot of me just sitting on the couch. I had to actually know what time it was to verify, seeking the time would be harder, if the lights were dim then forget it.

If looking for alternatives, then as far as I know its only the Sugess, which is a closer copy of the size of the Breitling at least. However the Sugess fares only marginally better and both are crap compared to the Breitling Top Time Deus when it comes to contrast.

Not one reviewer has ever pointed this out. Basically I've found this all but negates the readability of the CADISEN everywhere except bright outdoor light. Driving in the evening is just "forget it". Contrast is important for readability. I'm sure if I ever get to hold a Breitling that it'll just pop.

Lastly the second hand on the CADISEN is so thin as to be lost on the dial, again I'm going to call this "lack of contrast" as my Phylida is entirely legible in all situations. Here I've photographed my Phylida beside my Pagani and despite being back lit (for reducing contrast) the hands stand out.

This is reflected in daily wear where the Phylida can be easily seen with the naked eye in a dim restaurant. Were I wearing the Deus in (say) a conference or a cinema, I'd not have a bloody chance.

Meanwhile outside in daylight the Phylida (with similar polished applied markers) just pops and sparkles in the light

The CADISEN not so much.

So if you want a watch that you can tell the time from at a glance, and maybe don't have perfect vision or are always in perfect lighting then the CADISEN is not your bag baby.

You'll notice I haven't even bothered with examining the performance of the lume ... that's because none of the watches featured here (except perhaps the Breitling) have any lume duration worth mentioning.

The Ugly

So this is where it gets bad, the mechanism for the Chronograph has problems right out of the box. Best described in this short video.

So basically what I believe is at work here is that  the pusher button is attached to a rod which slides though a tube (and I hope also a seal) and pushes on the lever that engages the chronograph.

This has manufacturing problems in the following ways:

1. the rod has a bullet shaped end
2. the rod is perhaps a little short
3. the rod is off axis by about half the width of the rod where it actually engages with the lever
4. the lever has a flat (but narrow) surface that needs to be pressed centrally while allowing for it to move laterally as part of its rocking.

I have another Chronograph with an ST190x movement in it (my Phylida) and its rod is flat and at a slightly better angle (for the needs of the lever). So basically unless this particular watch has the wrong type of end on the actuating rod then I believe this is a problem which is going to plague the CASIDEN watch of this type.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the good, the bad and the ugly. I am a bit sad that this hasn't worked out, but at the same time the discovery now (rather than a year or two later) of this issue has allowed me to dodge a bullet (so to speak).

While I'd really like to have liked this watch, and really it had so much going for it, I just can't.

So back it goes.

HTH

my new bike: 1985 Yamaha SR500

I'd ridden one of these once (belonged to a riding friend) but certainly spent more time on the later models (the SR-X) and indeed before buying the KTM Duke 390 was actively searching for one. Sadly everything I saw was in crap condition or done up in a way that I hated (some wankers gravy stroke dream of what a cafe racer should look like). Still looking, I eventually found this one:

It was exactly what I was looking for: an honest looking version which hasn't been done up like an old slag at a nightclub to pretend she's at her prime. As well I was attracted to the fact that it has drum brakes on the front, making it both rare and easy to own. 

Now this last point will prove contentious, but being quite familiar with drum brakes, and being in the midst of the messy job of replacing the seals in my 2006 Yamaha brakes (twin disc, hydraulic, dual piston callipers), which have finally decided to stick to the pistons (causing problems not least of which was parts availability); the thought of needing to do that (and more) to a 1985 bike which has been sitting around for some time bothered me. So I looked for a drum brake version as a preference.

I already have decades of experience on bikes with drum brakes and know that 99.9% of the time the braking of drums is entirely sufficient (and I'm not making this a track bike so I don't need that 0.1% time). The small picture the the left there is me on my 80's Honda H100 2 stroke that I used to ride to Uni.

I suppose that some younger people will have mixed feelings about this, but to me the whole bike oozes genuine time traveller (who didn't short cut time).

From the tank ...

through to the frame (with little bits of surface  rust).  I just love that honesty (in not trying to hide anything beneath paint bog and polish).

Its so relaxing to ride, the low torque means also that I can avoid changing gears coming into slower corners and still pull out with just 2000rpm on the clock. With the KTM 390 Duke still in the stable here I can say that the old SR500 is more torquey, easy to ride at least as fun to ride and perhaps even a bit faster than the KTM. The specs of the two bikes make this clear too. 

FWIW I rolled it onto a local weighbridge here and it weighs about 160kg (oil in the engine, fuel in the tank.

Naturally as soon as I got it I did some basic services (changed oil and filter, checked valve clearances) and found that everything (well not the oil) was in excellent condition (relieved).

However on the 3rd day it wouldn't start. Bugger. So I started with the sparkplug (took it out) looking for evidence of fuel (on the sparkplug) or spark (resting it against the motor and kicking it over). Found fuel no spark. Long story short I found the problem under the timing cover.

I basically (still) have no clear idea how this mush of water and oil emulsion got there, none the less it needed cleaning out. So I took pictures, passed them around some friends who knew a few things, cleaned it up (taking off the flywheel and checking the stator coils and crank seal) and put it back together.

A couple of kicks, a back fire (which encouraged me) then - Started! (and the crowd cheered). I believe that the solution is that the coil up there (red circle and arrow) was being blocked from "seeing" the rotation of the flywheel and thus it stopped sparking when the oil/water emulsion got too much.

Somehow I felt like I'd passed a test, but either way I was unaccountably happy.

Why this bike?

As you may have guessed by now (especially if you read this blog much) a reason why I targeted the SR is not only because I like riding bikes, but also because I like doing things myself. The SR represents a point in motorcycle evolution where the owner could do everything needed for basic maintenance themselves but was sufficiently advanced that it was as fast as needed to keep up with modern traffic.

• No fuel injection
• Simple air cooled engine
• Single over head cam
• Valve maintenance by screw and lock nut adjusters

You see I've run the gauntlet of having to find good mechanics and in the middle having crappy work being done to my motorcycles by idiots (as described in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) for decades. Further I've gained great personal satisfaction from the outcomes. Its really become a way of life for me now not least because of the personal satisfaction I get from it. I very much subscribe to the interpretation of Nietzsche's "Will to Power" being the exercising of my own personal power to facilitate my needs and enhance my independence. Just like any of my projects be it solar floor heating or building my shed, the successful outcomes give me a sense of satisfaction and indeed happiness that just never comes from hedonistic pursuits (eating, fucking, and other transient pleasures), although I like them too ;-)

The supplied toolkit underscores this design philosophy is embedded in the bike by Yamaha; I've never seen a toolkit (outside of old BMW motorcycles) which comes with everything you need to keep the bike running nicely.

Conclusion

The small problems at the beginning of owning this bike were sort of like it testing me: is my new owner a narcissist or a competent human who'll look after me. You see my focus on philosophy these last ten years or so has led me to a different understanding. A book I read some time ago by Matthew B Crawford made some points about the differences in personality type between people. Let me quote:

A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our mastery of the world is extended, but an affront to our usual self-absorption. Constantly seeking self-affirmation, the narcissist views everything as an extension of his will, and therefore has only a tenuous grasp on the world of objects as something independent. He is prone to magical thinking and delusions of omnipotence.

A repairman, on the other hand, puts himself in the service of others, and fixes the things they depend on. His relationship to objects enacts a more solid sort of command, based on real understanding. For this very reason, his work also chastens the easy fantasy of mastery that permeates modern culture.

I recommend the book, you can buy it on Amazon (here, and note I make nothing from recommending it).

The small trials I've been through at the start of this process have enabled me to see again that its through the struggle that success tastes sweeter and its in the power you have and the ability to develop it that leads to the most salient rewards.

Enjoy

Baltany field chronograph notes

I recently read of this watch and thought (after watching a few reviews) to see how it felt on my wrist (because that's the only way to actually know). I wasn't disappointed too much, mostly I think its excellent (and its growing on me).

Wots good

Well for starters, I like the understated and simple pragmatic appearance. The VK67 movement is excellent, well regarded and reliable, I applaud its use here because I hate having a 3 dial chronograph where one of the dials does nothing more than show you what the hour hand is already showing you.  

The AR coated Sapphire Crystal is perfect, adds nothing flashy and indeed is perfect because it makes for clear unimpeded view of the face. I frankly don't give a tinkers toss about Sapphire vs Hardlex because I don't give a toss about the occasional scratch, however that AR coating on the inner surface really just makes the watch all about the dial (the crystal that covers it just about vanishes).

As you can see above its a 3 sub-dial chronograph with screw down crown and pushers. People like to go on about how this makes for an improvement in water resistance but actually what I am attracted to most about this design is that you don't accidentally start or stop the chrono. Wound out for use they present a nice button to press.

Wound back down they stop accidental movement. Unlike some other movements I've had (my Pagani comes to mind) the feel and action of the pushers is good and definite.

So while there are a couple of points which I feel are totally absent from mention in most reviews, I'll also run through the basics here too. But I won't cover stuff which is adequatly covered in most of the very positive reviews.

When unboxing I found a very nice padded case and an actual filled out, dated and stamped warranty card.

The supplied NATO is actually what I call good, meaning that its thin, flexible, soft (not coarse) and has nice hardware.

Its black, despite how it looks in the lighting here.

The watch is a nice and neat (but busy) dial which is helped by the fantastic domed sapphire crystal which has AR coating on the back side. 

I happen to prefer to my watch on a leather strap (sourced from the design school of NATO straps) for "daily wear" and only put it onto a NATO (actual milspec is only nylon) when doing yard work or the like.

My wrist is about 6.5" and you can see the ends of the lugs come close to extending beyond my wrist (but don't quite). I measure the width of my wrist at a shade over 50mm and so when I wear a watch like my Seiko SRPE (with just over 44mm lug to lug) I'm more comfortable with that being the maximum size I like to wear.

The Baltany is also nicely weighted at just over 55.3g (no strap, with spring bars). This is also very close to  my Seiko (which is a mechanical and an automatic so it must include a weight for the winding rotor) which weighs just over 59.6g. I'd call them near enough to equal.

Hand placement

This is pretty good in my view, although not perfect on the chronograph seconds, the critical ones are entirely sufficient. Shown  below is the chrono stopped at just shy 54 seconds

Its bloody hard to read this by eye as even the non-magnified image is going to be bigger than it looks at wrist distance when you're also doing something (like driving) and can't just stare at it to be sure. I guess being myopic helps (but I'm long sighted so it doesn't).

This is where things stop being so nice.

Wots not so good

The dial is a bit busy and the lume is shit. The large sword hands obscure the ability to read the Chrono more often than I'd anticipate. 

Its not the watches fault, but why the hell did Seiko make the minute counter 60 minutes per rotation rather than 30? 30 Min would mean it would be much easier to read the chronograph minutes (having twice the space per minute). C'mon fellas ... there's a reason why Omega and Seagull did that.

Next I'm going to say finishing. Now this needs defining a bit, because to most reviewers on YouTube (notice I'm not on YouTube here) the term "finishing" only seems to refer to if a surface is brushed or polished. To me finishing means that edges are not sharp (meaning feeling like "that's sharper than a my cutlery knife") this is done by some amount of bevelling or chamfering. Lets take a look at what to the naked eye (meaning no macro lens) this edge (red arrows) appears as a "sharp" delineation ...

and in the blue elipse there is some sort of chamfer making it easier to put a strap in and it not rub against the watch case (damaging my leather strap, which happened). Note also the complexity of the curves in making the case and the lugs? Difficult to do. Note that even my Pagani had a go (rather rough) of making a chamfer for the strap (full blog post on that here)

Now lets compare that to the case of the Baltany

Hard, flat and sharp, much cheaper to machine. Indeed from the side here you can see that the curve on the lugs actually lifts the watch off the table. This is both good and bad. Its good because it puts the strap attachment place more in line with the curve of the strap so that its not clamping your watch onto your arm with pressure (this is more exacerbated with a smaller wrist) but its bad because it brings the lugs much closer to you (and can poke into you with a simple single pass strap).

Lets look at 2 other watches I have the Seiko and the Pagani Design Speedmaster homage

You can compare with other watches you have, but aside from wrist rolls and faffing about with words like "how the light plays off the watch" (and I'm like FFS, haven't you ever seen a Christmas Tree decoration ball?) I've not seen any direct mention of this issue.

The careful eye will observe that I've actually used a diamond file on the edge of the Pagani and put a small bevel on it, because it was about sharp enough to cut. The careful eye will also notice that my Seiko has some evidence of the (almost daily) wear its had since 2020.

Straps are tight, due to a lack of thought about the lug drill location. Its so tight  you can barely thread a NATO in. The spring bar visible here is 1.8mm in thickness ...

... and another spring bar will not pass through between it and the case, meaning its impossible to fit in a "luxury" NATO strap without removing the spring bars.

Further because that edge is so sharp there it shaved the polish off my strap (and I had to remove the normal spring bar to enable me to release my strap without more damage.

This is the only watch I have which is like this.

Getting back to the chamfer I spoke of, its present also on knobs, this means its actually part of good. You can see its presence on the edges of the grip for the screw down covers on the chronograph pushers and its also present on the crown too. 

More than I can say for the Pagani which was also just a straight cut without any chamfer.

So the crown finish and the grips on the screw down locks on the pushers are good.

As you can see here on a crown there are cuts in to give grip (the red line) and then a chamfer to make it not so sharp. 

I call that part of "finishing".

Going back to the above macro of my watch, you may also notice a strange discolouration around the knobs, yes that's visible with the magnifying glass, but again its nothing you'd spot by eye (probably).

I'll update this in the morning with the view of the Lume (which I expect will be good). 

Bottom line

If I knew this and had access to sharp eyed reviews I perhaps wouldn't have bought this watch, instead for little less money I'd buy a Seiko (who makes that VK67 movement BTW) or a Pulsar (a sub brand of Seiko) and probably be able to get to try it on in a shop before. 

Instead almost every review on YouTube spouted the same stuff (almost like a bunch of AI's copying each other).

Still the thing which really stands out on this watch is the effect that the AR coated Sapphire crystal has on visibility. Its fantastic. 

Would that really tip my hand if I knew all this then? Dunno.

This underscores my experience of Chinese watches. You can get something you can't otherwise easily get, from China on Ali (such as an ST19xx movement in a fully mechanical watch or a cheap homage of a much more expensive watch) and at a good price. But if you just believe every YouTuber out there you can get suckered into thinking that quality of finish you have come to expect (even in a cheap Seiko) just isn't there..

Live and Learn I say.

Still, no harm done, because the difference would be only a few bucks and all I bought was a chinese case and assembly and got a Sapphire crystal thrown in for a few bucks.

Wearing for a week

Its interesting, the dial looks like it'll be easy to read, but in many cases isn't. For instance:

• its often the case that I can't see the chrono sub dials because the hands are so thick (interestingly the original Omega never suffers from this, nor the Phylida (if only that was a proper 3 dial chrono not a 2 dial chrono with a useless hour hand added) either
• in lower light you need to get some reflections off that chrono seconds hand because the little red tip is nigh impossible to find fast (and when driving and timing things you don't want to stare at it)
• really, who the hell thought dividing an itty bitty sub dial into 60 seconds rather than 30 seconds would be smart. You have to be TOTALLY sure that you're seeing 15 not 14 or 16 minutes
• the lack of quick change on the minute counter is not just a feature its a must because at 30seconds or so then guessing the measured minutes is pretty much a coin flip (not least because the hands are not placed with scientific instrument precision)

Watch feels nice on and the above mentioned lug design really does (IMO) make it more comfortable on the smaller wrist (mine's 6.5").

Time keeping accuracy of the watch is of course everything you'd expect from a Seiko VK movement, 2 seconds a week.