TIME100 Men Automatic Watch Leather Strap

It's pretty tough, right now, to find a good place to buy a good quality, affordable Chinese Watch. A US-based Sea-Gull authorized dealer used to offer Sea-Gull watches on Amazon, but their listings disappeared about a year ago. Long Island watch recently began offering Sea-Gull watcges, quite a nice variety, in fact, but the pricing isn't attractive, for me at any rate. LIW wants something like $299.00 for the least expensive Sea-Gull open heart with power reserve and ST-2505 automatic movement. Similar Sea-Gull models were available on Amazon for $189.00 a year ago, as I recall. So I've had any eye out for an alternative for quite a while now. This Time100 was at the top of my list, and even though the company is unfamiliar to me, I decided to take a chance on it... Now, off the bat, there is one pet peeve I have to get out of the way. I prefer to buy from honest retailers, retailers who describe their products accurately and who offer "full disclosure" of things that might reasonably regarded as of interest to consumers. The Amazon listing for this watch describes it as a "Tourbillon-Style", watch, which is potentially deceptive.. This is not as great a sin as it might be if the claim were actually more credible. I think most people realize that watches with Tourbillon movements cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and would be suspicious on that basis, do some research, and figure out that what the watch really has, which is visible through the open heart, is a rotating pendant. This little gizmo is often found on this type of Sea-Gull ST-25 based watch, as the pendant replaces a small seconds hand, which is not needed, because there's a big seconds hand. The rotating pendant is intended to provide additional animation to the dial, and it does so effectively. But the inner parts that provide the watches timing, the escapement wheel, pallet fork, and hair-spring, remain fixed in one position, and do not revolve in the way that they do in a true Tourbillon movement (to offset the effect of gravity on accuracy, at least in theory). Aside from this one little fib, I think the rest of the Amazon listing is quite accurate.. It does have a Sea-Gull ST-2505, and working power reserve meter and retrograde date feature. The crystal really does appear to be "Hardlex", or something very similar, which is surprising because I thought this was proprietary to Seiko. I have a lot of Seiko watches, including one with a slightly curved dome and white face, just like this watch, and the glass material used looks to be the same, and performs similarly in some tests I use to check watch crystal quality. I think this crystal will have excellent scratch resistance, not quite as good as Sapphire, but much better than regular mineral crystal or acrylic. (It may shatter somewhat more easily than mineral crystal glass, however, which is true of Sapphire also). In my book, Seiko's hardlex crystal material is just about as good as sapphire. As I said, I've got a lot of Seiko watches, and not one of them has a single scratch. I am also find that the ST-2505 keeps very good time. The movement is a little finicky, as they tend to be. It's sensitive to being wound up to quickly or fully from a completely unwound state, and will run fast by about 15-20 sec/day at first, then gradually settle down - in this case to 4-5 sec/day fast, with very little positional variation. This is A+ accuracy performance for an automatic watch. Time100 is not Seiko, or Citizen, or Casio, or Swatch. They are putting together their time-pieces by finding a generic case and dial components, then obtaining a movement and casing it. I doubt anything is manufactured "in-house". All one can ask of a small company like Time100 is that they search carefully to find nice parts to use in the watch. And I think TIme100 has done just that. Everything works! It keeps good time! The dial is very attractive. The gilloche pattern work is surprising, exceptionally good. The watch is 41mm wide, not including the crown. 41mm is a nice medium size, 1mm wider than the classic Rolex Submariner, 2mm thinner than a Seiko SKX007 - it's probably a tad smaller than the average watch (as recently watch diameters have gotten larger and larger),. It's an excellent choice if you have small wrists. It fits my 7 1/4" wrist perfectly. The case height is about 15.5 mm (thicker than average). For an automatic watch, it's not particularly heavy, yet has a good substantial feeling on the wrist. The lug width is 20mm, and there's plenty of room inside the lug spring bars to accommodate a variety of different strap types. The strap it comes with is pretty long, and should work for wrist sizes up to ~ 8 1/2", but gigantic persons might need to replace the strap. I have the deployment clasp locked into the 3rd from the inmost hole; the holes are about 1/4 inch apart, and there are another 6 holes on the other side. The case back states the watch has 5 ATM water resistance rating. There is a screw-down case back, but no screw-down crown. I think 5 ATM corresponds to a 50 Meter rating, which means it has modestly enhanced water resistance, above that of a watch which is rated merely 'water resistant'. There a a couple things that could improve the design - More distinctive markers and hands - the silver markers on the chapter ring are rather generic looking, and though the silver blade style hands aren't bad, and the polished silver finish is nice & shiny, I find the hands too modern looking to be in the same watch with the extravagantly baroque dial design. (Note: the red second hand with lollipop is delightful, much more 'right' for this watch, adding a great splash of vivid color that complements the red "running on empty" indicator at the bottom of the power reserve indicator). Better Lume -- The hands do have lume, as advertised: applied to all 5 hands, at least in spots. After brightening it up with a high powered flashlight, the lume is briefly very pretty, but then, fades quickly. The surface area where lume is applied is slight, and whatever compound is used isn't impressive for staying power. Improved chapter ring integration - The broad chapter ring obscures more of the gilloche pattern on the dial than seems desirable, and has rather uninteresting second tick marks. It's an insert set on top of the dial, which results in a seam that shows between the layers. It would be much nicer if dial was all one piece, with applied or printed numerals, rather than polished steel hour markers. Better watch band - The "genuine leather" band... is somewhat stiff and stuffed with God only knows what to add substance. I appreciate the deployment clasp, but it's not the highest quality. Smoother winding action - the crown has a lot of resistance when when winding, and as the mainspring tightens up, one has to apply quite a bit of force to continue winding. The feel while winding is coarse. I don't think you can really snap the mainspring, but it feels as though that could happen. Probably nothing can be done about this, as that's "just the way it is" with Sea-Gull movements. Final thoughts: I am happy with my purchase. It's nice to get a watch that contains the very fine Sea-Gull ST-2505, and especially nice to get one operating with such precision. I'm maybe just a teeny...weeny...tiny bit disappointed that not every element on the watch face is as nice as the beautiful dial...but the ensemble is very attractive, and from any distance the watch looks like a million bucks... I would recommend this watch, highly. As long as you understand that it's made by a small company as essentially a generic assembly of parts, I think you'll be very pleased to own one. Time100 has been careful, giving lots of attention to detail, resulting in a time-piece of high quality. For the money, this watch is an extremely good value.

I like the watch because its reasonable price when compare to other automatic watches. Good design and easy to look at time. 2 things I don't like from the watch : first, watch is a little heavier than quarzt watches how manufacturers also make ugly and heavy straps they look " Not" suitable and uncomfortable for us to wear. I suggest that they should change the straps make something lighter like Feice watch straps. I give this watch 7 points. Oh also this watch run later 35 seconds per day. After 1 month wearing it, I still love it.

If you are looking for a quality retro looking dress watch with a visible balance wheel (open heart - not a tourbillion) at an affordable price this "Time100 Navigator" with Seagull 2505 movement is it! The watch was packaged well and came in a nice hard clam shell display style watch box. The watch band with deployment clasp is leather and feels very comfortable on the wrist. The band was already contoured (curved) so that helps. I have had other leather watch bands that where straight when I got them and took some time to curve and form around my wrist before fitting comfortably. The leather watch band is nice and long, most other leather bands I have are shorter and I'm usually using the last hole on my 7.25" wrist, not with this band I have 4 holes left before the end. The lume on the hands is faint; you have to use a very strong light to get them to glow. None the less the lume material provides white accents in the center of the hands, which is a nice touch and looks good. Something is wrong with Amazon's estimated delivery time for this watch. Amazon delivery said estimated delivery date arriving November 27 to December 21 when I ordered it on October 26. The watch arrived on October 31st, only 5 days after ordering! The only issue I have with this watch is the deployment clasp; you have to press firmly to engage the locking hooks/mechanism, on the plus side the clasp will not open by mistake. No I am not affiliated with the Time100 brand or the seller. I am just very impressed with this watch and its quality. Accuracy – worn on the wrist it gains +5.6 s/d (worn and off the wrist in other positions the average is +10.6 s/d). Besides this wonderful watch, I own three other automatic watches; a Tissot automatic Swiss watch that cost me over $1,500 (-9.5 s/d accuracy) and two other automatic watches (an Orient Ray II dive watch (+1.6 s/d accuracy) and Sea-Gull M182SK skeleton automatic dress watch (-8.3 s/d accuracy)). Another reviewer's closing comments could not have been said any better and I would like to echo their comments "Time100 has been careful, giving lots of attention to detail, resulting in a time-piece of high quality. For the money, this watch is an extremely good value."

I searched high and low for a decent automatic with the power reserve feature and this one is the nicest looking/best quality for the price. This one has been solid and only gains about 5 secs over a week. The power reserve seems accurate as well. Only thing i noticed was the very faint click inside the watch as it winds naturally from movement, but I've been assured by the manufacturer this is normal and it does not appear to have any negative effects. Strap is just ok, but the clasp part of it is nice. Can't beat it for the price point. Very happy so far.

Sad because it's a beauty

Tourbillon window, power storage display, calendar, manual winding, second stop. This is a watch made purely in Guangdong, China. The main reason for buying this watch is to meet the basic elements of my purchase of mechanical watches. With a rose gold mesh strap, the watch looks even more beautiful. The only thing that confuses me about this watch is that the power storage display is very sensitive. After wearing it for a while, the power storage display immediately reaches the top 45, and when the watch stops, the power storage display takes a long time before falling back to 0 value. Another point, The sensitivity of the tourbillon is also very high. Once worn or manually wound, the power storage display will reach the top. So, I still give it four or four and a half stars.

For the cost, this is (so far) a great watch. No, it's not a real tourbillon by any means (and if you buy thinking it is, you've got some research to do). But it is a step above other Chinese watches that say tourbillion. It looks as though the wheel above the balance/escapement moves with the second hand, but does not actually rotate the assembly so no real benefit. I will say this watch is fairly accurate, it lost about a minute over a week, which is great considering my other automatic watch loses a minute a day. The power reserve/date work as well, I was a little worried the reserve was just for show. Band isn't terrible, for the price it's alright. Would definitely benefit from a a better one.

Pros: looks, double clasp buckle easy to wear and to adjust for wrist size, self winds to full charge if worn for just a few hours, cheap price compared to other automatic watches, toubillion is pretty, date and charge capacity indicators are easy to read, has luminous hands though not for long, value for money considering what you get for the price it’s selling at just $49 Cons: leather strap is stiff and double clasp buckle can cause a little discomfort at the wrist, manual winding could have been made easier if crown was a bit larger and easier to grab.