Reviews
Reviews of watches bought and built.
Modern
Seiko 5 Sport
Rugged tool watches that will probably never see any water let alone 100m of it. You can get involved for less than £300.
NH35A
There’s a massive modding community for this movement, so lots of choice to create your own.
See modding options.
Tissot
An unusually affordable Swiss automatic. Doesn’t look much from the back; but of course, you get what you don’t pay for.
ST3600
This is a clone of an ETA 6497 and you can pick them up very cheaply fully built on eBay. However, where’s the fun in that if you can build it yourself?! There’s also a similar version with the seconds at 6 o’clock: the ST3620.
See one of my complete builds.
Forge and Foster
Jamming on the high-end Hublot “porthole” aesthetic. Inexpensive but perfectly reliable Chinese movements. Unusually, for this price range, they feature a cutout rotor that lets you see through into the movement.
Studio Underd0g
I was really pleased I managed to pre-order this but six months later and I was a little disappointed how stiff the winding was. I returned it but I would definitely consider another if somebody had worn it in for me!
Vintage
You can get a lot for your money if you’re prepared to go old-school. They may not work as well as a brand new watch, but they have a charm that you won’t find straight out of the box. You can even go really cheap with a pin-lever movement but I think you need to be looking at minimum 15-jewels.
Nino
Omega 552
Beautiful classic dress watch, if a little small for modern tastes.
Raketa 2609.HA
Some interesting watches from the Soviet Union.
HMT Pilot
Also some interesting watches from India.
Citizen
