# Sea-Gull in a Squall: Rodina Bauhaus Watch



## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Sometimes one comes across a story that just begs to be told on the Watch Forum, although as a student of the lower end of the Chinese watch market, It doesn't surprise me as much as perhaps it ought to. Anyway, here goes...

Watch collectors and purchasers looking for a modern high-quality interpretation of Bauhaus style and German minimalism have a small number of fine watch companies to go to, and one of the best is surely Nomos Glashutte (umlat on the 'u'). Nomos is not a heritage brand, and it doesn't hide the fact that its first mechanical watch collection was first produced as late as 1992. The watches are therefore not slavish copies of an earlier period in watchmaking although they are influenced by German modernism of the early 1930s, and are all made in Germany. One of the finest Nomos watch designs is the Tangente, a beautifully proportioned minimalist timepiece with elegant blue hands and a seconds subdial at 6 o'clock. One of the most distinctive features of this elegant Nomos design is the manner in which the numeral markings are placed on the dial.. The price of probably the most classic in the series, the Nomos Tangente 35mm hand-wind Men's Watch is about £1200, and this model has a silver-plated case, sapphire glass, leather strap and an Alpha manual wind movement. Nomos has made a number of variants on the Tangente, including examples with a date function, the automatic version - Neomatic - which contains an in-house automatic movement, and a slightly larger version of the hand-wind classic - the Nomos Glashutte Tangente Glasboden - which has a 38mm stainless steel case, leather strap, sapphire crystal with a rear display back and manual wind Alpha movement and costs about £1450. I illustrate the slightly cheaper example of this 38mm model, with the plain steel back.

This is about as good as it gets in the wonderful world of the Nomos Tangente: This is the classic simple two-hand and seconds register model in 38mm guise, hand-wind and with stainless steel case and back - price just under £1,300 (pic from nomos-store.com):










So, there you have it, a most beautiful and desirable minimalist watch both well-crafted and sold by Nomos. However, that is just the beginning of the story: we now have to cut to China, and more particularly to Sea-Gull, a reputable Chinese watch company with a solid history behind it.

For some reason, the management at Sea-Gull not long ago decided to incorporate a new sub-brand into their model range, and they chose to name it, "Rodina." It is a shame that the company couldn't come up with something original, even allowing for the fact that they were clearly looking for European-style name. The Rodina name has been used in both Switzerland and Russia in the past, and there is still a "Rodiana" watch concern - the Swiss firm that started out with the Rodina name. The Rodina watches produced by Sea-Gull as the OEM and purveyor of the brand are mechanical timepieces mostly in the Chinese idiom though perhaps designed more for a European audience in mind, and it is with this latter intention that Sea-Gull/Rodina decided to aim more directly at one particular aspect of Western taste - German modernism.

The ultimate result of the move more towards classic Western watch design in the Rodina range was fulfilled when the brand issued a new automatic, the Rodina Model R005 Bauhaus Watch. It is only a shame that instead of developing their own design related to the Bauhaus and German modernism, Rodina/Sea-Gull decided to merely replicate an already existing and flourishing watch design - the Nomos Tangente. Now I have a generous attitude towards homage watches but this Rodina example just goes a bit too far. Perhaps if Sea Gull had retained their own company name on the watch instead of using "Rodina" then I might have been a bit more sympathetic, but in my eyes, and not just my eyes alone, even this mitigating factor would not have been quite enough to justify making an outright copy of another company's current watch.

The Rodina Bauhaus Watch with 39mm stainless steel case, sapphire crystal , Sea Gull ST1701 automatic non-hacking movement, display back and leather strap. 50 metres WR and priced at about £100 (pics from seagullwatchstore.com):



















When seen together, the similarity of the two watches - the Nomos and the Rodina - becomes untenable (pic from photobucket):










At least, in their model R005GB, the same watch but with a date feature, Sea-Gull have placed their date window in a different position to that of the Nomos Tangente date-feature model.

You might now have thought that I had reached the end of the story - with Rodina deliberately forcing their way into Nomos territory and upping the stakes by producing a cheap copy of the Tangente with halfway decent specs. However, you would be wrong, because here comes the twist in the tale. If you go to the Sea-Gull watch store, you will find that the Rodina Bauhaus Watch has caused a bit of kerfuffle at Sea-Gull, and for a reason that could be called "just desserts." It seems that another Chinese watch company has decided to replicate the Rodina Bauhaus model, using the same basic Sea-Gull movement. We therefore now have a copy of a copy of the Nomos, and the truth of this disturbing fact is revealed in a fascinating review of the Rodina Bauhaus watch in Watches Roundup, posted on 16 October 2015. The original review of what the reviewer thought was a real Rodina Bauhaus watch was re-published together with a comparison of what was now deemed to be a genuine Sea-Gull Rodina Bauhaus watch, and the differences were substantial even if first appearances were highly deceptive. Leaving aside the basic identical features, the fake watch has a somewhat inferior dial texture and colour, without the lovely satin finish of the real Rodina. The strap is better and more supple on the genuine Seagull watch and the small seconds hand better defined at whatever angle you look at it. Finally, the box on the real Rodina has the brand name in English and is a dark blue colour, while the greenish-gold fake box has the English brand name SEA-GULL on the box lid. There is apparently one other feature that tells the fake apart from the genuine Sea-Gull offering, and that relates to the model number on the caseback. Apparently, the real McCoy has the wrong model number on the back - R005GB as opposed to R005, but I must confess that in ensuring I have used the correct pictures in this topic, I notice that the Sea-Gull version I show actually does have the correct number on the caseback. If you want to see a full list of apparent differences in specs between the Sea-Gull Rodina Bauhaus and the fake Rodina then Sea-Gull Watch Store obligingly provide one alongside the specs of their own version.

Sea-Gull are, of course, in a tizzy about the appearance of fake Rodina Bauhaus watches on the market and they warn prospective purchasers to always buy their Rodina watches from the Sea-Gull Watch Store online. For obvious reasons, I cannot name suppliers who are thought to be selling the non-Rodina Rodina Bauhaus watch, but I will say that you probably won 't be saving much money if you accidentally acquire a fake version. I myself find this sting in the tail for Sea-Gull quite amusing and have little sympathy for them. However, you can bet that if I was a Nomos man, I would be fuming.

There is a final addendum to this topic which I add because it once again relates to Rodina watches, Sea-Gull and models that appear to be identical. I do sometimes purchase Chinese cheapies as a fun and inexpensive way of acquiring mechanical watches, and some time ago I came across an advert online for a most peculiar watch that I felt was a class above my normal cheap Chinese mechanicals yet for only a small amount more in money terms. The brand name was "Compadre" and instead of a country of origin printed at the bottom of the dial, the words "personal tailor" had been placed - very droll. Anyway, I waited patiently for the two Compadre watches, and when they arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The two watches - a black dial and rose gold-plated example and a gold-plated white dial model - were well-made and very slim, with nice case-backs fixed with screws, and a seconds register at the six o'clock position. The movement in the two versions of this model I bought is the Sea-Gull hand-wind ST1700, and they have leather straps, as well as very nice boxes.

While I was researching for this topic on the Rodina Bauhaus model, I suddenly came across another Sea-Gull/Rodina model that, apart from having a full glass display back, was identical to my Compadre watches apart from the winding crown, which is more beautiful on the Compadre watches. I wonder then if my Compadre watches were actually produced by Rodina/Seagull, and if they are then I reckon I have saved myself a small bucket-load of cash. To be honest, I am not bothered if my Compadre watches are OEM by Sea-Gull or made by someone else - they are pretty nice watches in a classic vintage pattern and I am very pleased with them.

The two Compadre watches I now have in my collection - and note the small window in the caseback showing the balance wheel (pic from des.gearbest.com):










Very similar Sea-Gull Rodina model to my Compadre watches, also with a Sea-Gull ST1700 manual wind movement (Pic from aliexpress.com).


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## Caller. (Dec 8, 2013)

Great post! I wonder if the same 'copying of the copier' has applied to other 'homage' brands such as Steinhart, Parnis and the rest or whether this is a unique scenario?


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## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

Good read Honour


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

Honour, I think you'll find that all of these watches are fruit of the Junghans tree. This tree first being planted in the mid fifties when Bauhaus designer Max Bill designed a clock for Junghans. In 1961 the design was introduced to wrist watches. Since then, Junghans has rereleased the Max Bill Bauhaus design lineup.

Later,
William


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Which reminds me, I have one of these somewhere.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Found it. 










A bit different from the one above, but similar design.


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Thanks William, and I agree that Max Bill should take credit for the essentials of the design, at a time when minimalism was still a relatively unusual aesthetic in product design. I didn't specifically go into the origins of the Nomos Tangente, and it may be that there is an identical Junghans forerunner to it. I was more concerned in this topic with the slavish identikit copy of the Nomos by a company that should really know better given that it has a respectable heritage and good name in the West. And then, I found myself with the extraordinary knowledge that another Chinese firm - so far unnamed - decided to produce a direct copy of the Sea-Gull copy. I suppose that if one is really opedantic, the Sea-Gull/Rodina watch could be described as being a homage to the Nomos (or to an earlier forerunner) while the unnamed copy watch of the Rodina is essentially a fake Rodina watch.

Sometimes, when writing a topic, one just cannot explore every avenue without producing an unwieldy post, and I am always more than willing to lean on others' expertise and add a note or to in addendum when necessary to clarify or include a point well-made.


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Stowa and Lange (among many others probably) having being making watches just like the Nomos Tangente and Rodina since the 1930's. Versions of the Stowa Antea come it at under £1k so better value than the Nomos versions too in my opinion. Having looked online, I quite like the Rodina with Roman Numerals (not pictured here) and might have a punt at one of those.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I have the rather inexpensive Ruhla interpretation of the current Junghans design Max Bill chronoscope, which of course is an interpretation of Junghans' own original releases from the 1960s. :wink:










Mach has a slightly different version of this as well. Ours are equipped with Swiss Ronda jewelled quartz movements. I think it is safe to say that Max Bill's original design concepts are the only clear line running through all of these watches.

Later,
William


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Many thanks William and Rhaythorne for emphasizing the role of Max Bill in the designs of many minimalist wristwatches ever since and giving some other names associated with this type of design. That Ruhla watch looks interesting, William, and is very nice. If Sea-Gull/Rodina had just taken the trouble to produce their own slant on this form of European minimalism rather than actually copying to the nth degree an already well-known watch then I would have had more respect for them.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

> Many thanks William and Rhaythorne for emphasizing the role of Max Bill in the designs of many minimalist wristwatches ever since and giving some other names associated with this type of design. That Ruhla watch looks interesting, William, and is very nice. If Sea-Gull/Rodina had just taken the trouble to produce their own slant on this form of European minimalism rather than actually copying to the nth degree an already well-known watch then I would have had more respect for them.


 My thoughts are somewhat divided on this. I have come to loathe the Submariner look-a-likes by virtue of the fact there is a seemingly never ending supply of them, everywhere... always. :wink: On the other hand, the Max Bill Bauhaus type watches are somewhat limited in number and far from ubiquitous. Personally, I liked the overall appearance of the Junghans Chronoscopes but didn't feel as though they were an undisputable pillar of the watch world. That, combined with my feeling that as much as I liked the Chronoscopes I wouldn't feel as though I had met my love match if I purchased one. Also, I knew I wouldn't sense that the Chronoscope was ten times the value, as per the difference in price.

We all draw the imaginary line somewhere at sometime when we are purchasing watches. The particular feeling you are having about the Sea-Gull and Rodina situation overcomes me frequently when I see an Invicta. They do so many look-a-likes it boggles the mind, but their original creations are so garish and absurd it is hard to tell which is the greater evil. :laugh:

Later,
William


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

I saw on another forum that the Rodina 'automatic' was distributed with the rotor removed from the seagull movement, so it needed to be hand wound ...

https://forums.watchuseek.com/f71/small-hand-winding-rodina-1858082.html


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