# A Chinese Microrotor Automatic!



## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

Looking for an automatic even thinner than the Poljot Orbita 2415? Look no further. Sea-Gull have just announced a new microrotor automatic. (I hope these linked images work)

Movement design seems to be influenced by Universal Geneve










Case is only 6mm thick.










I do not yet know such details as price, availability, model ID or calibre ID.


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## jezz59 (Nov 1, 2009)

just proves what they are capable of,what a pity they seem to be obsessed (not in this case of course)with putting their movements into fakes or resurecting/inventing bogus swiss /german brands,I think they should market their watches in the west as thorough going chinese watch brands.If they already do, then I stand corrected but where does one get one?


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## AlexC1981 (Jul 26, 2009)

Nice looking watch too, though the dial looks somewhat familiar.


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

jezz59 said:


> just proves what they are capable of,what a pity they seem to be obsessed (not in this case of course)with putting their movements into fakes or resurecting/inventing bogus swiss /german brands,


Who exactly are 'they'? Sea-Gull have never been a maker of fakes, and they don't own any of those 'bogus swiss/german brands'. Actually, if you look closer, you will find that at least half of those bogus brands are actually owned by Swiss/Germans/Italians/etc. who make up brand names and then order the watches from China.



> I think they should market their watches in the west as thorough going chinese watch brands.If they already do, then I stand corrected but where does one get one?


I don't know where or when this one will be available but you could ask Kevin Ma in their USA branch (http://www.usseagull.com). They have a European branch in Basel, Switzerland, but they don't seem very interested in selling watches. I suspect that their main business is out of the public gaze, selling ebauches to Swiss movement finishers.


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

AlexC1981 said:


> Nice looking watch too, though the dial looks somewhat familiar.


Yes I noticed the Skagen likeness. It's interesting isn't it? The Sea-Gull's dial is a nod towards Skagen and their famous ultra-thin quartz watches, but the case is a more traditional style and it houses a self-winding mechanical watch. While it is obviously not as thin as a Skagen, there is a sort of oneupmanship going on, I think.


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## jezz59 (Nov 1, 2009)

Chascomm said:


> jezz59 said:
> 
> 
> > just proves what they are capable of,what a pity they seem to be obsessed (not in this case of course)with putting their movements into fakes or resurecting/inventing bogus swiss /german brands,
> ...


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## martinzx (Aug 29, 2010)

Thanks for the heads up Chascomm, what a great looking watch,

please keep us posted if you get some more deatils

Cheers Martin :thumbsup:


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

jezz59 said:


> Chascomm said:
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> > jezz59 said:
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That is exactly my point. 'The Chinese (apart from those nice ones at Sea-Gull)'

You've just condemned an entire nation as counterfeiters. There are many, many Chinese watch businesses that have nothing to do with faking. In fact none of the old firms dating back to Mao's day (i.e. all current Chinese manufacturers of mechanical movements) build fakes. Yes their movements are bought by fakers, also by homage makers, original brands, Chinese-owned bogus brands, old European brands now owned by Asians, German-owned Chinese-made brands, Swiss movement finishers, Swiss haute horologie brands looking for a cheaper ebauche, OEM companies who build for the pseudo-Germans and also for the British Horological Institute etc, etc, etc...



> its undeniable that there are loads of Breitlings Rolex,s Porche, TaG,Panarei, whatever out there that are fakes with Chinese movements in them,(thats not to say every fake is Chinese) that is beyond serios argument because there are entire websites dedicated to selling fakes!!


You still have not made a convincing case for why counterfeiting is a national characteristic. A vast number of these fakes are sold in Europe and even in Asia they are mostly bought by Europeans. Where organised crime has found to be involved in the supply chain, it has (so far as I'm aware) been mostly European gangs.

As for who actually assembles fake watches; the majority of them are made from generic parts with fake logos applied. There are some requiring more sophisticated finishing. Mostly it is a backyard operation, as small and mobile as possible, because faking is actually illegal in China (although very poorly policed). It is true that some OEM assembly companies do seem to be producing fake-branded products in parallel to legitimate brands, but this is hard to prove as even Panerai homages made for the 'Parnis' brand seem to be coming from more than one source.



> The reason why I use the word bogus is because some firms concerned imply that the product concerned is swiss made.I have on my wrist a chenevard watch that is clearly chinese,it is a homage to a breitling navitimer,and it says chenevard swiss on the dial at the six o`clock position, my point being it is a fine chinese watch, clearly not swiss! why not print on it Chenevard China,Is it the Swiss/Germans who APPEAR to be undercutting their own watch industries,(surely thats finincial suicide) or the chinese?


Chenevard is a European-owned brand. Look it up and see! It might not seem rational to you but this is what is happening. I agree that the use of the word 'Swiss' is deceptive on a Chenevard (except for those models that really do use a Swiss movement), but the brand owner is not a member of the FHS so it's not really enforceable.



> If to your knowledge,one firm Seagull, has an outlet in Bazel then I wouldnt call that widely available,I was actually praising the Chinese and lamenting that one cant purchase them in the west as easily as say, Seiko,Citizen,Casio.


We're at a point in history as regards the new Chinese mechanical watches to where Seiko and Citizen were when US servicemen first started bringing them home and generating demand back in the 1960s. In those days, Japanese makers (e.g. Seiko and Hamazawa) were making more export yen from selling movements to British, US and even Swiss companies than they were from direct sales. Remember the 'Smiths Jewelled-Lever Automatic'? It didn't say 'Japanese movement anywhere on the outside of the watch.



> Just to clarify so one else missinterprits I personally have no problem with a European sounding watch brand that has a chinese movement so long as its not a fake or being labelled as a swiss product.


I agree entirely. There are a few brands starting to use 'China Made' or 'Chinese Movement' but there are far too few. Some companies are getting the message (slowly), but unforunately the whole 'heritage' myth that has been leveraged so successfully by Swiss watch companies means that European-owned Germansian and Swinese brands would rather gnaw their own leg off before admitting that they don't build the watches themselves.


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## jezz59 (Nov 1, 2009)

Chascomm said:


> jezz59 said:
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> > Chascomm said:
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I am Clearly NOT saying that The entire chinese watch Industry/National characteristic is producing fakes!Yet their association with fakes is well known.I knew when I bought the Chenevard I knew that it was chinese, probably why I bought it, as it was the only way I knew of then, of adding a cino watch to my collection,that emphasise`s one point.Now supposing I was a person whom had purchased the watch,joe public who knew nothing at all about watches who believed he/she was getting a 100% swiss watch and walked out of the shop grinning like chesher cat at what a good deal they had got, only to find that some time later a knowledgeable friend pointed out that it was chinese, what would be their take on that? they would think they had been sold a fake swiss watch,would they not? You are cleearly a knowledgeable bloke, more so than me, I get the feeling you know exactly what Im trying to say.Again Im lamenting that all those watches from the Mao-ist era arent widely available in the west.


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## Top Cat (Feb 24, 2011)

Going back to the watch, how thin is it?


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

Top Cat said:


> Going back to the watch, how thin is it?


6mm

To put it in context, some of the better brands using the ETA 2892 can get down a bit below 8mm. To go any thinner, you have to start looking at the big guns of haute horologie like Chopard or Piaget.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Chascomm said:


> Looking for an automatic even thinner than the Poljot Orbita 2415? Look no further. Sea-Gull have just announced a new microrotor automatic. (I hope these linked images work)
> 
> Movement design seems to be influenced by Universal Geneve
> 
> ...


Nice looking watch with an interesting movement :yes:

Actually I prefer it to the Skagen B)


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Actually I prefer it to the Skagen B)


+1 :yes:


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## declanh (Aug 19, 2007)

Kutusov said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
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> 
> > Actually I prefer it to the Skagen B)
> ...


+2


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