Whether you’re a new collector or a seasoned collector, we all have something in common, we love watches. However the type of watches we love vary from collector to collector. We all need to eat food to survive, but the type of food we eat represents our culture, economic status, but sometimes all that doesn’t matter we eat what we eat simply because we like it. Watches are not a necessity, although some of us certainly like to think so. In the watch world just because you own a certain type of watch doesn’t mean you’re a certain type of person or collector, or come from a certain culture. Sure you can definitely draw parallels and start seeing a connection between collectors. However when it comes to the money aspect that’s were the line gets blurry and you can’t make assumptions. Take Bill Gates for example one of the richest men in the world wearing a Casio Duro or on the polar opposite someone that’s clearly not financially set wearing a luxury piece. Today we are going to be comparing two dive watches that are sub $500, what’s so interesting about these watches are how they have divided the community. On one hand you have die hard Seiko fans and on the other you have die hard homage fans, I stand in the middle and honestly see the good in both of these pieces. I will be breaking down some of the good, bad and not so bad. The Seiko SkX007 is a watch that’s a classic in the watch community, not only because Seiko is a very respectable watch manufacturer, but the SKX is simply a timeless design with some respectable specs and at one point was considered by many a great value proposition. On the other hand we have the Pagani Design PD-1639 that even Pagani calls the submariner on their own website, for some this is the fake it till you make type of watch. They say that, because of its strong resemblance to Rolex of course. However you can’t deny that the specs that you get for the money are incredible.The Pagani Design has a lot of great attributes for a fraction of the cost. Some of those specs include an anti reflective sapphire crystal that includes a magnifier over the date that actually does its job by properly magnifying the date. It also features a ceramic dive style unidirectional 90 click bezel, I would have preferred 120 clicks, but the action on this is not bad. It also features a screw down crown with the company’s logo. Screwing the crown in and out is not a pleasant felling, there is a lot of friction that make the watch feel cheap, I hope Pagani does something about this. Of course this screw down crown helps the watch obtain that 100m of water resistance . It’s does feature a nice glossy black dial with applied lumed indices in the shape of circles, buttons and the triangle at the 12’o clock, the indices have nice polished edges. You also get that lollipop style seconds hand and the Mercedes style hour hand. Not to mention a nice display case back with the Seiko NH35 movement, that can be hacked and hand wound. The entire watch and bracket are constructed of 316L stainless steel with a mix of brushed and polished surfaces. The bracelet features solid links, solid end links, screws to size the bracelet, a milled clasp and on the fly adjustment on the buckle. In my opinion they could have spent the extra money making that clasp a little easier to open.The Seiko SKX007 features a hardlex crystal, black Matt dial with orange printed text letting you know it’s 200 meters water resistant, it also features large lume plot indices, a day date complication, a 120 click unidirectional rotating aluminum bezel and a screw down crown located at the 4’oclock. The crown is super easy to operate and it screws in and out very smoothly, this helps with the water resistance and helping this watch maintain the ISO certification. This watch does feature the non hacking non winding 7S26 movement. I have it on an after market uncle Seiko president style bracelet, the original jubilee bracelet is very comfortable, but it is super flimsy and the folded end links quickly lose their shape and start scratching the watch. This happens of course if you’re constantly changing straps. Upon closer inspection you can see that the edges of the Pagani hands are not smooth, but the printing on the dial is very clear, and the indices well executed. The SKX is flawless and looks super clean and detailed as compared to the Pagani.I have a 6 7/8 “wrist that’s 17.46 centimeters. The Pagani measures in at 42mm, 50mm lug to lug, 11.7mm thick, 20mm lugs and weighs in at 160 grams.The SKX measures in at 42.5mm, 46mm lug to lug, 13.25mm, 22mm lugs and weighs in at 135 grams with the jubilee bracelet.
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14 май 2020
