I've spoken previously about homage watches and how I personally don't have an issue with brands like, Sugess, Invicta, Steinhart and others when they take established designs and almost copy them and put their own logo and name on the watch. Indeed respected brands do this to: I own a Seiko Speedtimer that is so much like the Rolex Daytona that some have taken to calling it the Seitona; Casio have made no attempt to hide their inspiration by calling one of their more popular G-shock lines the Casioak, and this strategy isn't limited to Japanese, and Chinese brands, even large and respected Swiss brands are doing it with Tissot being the obvious one of these by taking inspiration from Gerald Genta's famous integrated bracelet line.

So I have no issue with homage watches in general so long as it's not an out and out copy with taking even the name of the brand, which in my opinion is simply a form of fraud and the money from the sale of these fakes does at times go towards less legal efforts. This particular watch takes it's cues (maybe a little too closely, more on that later) from the Glashütte Original SeaQ. In this post I'll be writing about the brand Seestern, the specifications of this watch, the positive and negative aspects of the watch and my thoughts on it.

Specifications

• Diameter 40mm

• Lug to lug 45mm

• Thickness 12mm

• Lug width 20mm

• Weight 150g

• Stainless steel dual tone case

• Unidirectional ceramic bezel

• 200m water resistance

• Screw down crown

• NH35A movement

Brand

Firstly I have to come clean and admit that as the Seestern Watch Co. is a part of Horomaster Group Co. it is not an independent brand. The parent company Horomaster Group Co. includes the brands: Sugess, SEA-KORS and GLAMOR MASTER as well as Seestern. The group and all of it's brands are based in China with offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. According to their website the brand was started up by a watchmaker called Coco, and they called themselves a microbrand, which I don't agree with as they are part of a larger group, but that's what they say, and the term microbrand is so disputed, you can check another post I have here which demonstrates my thoughts on the subject of the term microbrand, and I'm not going to say anymore than because of my understanding of the term, I don't think Seestern quite qualifies as a micro, especially as I feel a microbrand is by definition an independent (and I will be making a post that goes into this topic in more detail).

The brands in the Horomaster group are known for their homage pieces, the most well known one being Sugess who are known for their chronographs quite often copying, or homaging if you'd prefer, Zenith chronos, using movements purchased from another Chinese manufaturer Sea-gull, and are generally considered well made for the money, and substantially more affordable than the watches they look like, this watch cost me about €200 whereas the SeaQ sales for around €10 000.

Positive Points

Firstly and possibly most importantly for those considering this watch, it does from a distance look very similar to the watch it's attempting to appear as, and with it's similar size, 40mm to the SeaQ's 39.5mm, and the similar thickness at around 12mm the watch does stand up to a closer cursory glance. I'll be going into more detail on the movement later but the automatic NH35A movement is a good one at the price. While the watch does not use gold as in the SeaQ the materials that are used are a decent choice when considering the price, a stainless steel case and a ceramic bezel are a good choice with a watch at this price.

The watch uses applied indices a sign of quality for many watch enthusiasts, and the bracelet clasp, with it's toolless micro-adjust and stamped logo and name the clasp beats many of it's competitors at this price. And lastly the lume on both the dial and the bezel is of a very high standard. I didn't time how long the lume lasts, but the initial lume is very good indeed, as befitting a good dive watch, and unlike my Orient Kamasu, a diver that is otherwise my choice when it comes to affordable divers.

Negative Issues

A problem with any homage is the comparison it draws to the original, and in this case the original is a very attractive and well liked diver, and while this watch does make a fair attempt at aping the SeaQ it possibly goes too far without being able to consistently copy the quality of the original. Indeed the fact that it looks so much like the SeaQ highlights the fact that it does not stand up to the quality of the Glashütte Original watch. Both the Seiko Speedtimer and the Formex Essence get their cues from well loved watches, in the case of the Seiko the Rolex Dytona and in the case of the Formex the Omega Aqua Terra, but they simply take inspiration from these pieces, so the fact that the Speedtimer can't match the quality of the Daytona does not detract from it's positives, an while the Formex takes some cues from the AT it looks different enough so as to not draw too many comparisons, and in fact has some majour differences such as it's innovative flexible case design, which makes it's look i's own. This watch, however, looks almost exactly like the SeaQ from a distance and it feels cheap. Many would say that this should be expected as the watch sales at a very low rate, especially in comparison to the original. However, how hard would it be to do something different, possibly with the indices, case design and colouring and thereby make the design Seestern's own meaning that for those who know what Seestern is taking influence from do not constantly negatively compare it to the Glashütte.

The similarities though are so close that the differences are even starker and more shocking because of this. As I've said the watch feels very cheap, and tacky to the touch. Also on closer inspection the indices don't appear as they should with colour leaching out and misalignment that would not be as noticeable on simpler indices such as circular or rectangular ones without the gold outline.

Movement

As has already been mentioned this watch uses the automatic Seiko NH35A movement. A popular movement that has a respectable 41hrs of power reserve, 24 jewels and a beat rate of 21600bph. The movement allows for a date display and comes with the stated accuracy of -20~+40 seconds per day, which while not being incredibly accurate is reasonable for an automatic watch at this price. The movement is a common one and does not look incredibly spectacular meaning that I personally have no need to see it and appreciate the artwork on the caseback.

Conclusion

As I've previously said I do not have a problem with homage watches and indeed have some in my collection, however, I have also said in my post on homage watches that I don't like it when they become out and out copies as that comes a little too close to fraud for me, and this watch is getting a little too close to the line, and as I've said, as it comes so close to the line the faults already mentioned become even more glaring than might otherwise be the case. This meant that the watch was actually a large disappointment to me. As a dive watch enthusiast I'm a fan of the Glashütte Original SeaQ and I was looking forward to getting my hands on this, but the cheap feel of it along with the issues that came up under closer inspection mean that I can't recommend this watch and I got rid of it quite quickly.