Many of you probably seen this watch going around the watch reviewers and they all have been sponsored by the Gearbest.com which basically is like Amazon for Chinese stuff, ranging from clothes, electronics to watches, jewellery and other things. Thanks to JustOneMoreWatch I got in contact with the Gearbest.com, go check him out on Youtube, he is a funny bloke from Australia with short and interesting watch review videos. So I contacted them and they let me choose a couple of watches that I would like to review. As I’m a fan of Nomos watches and in general Bauhaus design I chose the Guanqin Power Reserve which is a homage to Nomos Lambda. Previously I had the Rodina Bauhaus watch which was a homage to another Nomos called Tangente and I really started to like Bauhaus style watches. Let’s dive into the review.

The packaging that came with the watch was everything I expected. Strangle, tasteless cardboard box with gold writing, usually with all these Chinese brands except Sea-Gull you get a very weird packaging designs, I have had many quirky packaging with watches that you can’t even imagine, haha. Anycase, inside you actually get a lot of things: the watch, warranty card, cleaning cloth, instructions and strap removing tool. The watch itself is imposing, and its weight heavy. Her very elegant look is successful, and, in hands, she clearly inspires confidence. The first impressions were great, especially taking the price in consideration 90€ (as I write it is 60€). And that is very cheap for an automatic watch with power reserve complication.

The case is made from 316L stainless steel. This watch has a rather simple circular case, shaped like a pebble with very soft shapes. The case has a polished finishing, the finishing is done quite good actually. The dial opening is quite big and the bezel is very thin so it gives it an illusion that the watch is smaller than it actually is. The diameter of 42mm is rather big for a Bauhaus dress watch, in my opinion, also the 12mm thickness isn’t helping with that. The weight of 114 grams does not make it an example of lightness. The push/pull crown is positioned at 3 o’clock and super easy to operate with, the time setting and winding the movement is super easy. The back of the case shows the automatic movement, and I’m glad they chose the see-through case back because the movement is stunning for such price. On the case back of the watch, around the glass, a ring that incorporates the usual information: waterproofness, brand etc. but it looks rather cheap as the font they used looks quite bad and is too big.

This watch uses a dial that we have already seen in the German Nomos, for their model called Lambda. And it’s not a bad thing since this dial is really beautiful and easy to read.  It is very large, it covers a large area of ​​the watch, and is very bright. Its white background does not reflect the light and is super easy to make those Instagram snapshots you all like. The small round dots arranged all around the dial and which allow a precise reading of the hour are cleverly placed: neither too close to the edge nor too far. To be clear, their distance from the outer edge of the dial can further increase this impression of size. This is a relatively common practice in the world of design. The textual references (the brand and the “model”) are written at 9am and 3am. Their writing is not very fine, but it’s only obvious if you look very closely. The centre thing about this watch is the power reserve. This is a rare watch complication to find, especially at such affordable price like this watch costs. This power reserve display is at 12 o’clock and takes the form of a cut circle on the bottom. The measurement goes from 0 to 35, but the needle can go a little further, to a “40” ghost. 40, as 40 hours of power reserve. The indication is rather precise as I tested it right beside chronometer and reading very easy. Just below, at 6 o’clock, is a sub-dial to indicate seconds. The small second subdial is also discreet and incorporates in its circle, round date window hole. If I had only one remark to make on this dial, it would be for the hands of the hour and minutes. They are pretty, their metallic blue paint is nice, but the difference in size between the two is not enough pronounced. I have never “misread” the time on this watch, but it is true that a smaller hour hand of 3 or 4 millimetres would have been more suitable.

The movement that can be found in this watch is unknown, at least for me. What I learned from forums, it is very similar to Sea-Gull ST2542, but it hasn’t got a date, but it more looks like Hangzhou PTS movement, either 2b00 or 2ba0. It has 22 jewels, 35hours power reserve, it has an automatic winding and also manual winding. It also has hacking seconds what many watch people are wanting to have in their watches. The movement isn’t the best when it comes to precision, but I wasn’t expecting COSC timing on this one. It ticks with -20 to -25 seconds a day, which is ok-ish. The Milanese bracelet that came with the watch wasn’t the best one, it looks good, but it pulls hair like crazy, so I suggest you change it to a nice leather strap or maybe some canvas strap to spice things up.

Overall I like the watch for the price it costs. Guanqin is a 100% Chinese brand, let’s be honest, but I’m not afraid to tell people that this or most of my watches are made in China, because China manufactures one of the best watches right now for a price of Seiko SKX you can get a watch that has functions of a watch that costs 1000$ easy. So save up to buy the Nomos, or opt for its “imitation”, the Chinese watch Guanqin. It’s up to you!

Price: 60€ (90€) @ gearbest.com