Seagull GMT M189S Review

On my very first blog post about watches, I wanted to dedicate it to the first Chinese watch that I ever bought in my life.

It was 2010, I was in Beijing having dinner with some friends. I heard the name "SeaGull" and "Chinese watches". What caught my attention was that they could make tourbillions!! Back in 2010, it was almost unheard of.
Prior to that, I never thought that Chinese watches could be any good. Living in HK and being in the finance industry, my very first boss (who introduced me to watches) collected A. Lange's. I had started and owned (amongst other things) IWCs, Bulgaris and Cartiers.

On a whim, after dinner, I walked into a Chinese Mall and found a Sea Gull watch shop. I didn't know that I was lucky, as actually Sea Gulls are not even that common in mainland China (more of that later).

I picked up the GMT M189S and was hooked- and thus began my love affair with seagull watches.

Today I will attempt to review this beauty, it's been 7 years and it still works perfectly.

The watch is encased in a 40mm case. It has a 40 hour power reserve and is water resistant to 5 ATM (50 meters). The leather strap comes with a folding buckle so it is securely fastened.
there are two time zones and a retrograde date that swings from 31st to 1st.

The design is very symmetrical. I'm told it looks like a smiley face.
Home time is shown on the left dial and overseas time is on the right dial.



The power reserve indicator is on the top and the date is on the bottom.
The power reserve indicator looks like a fuel gauge as it goes red if there is less than 10 hours left. This is most useful for a multi watch owner to know when to wind the watch again.

Both times can be controlled from a single dial. Turn downwards to adjust the home time and upwards to adjust overseas. Classic!

I use this watch a lot when I travel. It also helps the brand is still relatively unknown and I'm much more comfortable wearing this then say a JLC GMT on the streets at night at a European or an American city.

The second best part of this watch is that it truly is a beauty design wise- everything fits - size, function and aesthetic.



The best part is the price- it cost me $1.6k CNY ($240 USD at 2010 exchange rates). Amazing for a fully automatic watch with GMT, power reserve and date function!

Hence, for someone who wants an interesting watch, packed with functions and at a very good value, i highly recommend a Sea Gull.

I will be reviewing more Sea Gulls in other posts.

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