AlbertaTime
16
Graham, the ST7 is certainly one to look for...
...but they're somewhat difficult to find.
Quite a bit easier to find on the usual major online auction sites are the ST5 models (The most desirable mechanicals have a nicely hand decorated movement as shown below).
I own 3 watches with ST5 19 jewel mechanical movements, plus one variant with a 29 jewel automatic movement, and all run within 4 seconds a day (although, in fairness, regulating might be required for any vintage piece to do that--although mine do, exactly as I received them). Two of the four run within one second...which still amazes me.
ST5s generally aren't very expensive--probably because they're a bit "under the radar"--but they are very, very dependable timepieces and well worth the hunt.
and this dial
The 29 jewel auto variant:
My best advice on these is to only buy from vendors that provide movement shots.
More posts:
Tianjin Sea-Gull ST7 automatic (1970s--quite rare)
An EMS package arrived yesterday morning from a newer Taobao contact and I am now the very proud owner of a quite rare Tianjin Sea-Gull 28 jewel day/date auto ST7 from roughly 1975 or so, and obviously strongly influenced in appearance by the ever (and ju...
What can it tell us?
Such a rough and undecorated movement runs with such accuracy. Regards Ling
It might tell us...
...that good basic engineering and design coupled with appropriate part specific finishing (gears, jewels, springs) is more important to accuracy than overall fancy finishing. There's nothing rough about the gears or the micrometer, for example, in the ST...
Not to forget their Tourbillon
Man, I was tempted to buy seagull tourbillon (Model ST8007SA) when I was in china. Their tourbillon are awesome although the west criticized that their finishing is bad but I guess they are just trying to find fault and trying too hard to justify their ri...
Another gem, thanks! especially for your
comments on the Chinese design and production of mid-grade movements.
Thanks for sharing!
It is very interesting to learn more about Chinese timepieces. Do you also collect modern Sea-Gull watches? If so, it would be educational to see a comparison between a vintage model and its modern iteration. Enjoy your new acquisition! Cheers, Daos
Thanks Daos...
I have a newer model on the way--the Sea-Gull M185SP, which is a classic three hander with hanzi day and numeric date, containing the ST16 movement, which movement is evidently the ebauche for the Claro-Semag 888, and I also own the re-issue of the 1963 C...
It is only a matter of Time...
Hi Alberta, Yesterday I got home from another month in China... that makes almost 4 months this year and any spare moment was spent trawling the suburban watch shops looking at secondhand watches and new Chinese watches. There are plenty of traditional cl...
Well said Jack, eventually!
As the technical fundamental is already correct, China just needs to decorate the movements. Not forgetting China has the human capacity & capabilities in all the crafts. The main hurdle is the perception issue. Just one day! Kong
great info. as a lover of the unusual this is my kind of thing
i have a sea-gull 1963 military chrono re issue which runs very well. i've looked at lots of 70's sea-gulls on the web, but dont really know the best ones so havent bought any. this looks like a gem to look out for. thanks again Graham
Graham, the ST7 is certainly one to look for...
...but they're somewhat difficult to find. Quite a bit easier to find on the usual major online auction sites are the ST5 models (The most desirable mechanicals have a nicely hand decorated movement as shown below). I own 3 watches with ST5 19 jewel mecha...
more sea-gulls
Hi Guys, First post on watchprosite. I also have the 3 Sea-Gulls that AlbertaTime posted. Here is one of my favorites. A modern Sea-Gull M177s with ST16 movement. And here is a special Sea-Gull given out to the Antarctica explorers for the inaugural 1984 ...
forgot about this one....
got to photograph this one .. not mine. Sea-Gull ST8007SA tourbillon. cheers, gigfy...
excellent info thanks Gigfy. i'm...
excellent info thanks Gigfy. i'm personally very interested in the shanghai watch companies modern pieces which are superb quality. there have been some posts in the past and they are very hard to purchase. cash on the nail at the factory rather than cred...
Shanghai & Beijing ....
Yes, some of the modern Shanghai watches are very nice. I have a watch with Shanghai automatic chronograph movement that I like very much. But I've not had much luck with some of their modern "affordable" watches labeled as SWI (Shanghai Watch Industry). ...
