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Affordable sun/moon review - Rodina with ST1652 auto movement

6K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Senkevich 
#1 ·
When it comes to value, Chinese mechanical watches are often an absurdly good proposition. My latest acquisition from China - a Rodina R010S2 sun/moon automatic - is perhaps the best value I've encountered yet.

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The Rodina has a hand-winding, hacking automatic Sea-Gull movement with day, date, month and sun/moon complications. It's housed in a high grade 316L stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal and a mineral display back. And it comes on a surprisingly nice solid stainless steel bracelet with solid end links - yes, solid end links. All that for an absurd $120.

But what attracted me most about this watch was the design. I'd been looking for a watch with either a moon phase or sun/moon complication, but many feature either Roman numerals, or Arabic numerals in an overly classical style. Neither of those are my thing. But the simple applied indices of the Rodina - right up my alley.

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Before we delve into the watch in detail, here's a bit of background. Rodina is best known for their Bauhaus-style watches, one of which I already own. But they also offer a wide range of other styles, like this sun/moon watch.

I emailed seagullwatchstore.com - the only seller of this particular model - for a bit more info. It turns out that, contrary to popular rumour on these forums, Rodina is a proper brand in its own right. It was founded five years ago by a former executive of Sea-Gull, the company that makes Rodina's movements. After their Bauhaus watch took off in popularity, a number of fake Rodinas have shown up. The folks over at seagullwatchstore.com are an authorised Rodina dealer, so you can be assured their watches are the real deal.

(Incidentally, the now 65-year-old Rodina founder is semi-retired but has joined seagullwatchstore.com as the technical director at the company's own brand, GT&FQ. That explains why their Rider-branded Bauhaus watches are reportedly of equivalent quality. It also marks an end to the Rodina brand - so watch out for fakes into the future.)

I'll start with the dial, which is what drew me to this watch. It has a beautiful silvery sunburst finish, with nicely applied indices on every hour, and printed minute markers in between. The day, date and month subdials all have concentric grooves, like the Rodina Bauhaus watch, which is a nice touch. And, of course, the sun/moon complication is nicely done. There's a beautiful printed border, and the sun/moon disc is nicely finished. Doesn't the sun look happy? It puts a smile on my face.



The hands work well with this style - they're of a narrow leaf type, which is nice and legible, without getting in the way of all the subdials.

The case is 40mm across, which is a good size for a dressy watch with complications. The finish is mostly mirror polished, but the curved lugs are brushed, which is a nice touch. As well as the crown, there are two pushers on the right for changing the month and date. The day of the week is set using a recessed pusher on the left of the case, as seen below, which can be operated with a toothpick or similar.



The case is nicely finished for a watch at this price-point. However, my two biggest criticisms of the watch stem from the case and pusher design.

Firstly, I find it too tall for a dress watch. At 12mm, it sits very high on the wrist, despite the curved lugs, which help it to hug the wrist. The height makes it difficult to slip under a shirtsleeve. I understand that's the price you pay for extra complications at this price-point, but I would have preferred a slimmer case. The tall, showy case might appeal to many people, though, so take it as a personal criticism.

Secondly, the date and month pushers can't be screwed down, which means they're easy to accidentally push. On a couple of occasions, I've accidentally changed the date. I like how they look, but perhaps recessed pushers would have been a better option. Or screw-down pushers, like those on the Orient Ray/Mako.



Onto the movement. The Sea-Gull ST1652 is solid and reliable. Hand-winding feels nice - easy and not too crunchy. The hacking works perfectly - there's no 'jump' of the stopped second hand when you push the crown back in. Power reserve is a good 36-40 hours and accuracy is within +/- 10 seconds a day, which is perfectly acceptable. There's little ornamentation, but it's an attractive enough movement to look at through the display back.

The bracelet is, somewhat surprisingly, one of the nicest features of this watch. A lot of affordable watches have bracelets that are pretty much rubbish, but the Rodina bracelet is high quality, solid stainless steel. The solid end links fit very, very snugly against the case. The finish of the bracelet is a nice mix of polished and brushed, which contrasts nicely with the mostly polished case.

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The bracelet links are easy to change - the pins pop out with just the right amount of resistance. The clasp is a good quality pusher type, which closes with a reassuring click. The bracelet has a lot of heft, but feels very comfortable and flexible on the wrist. It's not a hair-puller.

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On the wrist, the Rodina has a decent amount of weight to it, but it feels nicely balanced out by the solid bracelet - and it is by no means too heavy. It feels like a quality, substantial watch.

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The short curved lugs help the watch to sit nicely on smaller wrists, like my 6.5 inch wrist. The 40mm size would be perfect for most people.



It is, as I say, quite a tall watch, which gives it a lot of wrist presence. For a watch with such a restrained dial, the big polished case is quite showy. If that's your thing, you'll love this watch. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with how showy it is, however.

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This is my fourth watch from seagullwatchstore.com, and I continue to be impressed with their service. It arrived nicely packed in good time. They offer free shipping and, if you're in North America or Europe, shipping from warehouses in the US and Germany.

Overall, despite my reservations about the case and pushers, the Rodina is exceptional value. It's packed full of features, has a beautiful dial, and comes on a truly good bracelet for an affordable watch.
 
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#4 ·
Very nice review. Always nice to hear about the new models from Chinese watchmakers.

I own the Rodina bauhaus design and it has always struck me as a great value for the money. The only criticism I have for that, as you have for this, is it is a bit too tall for my liking.
Seems like most of the Chinese watchmakers like pieces which sit tall on the wrist, maybe because they look more imposing.
Thanks guys! A lot of modern Chinese watches do tend to sit quite high. The vintage ones are a lot smaller.
 
#3 ·
Very nice review. Always nice to hear about the new models from Chinese watchmakers.

I own the Rodina bauhaus design and it has always struck me as a great value for the money. The only criticism I have for that, as you have for this, is it is a bit too tall for my liking.
Seems like most of the Chinese watchmakers like pieces which sit tall on the wrist, maybe because they look more imposing.
 
#7 ·
Nice Review quite informative, looks great.
Wear that in good health
Regards
Robt
 
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#8 ·
Thanks for the nice review and the excellent pictures.

I am not familiar with the brand (or any of its sister brands) but this watch looks like an superb deal.

So if I understand correctly the Rodina brand is going to be replaced with the Rider brand? I'm looking at the website you refer to and the Rider Bauhaus style watches are quite attractive.
 
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