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Hi guys,
Here is my review of the (Sea) Dragon King - I see from the original mock ups that it was called the Sea Dragon King when the Chinese characters were still written on the caseback. (The sea dragon king being a famous legendary character in Chinese mythology).
I think I was one of the first to place an order and got number 18. 18/8 being my birthday - this watch was a present to myself. Having gotten the watch it gave me the idea that I shouldn't just keep it chained to the desk but to actually use it for its purported purpose. So, I took some annual leave from the office and signed up to a scuba diving course.
So here is a wrist shot (slightly unconventional):
and a close up beside tools of the trade:
and finally one in the water:
So what are my impressions of it?
1. As a watch for day to day wearing:
The watch runs very well - accuracy is within +4 seconds a day and similar to what I got from my ST25 m171s from Seagull too. And in fact it is preferable to the -5 seconds a day I get from my Omega Speedmaster Professional.
The bracelet is a high quality one and blows away the cheap 20 dollar ones you'd find on ebay. When compared to my 4000 euro watch it holds its own very well but the edges are slightly sharper and can more easily cut into the skin (especially when diving and the wrist expands). Overall it's a substantial bracelet that is quite unique in design and I like it.
The dial is nice and clear - though the second hand's tail can sometimes be confused with the hour hand at first glance - and especially when the hour hand can itself be hidden underneath the minute hand (they are similar in shape). The blue and orange numbers on the outside of the dial can be hard to see, the orange is very visible, but the blue can disappear into the black dial unless the light is shining directly onto the dial. I might have suggested that they use a colour that had more contrast than the blue/black combo.
The caseback looks fantastic and it's great to see a deeper etching than usual.
The lume is ok - I know that Kevin said that he preferred the white colour of the lume compared to green and it certainly is a nice black/white contrast in daylight. When compared to my Omega it loses (and the Omega doesn't have great lume either). Both the Seagull and Omega are comprehensively beaten by my Citizen NY2300 dive watch in terms of lume. But read below for how this affects its diving capabilities. I will note that I've rarely had a problem seeing what time it was when I've gone to bed and woken in the early hours. Once your eyes adjust the lume is still visible hours on.
Overall - it's a very nice watch and I'm very glad I bought it, not only is it Seagull's first proper dive watch it also prompted me to learn a new skill. So a fantastic birthday present for myself!
2. Watch as a dive watch:
To avoid repeating myself I'll just mention how certain aspects of this watch affect its diving potential.
First of all, this dive watch performed as specified when diving. I was at a depth of 17 metres for around 30 minutes and there was no problem in terms of water resistance. So no worries for those who may have been concerned about taking it into a shower or swimming pool.
Second, remember how I said lume isn't fantastic? Well, as far as open water diving goes - the black/white hands allow you to clearly tell the time when diving in relatively clear water. There simply wasn't a need for the lume at the depths I was diving to. Of course I was diving in daylight though. And in reality all divers use a dive computer nowadays. The dive watch can be a nice analogue back up though.
The micro-adjust probably could have a few more notches - since putting it over a wetsuit would be nigh on impossible with just one extra hole. My Citizen uses a rubber strap and I know Omega uses the diver extension on its bracelets. It may be an extra cost for Seagull to add that to their bracelets but it would make for a lot more useful "tool" watch if they added some kind of diver friendly bracelet feature.
So as a diving watch - this sea dragon passed with generally flying colours.
In conclusion - I feel like this is a great watch to wear as a daily beater/office/casual/desk diver, and it will also step up to the plate if called upon as an actual tool watch. In fact, my instructor commented on my watch stating that he liked how it looked as a piece of diving equipment.
Hope this review helps!
Kind regards,
Seagullfan.
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Originally Posted by Pawl_Buster
