The Shanghai military reissue has arrived!...

[Chascomm]

For those who missed the back-story on how I got this watch, see this thread:
Karma: Free Shanghai Military 22J to WUS member

Thanks Dave and huge thanks to Alf and Alf's daughter

And now here it is:



You will notice that it is no longer on the steel bracelet. It's a an excellent bracelet but it's way too big. Also the pins are too stiff for me to shift so I might get it resized next week. Or maybe not. The Poljot Aviator strap that I put on it looks and feels good so I might just leave it that way and have something a little different from everybody else. ...Unless you all decide to copy me

I seriously adore this watch. No doubt about it. This was a classic design just crying out for a remake and the good people at Shanghai have done it right. Don't you just love it when the big corporations listen to the fanboys?

The watch has been on my wrist all weekend and is keeping excellent time.

The dial is amazingly legible in all lighting conditions, apart from the date. The very elegant pie-pan dial unfortunately puts the date at the bottom of a deep hole, and the cyclops lens doesn't help much. The DG28 is I guess a different shape to the original SS2 and SS4 movements. Not that I'm too worried as a flat dial just would not look right.

The lume lights up well after exposure to sunlight, but responds much less well to artificial light. The difference is surprising. Initial intensity is OK, but less than some cheap lumes out there. But the big happy surprise is that it stays lit all night! Yes, that's right, this is possibly the first Chinese photoluminescent dial with all-night capability. I'm delighted.

Other things to love about this watch: Classic old-school Chinese all-steel case design, but with rotating bezel and screw-down crown. That's a very rare combo. The friction bezel is a count-down type which is a first for me. It's easy to read and thin enough that you get a nice big dial on a relatively compact watch.

Here's the Shanghai with some other watches of various military pedigree:

The HMT Pilot is a loose homage to the watches that HMT built for the Indian air force. The Vostok Antimagnetic is a Soviet-era 200m mil-spec diver originally sold only in military shops. The Sunboro China Army Day piece is from the original year 2000 issue made available for sale to military personnel. Points of comparison: the HMT and Vostok both have pie-pan dials like the Shanghai. The Sunboro has the usual ratchet, count-up bezel, while the Vostok has a friction bezel that you can count any way that suits you.

Here's the Shanghai with it's People's Liberation Army brother:

Both are powered by a Dixmont-Guangzhou DG28 movement. The quality of DGs can vary but both mine are highly accurate, auto-wind smoothly with just a trace of noise (louder in the Shanghai), hack crisply, have no second hand stutter, and both quick-set the date smoothly.

Whereas the China Army Day watch has a commemorative inscription on the back, the Shanghai is so shiny you could comb your hair in it:


Some people have called the Shanghai a 'diver' but I'm not sure that was the original intent. Possibly it is simply made as a tough tool watch. Here's a comparison of the side views of the Shanghai and Vostok:

Notice that the crown is slightly bigger on the Vostok. Pretty much all of that diameter is used for improving the seal, whereas on the Shanghai, the crown is relatively large for the tube that it screws down on. I'm not sure what the original 1960s design was like, but in this reissue, the advantage of the bigger crown is more for ease of use while wearing gloves rather than fitting a big seal. While we're looking at the side, notice the shape of the case and compare it to any vintage Shanghai, Zhongshan, Sea-Gull, etc. Pure classic. And very comfortable to wear.

One more really nice thing about this watch is the domed glass:

While I wouldn't trust it as far as the massive, legendary Vostok acrylic crystal, it certainly does look a treat.

That's the thing about this watch. Everything looks just right. If you look close enough, you will spot evidence of budgetary constraints on the design process (e.g. the lume being printed over the dial batons instead of filling them), but considering that this watch required so much custom work to bring to production, and notwithstanding that they probably subcontracted it (why else use an outsourced movement?), this is a very, very impressive piece of work at the price it is offered.

Did I mention that I love this watch?

[gigfy]

Congratulations! A fine write up and summation of all of the positives this watch has to offer.

cheers,
gigfy

[alfanator]

Glad you like it and there was no discernable damage as previously reported.

Wear it in good health and happiness!

[Stone Hill]

Man that is sharp! It looks so good next to the Vostok. Really classic lines and I like it very much. I think I will have to put one on my list.

[Seele]

Well done Chascomm, glad you are really enjoying it!

A small point: the watch with the red bezel is a police issue, marked "Chinese Police Watch". Come to think if it, it is rather redundant, where "Police" or "Police Issue" would do. Somehow I don't think their police officers would have "Chinese Police Truncheon" marked on their truncheons

[AlbertaTime]

BIG congrats, Chascomm; The Shanghai 22J military is, just as you note, a beautifully proportioned piece.

One neat thing not mentioned in your review, but fairly common on Shnghai watches--and smart--is that the cyclops is applied under the crystal, not just glopped on top like so many cyclops from other countries.

[Beau8]

Dig that red box sweep second hand and that crazy lume too~Congrats!

[Piloten]

Handsome devil, Chas.

Great catch

[sharkfin]

Congrats, glad it made the long journey safe and sound.
Looks great on the leather strap. Love that dial.

I had my watch maker fix and replace the springbar damage. So cosmetically A1.

As to the issues I had with the strange loud winding of movement, my ignorance of these chinese movements is obvious. As mentioned above, this is a normal occurance and perhaps random to certain degrees.

So all in all, enjoy that nice watch.
Glad all worked out, much thanks goes to Alf. Stand up guy.

Cheers, Dave.

[Chascomm]

Well done Chascomm, glad you are really enjoying it!

A small point: the watch with the red bezel is a police issue, marked "Chinese Police Watch". Come to think if it, it is rather redundant, where "Police" or "Police Issue" would do. Somehow I don't think their police officers would have "Chinese Police Truncheon" marked on their truncheons

It is for the People's Armed Police. Their Byzantine command structure is somehow intertwined with the PLA, at least with regards to certain duties like riot control, but for other tasks like combatting counterfeiting they are under the command of other national and provincial agencies. I don't understand it really.

The watch is not actually PAP-issue. It is a commemorative piece offered for sale exclusively for military personnel. A later series was offered to the general public. Since then the unlimited tourist pieces have become common on the auction sites.

[Chascomm]

BIG congrats, Chascomm; The Shanghai 22J military is, just as you note, a beautifully proportioned piece.

One neat thing not mentioned in your review, but fairly common on Shnghai watches--and smart--is that the cyclops is applied under the crystal, not just glopped on top like so many cyclops from other countries.

It's a very Sixties look, that underslung cyclops. Reminds me of the Peirpont that my dad wore when I was a kid.

Now that the blueprints are in place for all the custom parts of this watch, there is huge potential for other spin-off models. Consider how Sea-Gull leveraged the success of the 1963 to sell a whole lot of other ST19 chronos with related styling elements. With this Shanghai the potential is even bigger as the case shape is such a drawcard. Imagine a military-style GMT with 24 hour bezel and the Shaghai B GMT movement. Or a dress-diver with fixed patterened bezel and thin batons on that gorgeously curved dial. Or a stylistic blend of A611, 1120, 1524 and 7120, with a non-screw-down crown. In recent years Shanghai have done an excellent job of creating heritage homage pieces, and an excellent job of contemporarily styled pieces. It's time to put it all together and make their history really work for them.

[Chascomm]

Some follow up comments after another day of wear:

1. Lume

The lume lights up well after exposure to sunlight, but responds much less well to artificial light. The difference is surprising. Initial intensity is OK, but less than some cheap lumes out there. But the big happy surprise is that it stays lit all night! Yes, that's right, this is possibly the first Chinese photoluminescent dial with all-night capability. I'm delighted.

I unpacked the watch after sundown, and although I gave it good exposure to light through the evening, it was somewhat faint when I first turned off the light. However after a day's exposure to sunlight, it seemed to perform better the next night. Rather odd really. I've never seen lume hold and release luminescence so slowly. They're definitely not using the same formula as their competitors. Has anybody else seen this kind of performance on a new Chinese watch?

2. Screw-down crown

Notice that the crown is slightly bigger on the Vostok. Pretty much all of that diameter is used for improving the seal, whereas on the Shanghai, the crown is relatively large for the tube that it screws down on. I'm not sure what the original 1960s design was like, but in this reissue, the advantage of the bigger crown is more for ease of use while wearing gloves rather than fitting a big seal.

As has been noted, this particular example has a faint misalignment of the crown as if the stem is slightly bowed. It can only be seen from certain angles when the crown is unscrewed. I'm not sure of the reason as there is no evidence of cross-threading or other damage. It does not affect the operation of the watch, and my instinctive mistrust of all screw-down crowns means that I handle it with care anyway. The stem seems to have a tiny amount of free-play in the tube so I'm not sure what sealing method is used. I'm not about to disassemble it any time soon.

As for the feel of the screw-down? It does a half-turn before fully disengaging the winding action . To be honest, I've encountered far worse from several other Chinese watches and the worst I had was a Russian-made Poljot Aviator-1 Alarm . The spring loading on the Shanghai is nicely weighted; only just as strong as it needs to be, unlike say a TAG-Heuer (or that Poljot). In my book, nothing compares to the famous Vostok 'wobbly crown', but I will cheerfully settle for Rolex or Seiko. This Shanghai is not up to those standards but I would unhesitatingly take it in preference to any TAG-Heuer (I've tried several).

[gigfy]

Now that the blueprints are in place for all the custom parts of this watch, there is huge potential for other spin-off models. Consider how Sea-Gull leveraged the success of the 1963 to sell a whole lot of other ST19 chronos with related styling elements. With this Shanghai the potential is even bigger as the case shape is such a drawcard. Imagine a military-style GMT with 24 hour bezel and the Shaghai B GMT movement. Or a dress-diver with fixed patterened bezel and thin batons on that gorgeously curved dial. Or a stylistic blend of A611, 1120, 1524 and 7120, with a non-screw-down crown. In recent years Shanghai have done an excellent job of creating heritage homage pieces, and an excellent job of contemporarily styled pieces. It's time to put it all together and make their history really work for them.

Excellent points! They should be taking direction from you!

cheers,
gigfy

[alfanator]

I would love to see more watches based on this platform. The case, as pointed out, is very nicely sculpted. And the big crown is the cat's meow. Just hope they do not over bling it and use a metal bezel for future renditions.