San Martin SN0116 Watch Review (B & GMT Style) | Better Than Swiss Made?
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“Swiss Made” evokes images of highly skilled craftspeople, hunched over workbenches in white lab coats and loupes, hand polishing microscopic components. Whilst this is still not far from reality, the physical locations of most of those craftspeople may surprise many. Legally, a watch can only be stamped with the hallowed words “Swiss Made” if 60% of its production cost sits in Switzerland. Note, this is COST, not time or effort. Considering that Swiss salaries are notoriously generous – the Swiss average wage is 15 times greater than the Chinese average salary – if you’re smart with your production costs; 90% of the watchmaking effort can be completed in China, with just 10% of the paid effort completed on Swiss soil and still you can proudly print your “Swiss Made” label at the bottom of the dial. [This may be an extreme case, and the actual salaries of watchmakers may vary, but the principle remains.]
Consumers are rarely aware of this fact, and since the quality of “Swiss Made” watches is usually fantastic, the illusion that these beautiful cases and dials were made in the shadows of a Swiss Vallée remains intact. What San Martin founders realised is that if watches from Far-Eastern Switzerland can be produced at such high quality (in China) why not just cut out the Swiss cost and complete 100% of the production in Asia? Sell the products at vastly reduced retail prices in much greater quantities.
San Martin Brand
In 2016 San Martin was launched and a couple of years later they began producing watches in Guangdong from the ground up. Specializing in sports and dive watches, they are best known for their heavy focus on creating homages of iconic Swiss designs. They use a variety of movements ranging from Seagull chronographs to Seiko and ironically, even ‘Swiss’ Sellita SW200 movements.
Their catalog is like a who’s who of famous watch designs, or, perhaps it would be better described as a who’s who of look-alikes of famous watch designs. For those who might not be able or willing to stretch to 4 or 5 figures for a wristwatch, San Martin can get you 90% of the way there for 10% of the cost.
As an appreciator of watch design and innovation, I find it a shame that the talented designers at manufacturers like San Martin, spend their time and skills on reverse engineering authentic creations to deliver homage pieces. I would much rather see those skills and effort invested in developing something new and original. So I was pleasantly surprised when these two offerings from San Martin arrived for review.
San Martin SN0116-B & SN0116 GMT Watch Review
San Martin’s “Original Designs” line veers away from their usual homage game and delivers something fresh. There are still hints of familiar influence here; perhaps in color palette, bezel or case shape, but it’s clear that San Martin Originals are a step away from the blatant homagery, and hopefully a step towards developing new and authentic watch designs – contributing new characters to the who’s who list, rather than imitating them.
The two pieces for review today are the SN0116-B; a colorful 3-handed sports watch on a Beads of Rice bracelet. And the SN0116-G; a handsome office GMT in black and brown with gilt details – a “Rootbeer” color scheme, if you will (I did warn you there were still some influences in effect!).
Looking at the similarities first:
Both share the same case and beads of rice bracelet with vintage vibes and proportions. Both house Seiko movements. The SN0116-G uses the Seiko NH34A caller GMT movement, with an independently adjustable red GMT hand. Whilst the SN0116-B (“B” as we’ll refer to it) uses the Seiko NH35A. The NH34A is based on the NH35A and looks almost identical from the reverse. However, the NH34A is adapted to track a second timezone on a 4th hand.
Both share similar dial layouts with pencil-shaped hour and minute hands, slim applied stick indices with polished surrounds, and date windows are at the popular and symmetrical 6 o’clock mark. Dial text is kept to a minimum.
Dimensions
The cases are 316L stainless steel with well-balanced dimensions; a modest diameter of 39.5mm, and wearable lug-to-lug of 46.5mm. Cases are finely brushed with polished bevels flanking the top of the lugs and case for punctuation – a welcome detail adding a little class to the otherwise matte-looking case.
The lugs are straight and taper well, angling down from the bezel, making the watches very comfortable to wear on my 6.5” wrist. The drilled lug holes compliment the retro vibe of the watch and make changes from bracelet to strap a cinch with a pusher tool, or even a paper-clip at a stretch.
Case Construction
The finishing at the lug ends is not particularly pretty – whilst they have been brushed, the corners are a bit rounded and the bevel is just cut short. I think they could have thought about this facet a bit more. The reverse of the case is a basic, solid screw down case-back with no text or decoration. Most companies add some form of decoration here, but unless it has a display window, I find most solid case-back decorations unnecessary, and in some cases, cheapen the experience. A plain case-back undoubtedly saves a few bucks in production costs and if it's good enough for Rolex, it’s good enough for me and San Martin.
A slightly oversized crown is signed with the hexagonal San Martin logo etching, the knurling is grippy and easy to use. Handwinding is possible and since these are Seiko movements everything functions as you’d expect, with well-sprung and clearly defined crown positions. There are no crown-guards nodding to the vintage-inspired design cues. These are both screw-down crowns which I wasn’t expecting from such affordably priced watches, and likely contributes to the healthy water resistance of both models.
Water Resistance
It is curious that the GMT has 100m but the “B” has 200m. I noted on the website, even San Martin mixed up the water resistance rating – stating the 3-hander has 100m in the title, but 200m in the dimensions data. I wonder if perhaps a slightly different crystal for the GMT truly compromises the water resistance, or if these figures might be arbitrary.. Unless you’re saturation diving in your gilt rootbeer GMT, you’re unlikely to find out. But I do know that San Martin pressure test a portion of their watches in batches, so I hope there is some form of science behind these claims.
Bracelets
The bracelets are very good. Tapering from 20-16mm, the beads of rice design is very popular at the moment and well implemented here. The deployant clasp operates by pushing two buttons on either side of the clasp, revealing solid metal components which are milled rather than stamped metal.
The clasp is well-engineered, safe, and secure. Generally, BoR bracelets can feel a bit jangly and slack, but San Martin have done an excellent job of machining these bracelet parts with good tolerances, and solid end links too. The end result is a bracelet that feels high quality in hand and on the wrist.
The clasps offer on-the-fly adjustment, with a small ‘push’ button recessed in the body of the clasp, allowing one to extend or shorten the bracelet by around 10mm. The bracelet has good articulation and a reassuring heft, balancing the watch-head well. These are available to purchase separately, either as a complete bracelet, or even just the clasp itself.
Specifications
|
Model: |
SN0116-B |
|
Case Diameter: |
39.5mm |
|
Lug to Lug: |
46.5mm |
|
Thickness: |
12.1mm (incl. crystal) |
|
Lug width: |
20 mm |
|
Crystal: |
Sapphire Crystal with AR Coating |
|
Water Resistance: |
20Bar=200 meters |
|
Accuracy: |
Advertised: +40/-20. Tested: +4 seconds per day |
|
RRP: |
$380 (Sale: $230) |
|
Model: |
SN0116-G (GMT) |
|
Case Diameter: |
39.5mm |
|
Lug to Lug: |
46.5mm |
|
Thickness: |
12.5mm (incl. crystal) |
|
Lug width: |
20 mm |
|
Crystal: |
Sapphire Crystal with AR Coating |
|
Water Resistance: |
10Bar=100 meters |
|
Accuracy: |
Advertised: +40/-20. Tested: +5 seconds per day |
|
RRP: |
$439 (Sale:$260) |
Differences:
At first glance, the most obvious feature that separates these two models are the color schemes. The bright yellow dial of the 3-hander has a very fine, grained texture, creating a pleasant pearlescent effect as the light falls on it. The lime green chapter ring is almost fluorescent, and the darker emerald green bezel completes the look nicely. I’m getting Key Lime Pie vibes from this one – almost like a Studio Underd0g. It’s a cheerful and fun pop of color on your wrist – an ideal summer watch.
When the sun goes down, the chapter ring glows green, whilst the bezel markers join in on the action and the hands and hour markers round out the show in blue. The different colored lume and highly visible chapter ring make this watch almost as good-looking in the dark as it is in the daylight. There are two other versions available in purple and orange.
The GMT model has much more subdued tones in brown and black, with gold-colored accents on the hardware and bezel numerals. It exudes a more sophisticated air. I don’t often like gilt accents on watches, especially if I know they’re not actually gold. But San Martin have been relatively subtle with the hour markers and hand proportions, so I think the colors work well together.
The white-on-black date-wheel at 6 is small and subtle. Lume is also more subdued on the GMT. Without the glow-in-the-dark chapter ring and bezel, you’re left with a cleaner set of finely proportioned hands and hour markers visible in blue luminescence in low light.
Whilst both have the same hour and minute hands, the seconds hands are slightly different – with the GMT having a very basic, straight and unlumed shaft with small arrow-like counterweight. Whilst the “B” has a lumed portion enabling you to see the second hand in the dark. I think this makes sense for their individual designs and use cases. GMTs can feel a little complicated, especially at night if all four hands are lumed, so pairing back the luminescence makes sense. Whereas a more simple 3 handed sports watch certainly benefits from having a lumed seconds hand tracking around the dial.
Colorway
The only complaint I might have about the colorways is that the bright red hand on the GMT model feels a little incongruous. The bright red is very visible and detracts from an otherwise very grown-up aesthetic of earthy tones.
They have tied red accents into other aspects of the design, with the red ‘GMT’ text on the dial and a section of red on the tip of the seconds hand. But I would have preferred a different approach – a more muted tone to compliment the rest of the visuals would have gone down better in my eyes. I should say that many watch designs from the 60s (roughly the era these pieces seem to be channeling), often did have red seconds hands. So perhaps this isn’t quite as out of keeping as it might first appear. I’ll leave you to be the judge of that.
Bezels
The bezels of the two models share the same coin edging for grip, but the operation of each feels very different. The “B” bezel is a very positive, uni-directional, 120-click dive-style bezel with very minimal slack. The domed profile is very reminiscent of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms.
The aluminum bi-directional GMT bezel operation is more unusual; with just 24 clicks, there are large smooth sections between locking positions. Whilst you can certainly feel the locating pins fall into place, the bezel feels much smoother and the ‘clicks’ are more tactile than they are audible. It’s not unpleasant, but comparing the two back-to-back highlights the stark contrast between 120 and 24 position bezels.
Cases
The final difference I’d like to share is in the case thickness, or to be more specific, watch thickness. Since the main cases are identical, one might assume they have the same overall height, but that is incorrect. The SN0116-B has a total height of 12.1mm vs. 12.5mm for the GMT.
Comparing the side profiles of each watch head, it’s clear that the GMT has a more pronounced crystal dome protruding above the bezel. The NH34 has to accommodate an extra hand on the dial adding height. As a result, San Martin have fitted a slightly different crystal to accommodate this increase in height. It’s not particularly noticeable, both feel relatively slim and unless you had the two versions together, you’d be hard-pressed to spot this difference.
What I liked:
The fit and finish is generally very good on both models. From movement, to crown, to bezels, bracelet and clasp, everything feels well made. Often with beads of rice bracelets from lower-budget brands, the multiple joints can lead to the bracelets feeling flimsy and jangly, but these examples really didn’t, I was pleasantly surprised.
Color-matched date wheels – even on the unusual yellow dial. Top marks, San Martin!
I am always impressed by how well the Chinese know their consumers, and the modern sizing of these watches is very current, refreshing and mature.
During testing, both watches performed excellently in terms of accuracy. Over a 48h period the “B” gained +4 seconds per day and the GMT gained +5. Far more accurate than the basic specifications of the movements suggest. I believe this is due to the SM team regulating the watches in different orientations during assembly - something I’m not convinced every brand does.
What I didn’t like:
The ends of the lugs are quite poorly finished compared with the rest of the case construction. This is surprising given all the other details San Martin have nailed on this one.
The lug profile and bracelet end-link profiles are completely different. When viewed from above, there’s a small overhang of end-link beyond the lugs, but when viewed from an angle, the lugs have quite an abrupt vertical face, whereas the end-link curves away beneath itself. The result is a slight incongruity. It’s a minor gripe, the bracelet does still feel like it belongs to the watch, but it’s a detail more expensive brands have solved. I would guess that given the bracelets are now available to purchase separately from San Martin, they chose to develop a solution which would suit many different lug shapes, rather than a bespoke solution for this case design.
There are a couple of small blemishes on the yellow dialed model – they might be difficult to see in the photos but the most obvious one is around the 41 minute mark, almost exactly halfway between the minutes track and the centre of the dial. It’s a minor blemish, but it’s something the SM quality control team should have picked up. Ben certainly did during his unboxing clip. Apparently, they visually inspect 20% of all watches produced for QC purposes. This might have been one of the 80% which went unchecked. On the plus side, there seems to be a decent returns policy.
Crowns wind as you screw them down – common for this price point of movement and something which is engineered out in more expensive calibers.
The Red GMT hand on the brown, black and gilt watch was perhaps a step too far on the retro revival scale for me. I tolerate it on vintage pieces but I would prefer something more creative on modern designs. This is very subjective though, many will love the pop of color.
Alternatives
For the 3-Hander; Seiko and Orient immediately jump out as direct competitors in this more affordable sphere of colorful sports watches on a bracelet.
Seiko’s SRPK33K1 ‘midi’ is a good alternative, ticking the size and color boxes nicely with a Teal dial and a 38mm case diameter. It houses the 4R36 movement which is similar to the NH35 but offers a day/date complication.
Orient don’t offer anything below 40mm (likely a point San Martin are trying to capitalize on here). But at 40mm the Orient Mako is a reasonable alternative, with more conservative colors but a slightly more accurate movement (F6722).
As a slightly off-the-beaten-track suggestion; Spinnaker offers the Spence model - a 40mm dive watch with some interesting color combinations. It comes with 300m water resistance. Based on recent experience, I have been more impressed with SM’s quality and design than Spinnaker.
In general I would say that San Martin have really nailed the overall construction on the SN0116, putting it above Seiko, Spinnaker and Orient in terms of quality and tolerances at this price point. Evidenced especially on the bracelet. I would also point out with current sales reductions from RRP by San Martin, the SM Original Designs are very good value for money.
Finding alternative GMTs for less than $450 was quite a challenge. At the time of writing, the San Martin SN0116-G is offered at a sale price of $260. I could barely find a Timex Quartz GMT for this price.
Seiko SSK005K1 is Seikos budget GMT, but still comes in around $100 more than the San Martin at full price.
Spinnaker’s Croft model is a 39mm GMT with some fun colorways and the same NH34 movement as the SN0116-G, but again, is considerably more expensive than the San Martin.
Lorier are a microbrand with a great reputation and offer a relatively affordable GMT model. But the SN0116-G is still far stronger value for money.
I guess this really does cement San Martin as an excellent value-for-money proposition - for GMT watches in particular.
Final Thoughts
The SN0116-B is an enjoyable, eminently wearable sports watch with dive capability and cheerful colors. It begs to be taken on a beach holiday. Given the relatively slender hour markers and the unusual color, I don’t think there’s enough contrast between dial and hour markers to really use this for serious scuba diving. But for the purposes of cannonballs into the hotel pool, or a dip in the ocean, this watch will have your back.
The SN0116-G is incredible value for money, with very few competitors coming anywhere close at this price. The Rootbeer colors suit the vintage bracelet and classic sizing extremely well. I’ve even come to accept the faux-gilt accents. This is a classy-looking watch, punching well above its weight.
Looking at them side by side, I’m not sure I could choose between the two.. in fact, they actually make a very compelling two-watch collection. If purchased at their current sale prices, with the money saved from RRP, you could probably grab a low-cost flight somewhere sunny and warm to enjoy them.
Whilst we have seen some QC issues, they are minor. Timekeeping has been excellent and for the price, the San Martin SN0116 in both 3 and 4 handed guise offers fantastic value for money. Case quality is good, bracelets are excellent. Time and effort has been spent on the designs and the resulting packages are impressive. They feel like watches worth twice the price. Add in the fact that you get a 7-day international return policy, covered by San Martin, and there’s really not a lot to lose here.
When you consider that many “Swiss Made” watches can, and do, contain a significant amount of Chinese manufactured components and watchmaker’s time, buying a Chinese watch no longer means you’re necessarily buying disposable trash. In a way, through their cost cutting and outsourcing, the Swiss giants have exposed the levels of quality Chinese watchmakers can deliver.
Whilst I’m under no illusion that the SN0116 is anywhere close to the levels of quality and finishing as, for example, an Omega, I think San Martin offer far better tangible value for money than most proudly Swiss watch brands. Of course, the case finishing is not on par with an Omega. And no, it’s never going to be an officially certified superlative chronometer. But a $260 automatic GMT with +/- 5s accuracy on a good bracelet is an absolute bargain. And unlike ‘Swiss Made’ watches, you can be 100% certain of where this watch was made!