Excellent review as usual John. I share your view of SM watches, very well finished but dull and uninspiring in the main. They also put little effort into other aspects of their watches, such as rarely using the correct no-date movements. Other brands, such as Proxima, Seestern and Baltany, do it better and at lower prices. On wrist you would be hard put to notice any real difference in the build quality. SM has a lot of good competition these days.
What I really love on SM watches is how consistent their brushing is. The reflections on the lugs match the reflection on the bracelet links. Just amazing.
Thanks for the thorough review as always. I think two years ago San Martin had carte blanche to put out whatever they wanted, and people bought them. But there’s just too much competition to put out watches with QC issues. It’s a stunning watch otherwise though. Thanks!
@@johnswatchjoint I’ve never seen a group of people get so worked up about something in my life. I think it’s because it’s something you wear so a watch feels so intimate and insulting someone’s watch is like insulting that person. “No Mate, I don’t think you’re stupid, just your taste in watches…” 🤣
Hahahaha....not even talked about the lash back from yesterday's upload of the Proxima short. My God it was something else. So many folk really entrenched on the "you can't homage that" theme. Pretty insulting stuff and the YT filter did a great job. The sin bin was pretty full!
I own two San Martin’s and they are both excellent watches. Strangely, I never wear them. Im really not sure why. I guess they just don’t have that bit of magic some of my other watches have. The watch I wear the most is a Guanqin black subby. It’s not a great watch and has many flaws…but I just love it…for whatever reason.
That's strange. Which 2 do you have? I have 3 SM watches and I wear them as much, if not more, than my other watches. I even bought my daughter their 37mm Tudor homage and she loves it - she wears it all the time. But yeah, sometimes you have a nice watch in your collection and it just doesn't click.
Good review 👍 . I think San Martin have turned a corner recently, I admired their build quality, but I'm not keen on homages and their own designs never quite hit the spot. However, this one impressed me and I liked the blue dial sn0116 so much I bought one, on mine the hand alignment was perfect.
Greetings from Rome John Another cracking video, your channel has fast become one of my favourites!!! Has a bit of a rubbish day yesterday, arrived in Rome to discover that our suitcase had become “misplaced” between Amsterdam and Rome. Said suitcase containing my brand spanking new Baltany discoverer quartz, which i’d had the chance to wear and enjoy for about two hours on the Wednesday night when we were out for tea in Aberdeen. Colour me extremely angry!!!! But, my san martin SN 0123 was on wrist, so at least I still have a watch that makes me smile every time I look at it, gutted none the less Thanks again for the cracking content John, fingers crossed for the suitcase
JOMW and yourself are now my favourite watch RUclipsrs. Dunno what it is about Me + Scottish fellas and watches, but either way, great stuff John, excellent work as always!
Awesome, I love GMT/2nd time zone watches ever since I had a Sicrua Globetrotter in the mid/late '70's. That dual function bezel is a cool feature, especially with the time zone. My Pagani Design PD1662 GMT hand lines perfectly with the 24 hour scale on the bezel and that's a far cheaper watch! Close but..........
I LOVE GMT and this one is amazing!. Unfortunately I'm really sick with my health right now and it doesn't look like it will be improving anytime soon so every penny I have right now is going to either the hospital, doctor or pharmacies. Sucks! Otherwise I'd be buying this one immediately! But... all well. Such is life! This was a great video as usual my friend! I'm so grateful that I can at least sit and look at new watches with you even if I can't get them! Thanks for that mate. Much love from across the pond!
Misaligned hands!! Is the SM halo slipping?? That's just sloppy QC. I'm still waiting for one of the Ali brands to use the Miyota "traveller" movement. Microbrands are jumping on this movement big time. The quality of finish is very good but all falls down if they don't affix hands properly. Function above all else surely? I agree the design is good. It's a good looker.
If you look through the comments you will see that is how I checked the alignment as I always do. Unfortunately I thought I had captured it on film but did not. At 00.00 the GMT and hour hand do not line up until seven minutes past zero hour.
Have to agree with all said , they've come close to a wallet extraction in the past but there's always something that i'm not keen on , this is a tidy looking piece & a well versed review also John but there's just other options i'd prefer for the coin but a solid option for a gmt/wt .
San Martin's QC seems to be slipping a bit lately. I'd personally rather fix the hand alignment myself than send the watch back, but I'm not even sure San Martin would offer an RMA as they seem to expect buyers to fix things like this. For example, when another reviewer had trouble with crown operation on his new SM watch, they sent him a new crown+stem (that he wasn't prepared to install himself). Overall this is a nice (if completely unremarkable) watch though, and a guy could do a lot worse.
Excellent review John! My GMT is slightly off too which also annoys me but I otherwise love the watch, I love the glossy black dial but do find the world timer writing a little small. Apart from that the watch is a keeper for me 😊
Nice to know you have one...and can confirm that misalignments ARE an issue at SM. It's gonna hurt them soon if they don't get it under control. The writing is small but I am old haha...wonder if they do flip over magnifiers....that could be a thing you know ;)
Fantastic review John, but then that's always the case with your reviews. I like San Martin. I don't mind the vanilla aspect when the trade is great overall quality, and if you buy them on sale, then also great value. I do believe SM better pay attention to the small quantity details otherwise they can slide down rather quickly from the hilltop they have been able to conquer. If they do get their QC 💯, and push some more original and flavorful designs, and don't go crazy with price, SM will be a dominating brand, and one that in the future can hold well against some of the big brands....
Hi Felo. I do agree with you there. SM never had misalignment issues before but the last few have all had that issue But to have a GMT with an alignment issue is just laziness...and that will cost them business if it continues as you say :)
Hi John, Been a fan of your watch reviews for a while now. I don't really know how the GMT hand is supposed to work, but isn't it possible that the "7 minutes off" you are seeing is actually reflecting the 10 minutes past the hour that the minute hand is showing? I searched for caller GMT images and see pics of Rolexes exhibiting similar behavior. Maybe it's "a feature, not a bug" as they say. Cheers from NYC!
That slightly mis-aligned GMT hand ruins it for me. I am going to wait until the QC is stabilized. Otherwise it is an excellent watch. I needed an excuse not to buy another watch this year😀
I do have a slight misalignment on my 6200 diver at the 3 and 6... it seems like possibly the bezel is missprinted, but it's so slight and the watch is so beautifully finished, I'll forgive. However, my next order i will not forgive and if possible ill be leaving a note to please check the watch or ill return and i guess have to then leave an honest review. (Im not telling them the last part 😂)
@johnswatchjoint I agree, because honestly, I'm in awe with the rest of the watch for the money. The finishing is so nice it's kinda mind blowing. I guess I had this elitist view about Chinese watch manufacturing capabilities, and I was taught a big lesson. I find myself staring at the watch during the day and just admiring the finishing. The clasp and chamfering on the clasp is stunning. So many features are beautifully done Idk, I thought I was a big brand only guy, but now I'm struggling to understand why I would buy something for so much more and get so much less. Nobody outside of a small circle cares what brand I wear nor is impressed. I still want a longines or grand seiko, but I'm going to try a half dozen Chinese brands first 😂
Honestly this does feel a bit bland compared to a lot of the more interesting san martin watches but the most interesting part of it is the world timer function and I do believe they offer two more more interesting models in comparison.
Misaligned by 7 minutes? I’m confused - on your watch it’s 13:10, so the GMT hand should reflect those 10 minutes pass the hour marker on the bezel, which makes it being absolutely correct. Bar a jumping hour watch and digital watches the hour hand should be travelling towards the next hour and so should a GMT hand just at a revolution per 24h instead of 12H. It doesn’t align with the hour on the bezel unless the minute hand is at 60/0. If it really is misaligned you should’ve demonstrated that by, say, putting all the hands at 00:00?
It is misaligned at 00.00 the GMT and hour hand do not align until the minute hand is at 7 mins past. It is a frustration that SM are letting these things go. Another subscriber has the same issue.
@johnswatchjoint Ok, it just wasn't clear on the video... well, that really is a disappointment and actually a really stupid assembly error,and even worse it went past QC! BTW I have the SN0054 GMT with the Hagzhou movement, and the hands align perfectly.
Don't know what you mean, actually the Peugeot 3008 is a very cool car! I know exactly what you mean when you say some San Martin watches are bland, the sometimes lack a little something. Maybe it's the boring font they use for the writing. This one's not too bad though. But those little things like the slightly misaligned GMT hand made me turn away from San Martin lately.
Hi Alexander. Finally a Peugeot 3008 fan..not the latest greatest, the one before. They just keep on going. Been running Peugeot and Citroen since 2001 and can't fault them but they are not to everyone's taste ;) re the SM I really don't know what's going on. Their cases and finishing are superb but misalignments are common now and that GMT hand is so unfortunate as otherwise it's a cool piece :)
Excellent review as usual John. I share your view of SM watches, very well finished but dull and uninspiring in the main. They also put little effort into other aspects of their watches, such as rarely using the correct no-date movements. Other brands, such as Proxima, Seestern and Baltany, do it better and at lower prices. On wrist you would be hard put to notice any real difference in the build quality. SM has a lot of good competition these days.
Hi Dave and well said. Gonna pin your informed comment. Thank you 🙏
What I really love on SM watches is how consistent their brushing is. The reflections on the lugs match the reflection on the bracelet links. Just amazing.
Didn't think I would ever use an on the fly clasp adjustment until I had one. Use it all the time. Really like this watch. 👍
Yep. liked it when I first saw it and it still has something :)
@@johnswatchjointnoticed the Casio is getting some wrist time! I have mine on as well. Heading to Spain tomorrow it's a brilliant travel watch.
Nice one. Enjoy the sunshine 😎
Thanks for the thorough review as always. I think two years ago San Martin had carte blanche to put out whatever they wanted, and people bought them. But there’s just too much competition to put out watches with QC issues. It’s a stunning watch otherwise though. Thanks!
Cheers Albert...seems the other subs are in the huff...lost a few since this was published haha 😆
@@johnswatchjoint I’ve never seen a group of people get so worked up about something in my life. I think it’s because it’s something you wear so a watch feels so intimate and insulting someone’s watch is like insulting that person.
“No Mate, I don’t think you’re stupid, just your taste in watches…” 🤣
Hahahaha....not even talked about the lash back from yesterday's upload of the Proxima short. My God it was something else. So many folk really entrenched on the "you can't homage that" theme. Pretty insulting stuff and the YT filter did a great job. The sin bin was pretty full!
I own two San Martin’s and they are both excellent watches. Strangely, I never wear them. Im really not sure why. I guess they just don’t have that bit of magic some of my other watches have. The watch I wear the most is a Guanqin black subby. It’s not a great watch and has many flaws…but I just love it…for whatever reason.
That's strange. Which 2 do you have? I have 3 SM watches and I wear them as much, if not more, than my other watches. I even bought my daughter their 37mm Tudor homage and she loves it - she wears it all the time. But yeah, sometimes you have a nice watch in your collection and it just doesn't click.
Yet another solid review. Smashing the content. Definitely not a watch for me. Not a GMT fan, a clean dial all the time for me. Great channel 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks James, we all have our favourites. Thanks for watching :)
Nice watch John. Your polished, informative reviews are becoming the norm. Thank you
I appreciate that!
Good review 👍 . I think San Martin have turned a corner recently, I admired their build quality, but I'm not keen on homages and their own designs never quite hit the spot. However, this one impressed me and I liked the blue dial sn0116 so much I bought one, on mine the hand alignment was perfect.
Hiya. Glad you got a good un. I am getting concerned about niggling QC with them. It never used to be the case :)
@@johnswatchjoint They aren't cheap, so if they want to succeed, QC has to be spot on.
Really nice watch, but that GMT hand being out of alignment would really bug me! Thanks for pointing that out, John! Great review buddy!
Thanks Dan. Probably just me being unlucky again haha!
Greetings from Rome John
Another cracking video, your channel has fast become one of my favourites!!!
Has a bit of a rubbish day yesterday, arrived in Rome to discover that our suitcase had become “misplaced” between Amsterdam and Rome. Said suitcase containing my brand spanking new Baltany discoverer quartz, which i’d had the chance to wear and enjoy for about two hours on the Wednesday night when we were out for tea in Aberdeen.
Colour me extremely angry!!!!
But, my san martin SN 0123 was on wrist, so at least I still have a watch that makes me smile every time I look at it, gutted none the less
Thanks again for the cracking content John, fingers crossed for the suitcase
Ouch...what a bummer! I'm sure it will turn up. Fingers crossed 🤞. Don't let it spoil your holiday :)
JOMW and yourself are now my favourite watch RUclipsrs. Dunno what it is about Me + Scottish fellas and watches, but either way, great stuff John, excellent work as always!
Wow...Thank you...in lofty company indeed ;)
Awesome, I love GMT/2nd time zone watches ever since I had a Sicrua Globetrotter in the mid/late '70's. That dual function bezel is a cool feature, especially with the time zone. My Pagani Design PD1662 GMT hand lines perfectly with the 24 hour scale on the bezel and that's a far cheaper watch! Close but..........
Haha .. usually I would say Pagani Design are a frustration but here it's the heavyweight dropping the ball ;)
Another great review John. The fact that it's out by 7 minutes would just bug me. Apart from that its a good looking watch .
It is rather annoying but if I didn't point it out I would get folk complaining the watch is not as good as I said! You can never win haha!
Brilliant Review as Always John. I've had gmt for more than 20 yrs I love them. Not sure about a world timer though.
Thanks for looking in :)
I LOVE GMT and this one is amazing!. Unfortunately I'm really sick with my health right now and it doesn't look like it will be improving anytime soon so every penny I have right now is going to either the hospital, doctor or pharmacies. Sucks! Otherwise I'd be buying this one immediately! But... all well. Such is life! This was a great video as usual my friend! I'm so grateful that I can at least sit and look at new watches with you even if I can't get them! Thanks for that mate. Much love from across the pond!
Hi buddy. Sorry to hear you are not very well and I wish you and yours all the best going forward :)
@@johnswatchjoint Thanks JWJ. Appreciate it.
Oddly enough, I'm also tracking NY time on my GMT as I'm expecting an Email from Thursdays Boots. Only time I've had reason to use it ha
Misaligned hands!! Is the SM halo slipping?? That's just sloppy QC. I'm still waiting for one of the Ali brands to use the Miyota "traveller" movement. Microbrands are jumping on this movement big time. The quality of finish is very good but all falls down if they don't affix hands properly. Function above all else surely? I agree the design is good. It's a good looker.
Great review. Keep up the good work
Much appreciated thanks 🙏
I believe the gmt hand moves slightly when your minute hand is not at 12:00. Check to see if it lines up at midnight.
If you look through the comments you will see that is how I checked the alignment as I always do. Unfortunately I thought I had captured it on film but did not. At 00.00 the GMT and hour hand do not line up until seven minutes past zero hour.
Have to agree with all said , they've come close to a wallet extraction in the past but there's always something that i'm not keen on , this is a tidy looking piece & a well versed review also John but there's just other options i'd prefer for the coin but a solid option for a gmt/wt .
Hi Ted. Good to see you here. Thank you :)
San Martin's QC seems to be slipping a bit lately. I'd personally rather fix the hand alignment myself than send the watch back, but I'm not even sure San Martin would offer an RMA as they seem to expect buyers to fix things like this. For example, when another reviewer had trouble with crown operation on his new SM watch, they sent him a new crown+stem (that he wasn't prepared to install himself). Overall this is a nice (if completely unremarkable) watch though, and a guy could do a lot worse.
Excellent review John! My GMT is slightly off too which also annoys me but I otherwise love the watch, I love the glossy black dial but do find the world timer writing a little small. Apart from that the watch is a keeper for me 😊
Nice to know you have one...and can confirm that misalignments ARE an issue at SM. It's gonna hurt them soon if they don't get it under control. The writing is small but I am old haha...wonder if they do flip over magnifiers....that could be a thing you know ;)
Gonna pick this up on the 11.11 sale
Nice one Mike ☺️
Fantastic review John, but then that's always the case with your reviews. I like San Martin. I don't mind the vanilla aspect when the trade is great overall quality, and if you buy them on sale, then also great value. I do believe SM better pay attention to the small quantity details otherwise they can slide down rather quickly from the hilltop they have been able to conquer. If they do get their QC 💯, and push some more original and flavorful designs, and don't go crazy with price, SM will be a dominating brand, and one that in the future can hold well against some of the big brands....
Hi Felo. I do agree with you there. SM never had misalignment issues before but the last few have all had that issue
But to have a GMT with an alignment issue is just laziness...and that will cost them business if it continues as you say :)
@@johnswatchjoint👍
Looks pretty good and I do like that adjustable clasp.
Hi Jon. Good to hear from you. I really like this one. The rich black dial is just awesome :)
Is the GMT hand really necessary?
By adjusting the bezel to the hour of 'local' time you can see what the time is around the world.
I would never use one but I am sure there will be some people out there who will use these routinely:)
Hi John, Been a fan of your watch reviews for a while now. I don't really know how the GMT hand is supposed to work, but isn't it possible that the "7 minutes off" you are seeing is actually reflecting the 10 minutes past the hour that the minute hand is showing? I searched for caller GMT images and see pics of Rolexes exhibiting similar behavior. Maybe it's "a feature, not a bug" as they say. Cheers from NYC!
Hi Joe. Unfortunately not. At 00.00 hours the GMT hand and the hour hand do not line up until 00.07 which is rather unfortunate.
@@johnswatchjoint Thanks for the update, John!
Quick question: Do you know how to get a hold of the San Martin store? Every time i click the contact store, nothing happens.
I just use the messages facility to contact the store. Always get an answer.
@johnswatchjoint Do you hit the message button on the store homepage? When I do that nothing seems to happen.
That slightly mis-aligned GMT hand ruins it for me. I am going to wait until the QC is stabilized. Otherwise it is an excellent watch. I needed an excuse not to buy another watch this year😀
I do have a slight misalignment on my 6200 diver at the 3 and 6... it seems like possibly the bezel is missprinted, but it's so slight and the watch is so beautifully finished, I'll forgive.
However, my next order i will not forgive and if possible ill be leaving a note to please check the watch or ill return and i guess have to then leave an honest review. (Im not telling them the last part 😂)
Yeah sometimes we have to swallow our pride and decide to. Let little things fly!
@johnswatchjoint I agree, because honestly, I'm in awe with the rest of the watch for the money.
The finishing is so nice it's kinda mind blowing.
I guess I had this elitist view about Chinese watch manufacturing capabilities, and I was taught a big lesson.
I find myself staring at the watch during the day and just admiring the finishing. The clasp and chamfering on the clasp is stunning. So many features are beautifully done
Idk, I thought I was a big brand only guy, but now I'm struggling to understand why I would buy something for so much more and get so much less. Nobody outside of a small circle cares what brand I wear nor is impressed.
I still want a longines or grand seiko, but I'm going to try a half dozen Chinese brands first 😂
Honestly this does feel a bit bland compared to a lot of the more interesting san martin watches but the most interesting part of it is the world timer function and I do believe they offer two more more interesting models in comparison.
Misaligned by 7 minutes? I’m confused - on your watch it’s 13:10, so the GMT hand should reflect those 10 minutes pass the hour marker on the bezel, which makes it being absolutely correct. Bar a jumping hour watch and digital watches the hour hand should be travelling towards the next hour and so should a GMT hand just at a revolution per 24h instead of 12H. It doesn’t align with the hour on the bezel unless the minute hand is at 60/0.
If it really is misaligned you should’ve demonstrated that by, say, putting all the hands at 00:00?
It is misaligned at 00.00 the GMT and hour hand do not align until the minute hand is at 7 mins past. It is a frustration that SM are letting these things go. Another subscriber has the same issue.
@johnswatchjoint Ok, it just wasn't clear on the video... well, that really is a disappointment and actually a really stupid assembly error,and even worse it went past QC!
BTW I have the SN0054 GMT with the Hagzhou movement, and the hands align perfectly.
It is a shame as the watch is very nice and was close to being perfect. :)
Don't know what you mean, actually the Peugeot 3008 is a very cool car! I know exactly what you mean when you say some San Martin watches are bland, the sometimes lack a little something. Maybe it's the boring font they use for the writing. This one's not too bad though. But those little things like the slightly misaligned GMT hand made me turn away from San Martin lately.
Hi Alexander. Finally a Peugeot 3008 fan..not the latest greatest, the one before. They just keep on going. Been running Peugeot and Citroen since 2001 and can't fault them but they are not to everyone's taste ;) re the SM I really don't know what's going on. Their cases and finishing are superb but misalignments are common now and that GMT hand is so unfortunate as otherwise it's a cool piece :)
👀
SM should have kept the original dive bezel, but change it to 120 click. Instead, SM change the bezel to world timer, lazy.
They have three bezel options :)
at 42mm or so, would've been perfect.
If San Martin can sand down the huge lugs, it would be perfect.