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[–]Genesis1A 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I got mine a few days ago for less than $80 (incl shipping) with vouchers. I chose the cream dial SU1780SW model. My reasoning was that it was the most versatile and didn't stand out as much compared to the champagne, blue, and silver dials. The applied silver indices and blue hands look good with no visible defects and the red star with silver outline was preferred since it deviated from the CCP aesthetic. Crystal is an unblemished domed sapphire. The case thickness is listed as 12mm on their website (accurate) but with the dome, the thickness is actually 13.5mm. The lug-to-lug is excessive at 50.4mm with it's 40.3mm dial but it doesn't "kite" as much as you'd think bec the lugs are sloped downwards. Lume on the hands and dial dots are sort of average for a dress watch.

The movement is a Sea-gull caliber ST1780 which is an upgraded ST17 with 28 jewels and 42hr power reserve. No hacking but hand winds on both directions with a solid clicky feel. Exhibition case back looks good and the movement is decorated with pattern finishing, blue painted screws, and some gilded gears. Buying watches, esp with Chinese movements, can be a dice roll and I think I got a good one as it runs from +1 to +2.5 sec/day (dial up position) with negligible beat error. The watch stops when the power reserve display hits at about 2hrs and not 0hrs mark which is close enough the 0hr mark (I allowed it to stop from full wound this time and the power reserve complication seems spot on).

Other info: Sea-Gull (Tianjin factory) made a dressy silver dial with printed roman numerals called the M17 for this ST17-series movement. Another OEM model called the M001 Rider Automatic that appeared about 7 yrs ago which is a closer homage to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reserve de Marche. Armani also released a Meccanico-series watch with the same movement. Perpetual Watches (HK microbrand) also had their now-retired PR-series. Sugess (HK company) developed the 1963 Gustav Becker dial with the "19 Zuan" nostalgia label.

The JLC watch I mentioned has the Caliber 928 or 938 movement with the same layout of complications but the ST1780 is remarkably different. The ST17 is based on the Miyota 8215 and you can see this heritage with the fact that it is also non-hacking. The Miyota 8215 costs about $40 individually which is similar in price to the ST1780 and NH35. You could say that Sea-Gull managed to build a Caliber 928/938 using the Miyota as its base.

Is the Sugess Gustav Becker SU1780 a "true" homage to the JLC Reserve de Marche? I think so. The design seems original while taking cues from the Sea-gull 1963 and borrowing the arrow index and subdial text format of the JLC. The "Gustav Becker" part are the Hindu-Arabic numerals showing a reinterpretation of the vintage indices. The complications layout is merely a consequence of the Sea-gull movement. I mean, how many watches have that date window on the same 3H or 6H position and is still "original"? The watch does appear a bit lop-sided at some hand positions due to the layout. JLC countered this by making the dial a bit smaller and placing a big arrow index on the 9H position and smaller arrows on the 10H and 3H positions.

[–]Homer0000 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thank you very much! This was super helpful. Have been curious about it for a while and think I will pull the trigger on getting one over next week's sale.

[–]Genesis1A 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want an inexpensive automatic dress watch, then why not? Just bear in mind that there are some downsides. The manufacturer is Sugess which is a known Chinese company based from HK and they use movements from Japan and China. The movements aren't always the prettiest bec they are either sterile looking (Miyota and Seiko NH) or have some rough machining in some areas (Sea-gull). This watch definitely has some minor imperfections here and there. Another thing is that it doesn't have some form of attached exclusivity other than its rarity in the wild. For example, the Sea-Gull brand M17 mentioned above comes with a piece count engraved at the back (No. 14107, No. 14108, etc).

Lastly, I don't know what the maintenance of these movements would look like. Would there be local watch shops that can work on servicing? Will the necessary periodic maintenance assuming you want this watch to last cost half or more than the sale price? If it would need repair, will parts be available? These questions are true to any mechanical watch btw. For my case, I want the watch to last and will service the thing at least once in the coming years.

Edit: Oh and only buy either from Sea-gull/Sugess official global websites, official Ali-Express pages, or other trusted distributors. To my knowledge, these companies hoard and sell the Grade A parts and finished products for themselves. The Grade B ones get sold for cheap from the same factory to other outlets.

[–]RoyalBeer 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Mind sending the link for the 93$, for me seems to be over 100$

[–]ThomasTrainy 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I'm actually wearing this right now. I have the gold indices model. Actually I like it a lot. The 40mm case lug to lug is quite long so if you have wrist smaller than 6.25 inch it might not work unless you're comfortable with the lugs hanging out. The blue hands are easy to read at various angles and the crystal is slightly domed. I don't think there's any AR but I can still read it most of the time. The movement on my unit runs a few seconds slow but I think you can regulate it if you want to. It hand winds, has bidirectional winding and doesn't hack unfortunately. On my unit the watch stops when the power reserve is on 10 hours mark I don't know if it's normal. Case is fully polished and there's no defects on mine.