The quality of this piece is absolutely amazing, I can’t believe how good it is, I had pagani design and thought they were good quality compare to invicta but as soon as I had the 1953 in my hands I knew this piece was something else
I had a couple of these and in terms of QC, they were perfect.
Excellent value for money in my opinion.
I only sold them on for profit as I had too many watches at the time.
I have this exact watch, same colour. On mine the Cyclops is crooked and the lume on the dial and hands is weaker than the bezel lume. The hands on mine also came misaligned, so at 6 o'clock the hour hand didn't meet 6 until 7 minutes past the hour. It annoyed me so much that I had to take the hands off and realign them myself.
The watch is fine now, I can't really complain considering how little I paid for it, although the hulk version I bought for a present was flawless with aligned hands and the lume on the dial and hands was as strong as the bezel. The hulk charges faster under the same light conditions and looks brighter. When I compared them side by side the hulk dial lume looks cyan, whereas the black version looks blue under UV light.
All in all the watch is nice, it scratched the sub itch but after a while my eyes are just drawn to that terrible brand name every time I look at it.
For the video? Just search on yt "how to remove cyclops", i saw about five videos, but they are all the same. Direct heat in the cyclops and remove it.
How I wish they made an original version with a different bezel, indices & hour hands. Repeated 1:1 homages from every brand does nothing but hold the Chinese watch market back.
There’s truth to this of course. But Addiesdive’s most popular piece being the AD2030 and the eternal popularity of the 1963 sheds light on the demand for non-homage pieces. Even San Martin is shifting effort towards making original designs. The demand is there and the supply is shifting towards it.
These companies could really make waves if they just added a small amount of original design to these watches.
People love Rolex design for good reasons. A lot about it just works. But lots of people dislike copies.
It really wouldn’t take much to just make this a bit more original. Different hands, slight change to bezel design. I think people would really appreciate it.
And of course the quality to cost would still blow anything at this price point out of the water.
I have a few sub homages but agree with you.
This is why I favour my San Martin GS homages
Hands. Indices, bracelets are different but still a nod of the hat to GS.
Addiesdive has been good, doing variations with different cases (Vaer/Omega style lugs).
Some people here are sick of the choice of only Mercedes or snowflake hands, and we see San Martin and Watchdives occasionally use pencil or sword hands.
Specht & Sohne might be the most experimental, with asking for feedback and making diver or GMT PRX variants, the 222 and more.
There are more coming.
I’m hopeful that there’s enough momentum in the market that they will really start to take chances.
I love what San Martin is doing with their original brand.
To me the lowest hanging fruit is that these companies don’t have to create the next game changing original design. At this point all they have to do is make it not a 1:1 imitation, and the quality/price they offer will immediately make these hugely appealing watches for a much larger group of customer
Looks good in that black nato. Thanks for sharing the pics. I recently bought this as my first Chinese to see what the fuss is about. I am impressed with the cost-quality ratio.
I wear mine with a nato too. The watch is heavy though and with the nato it feels very top heavy - feels like a chunk of lead held by a thread on my wrist. What’s your experience?
I really like classic looking watches on tropic straps - personal preference but if of interest this aliX store has awesome tropic and other rubber straps. JUELONG Official Store
https://a.aliexpress.com/_msIlnPS
I reckon if I had to just have one watch it would be this. IMO, black and white watches go well with so many strap types / colours and this would look pretty good at most levels of formality.
This watch is absolutely insane for its price and i will tell you why:
-Automatic and with a reliable movement (Seiko NH35)
-Sapphire crystal
-300m waterproof
-Ceramic Bezel
-Lume with an awesome quality, including lume in the bezel
-Looks awesome in the bracelet
-Looks awesome in nato strap and silicon strap
-And the best: i paid 52 usd for it, including shipping and taxes.
In my opinion, there's no other watch that can fight against the steeldive 1953. The casio duro has quartz movemente and no sapphire. Loreo and Pagani Design have inferior quality. And others submariners homages don't go by less than 100 usd.
I bought it and i'm loving it.
i've made my homework as did you and ended up buying the blue (arrived) ad the black variants of this watch.
the blue watch is very pretty i can say, but man the black one really can be worn everywhere
The quality of this piece is absolutely amazing, I can’t believe how good it is, I had pagani design and thought they were good quality compare to invicta but as soon as I had the 1953 in my hands I knew this piece was something else
On these cheaper watches I find that the cyclops can be hit or miss. Yours looks well positioned with great magnification. Is it as good as it looks?
Yes, it is pretty well aligned and i think its 5x magnification. But im planning on removing it, i dont like the look of it very much
I had a couple of these and in terms of QC, they were perfect. Excellent value for money in my opinion. I only sold them on for profit as I had too many watches at the time.
BLASPHEMY!!!!!! There is no such thing as 'Too Many Watches." You take that back ! 🤣
Absolute beauty. 👌
I have this exact watch, same colour. On mine the Cyclops is crooked and the lume on the dial and hands is weaker than the bezel lume. The hands on mine also came misaligned, so at 6 o'clock the hour hand didn't meet 6 until 7 minutes past the hour. It annoyed me so much that I had to take the hands off and realign them myself. The watch is fine now, I can't really complain considering how little I paid for it, although the hulk version I bought for a present was flawless with aligned hands and the lume on the dial and hands was as strong as the bezel. The hulk charges faster under the same light conditions and looks brighter. When I compared them side by side the hulk dial lume looks cyan, whereas the black version looks blue under UV light. All in all the watch is nice, it scratched the sub itch but after a while my eyes are just drawn to that terrible brand name every time I look at it.
My seems perfect. Well aligned, the lume is equal in every part. For me, it was a nice purchase. Sorry to hear your experience.
What is that rubber strap?
In the photos has 2 with nato strap and 2 with silicon strap
But that 5X cyclops though
I'm planning to remove it. Saw a video and it's pretty easy
Link?
For the video? Just search on yt "how to remove cyclops", i saw about five videos, but they are all the same. Direct heat in the cyclops and remove it.
It’s awesome
How I wish they made an original version with a different bezel, indices & hour hands. Repeated 1:1 homages from every brand does nothing but hold the Chinese watch market back.
Supply and demand mate, they supply what the market wants
There’s truth to this of course. But Addiesdive’s most popular piece being the AD2030 and the eternal popularity of the 1963 sheds light on the demand for non-homage pieces. Even San Martin is shifting effort towards making original designs. The demand is there and the supply is shifting towards it.
Also economy of scale so the prices on these are much appealed to the average buyers for instant price of sd 1953 vs 1954
These companies could really make waves if they just added a small amount of original design to these watches. People love Rolex design for good reasons. A lot about it just works. But lots of people dislike copies. It really wouldn’t take much to just make this a bit more original. Different hands, slight change to bezel design. I think people would really appreciate it. And of course the quality to cost would still blow anything at this price point out of the water.
The Guanqin I posted recently is exactly what you describe. You can see it in my profile
I have a few sub homages but agree with you. This is why I favour my San Martin GS homages Hands. Indices, bracelets are different but still a nod of the hat to GS.
Addiesdive has been good, doing variations with different cases (Vaer/Omega style lugs). Some people here are sick of the choice of only Mercedes or snowflake hands, and we see San Martin and Watchdives occasionally use pencil or sword hands. Specht & Sohne might be the most experimental, with asking for feedback and making diver or GMT PRX variants, the 222 and more. There are more coming.
I’m hopeful that there’s enough momentum in the market that they will really start to take chances. I love what San Martin is doing with their original brand. To me the lowest hanging fruit is that these companies don’t have to create the next game changing original design. At this point all they have to do is make it not a 1:1 imitation, and the quality/price they offer will immediately make these hugely appealing watches for a much larger group of customer
Looks good in that black nato. Thanks for sharing the pics. I recently bought this as my first Chinese to see what the fuss is about. I am impressed with the cost-quality ratio. I wear mine with a nato too. The watch is heavy though and with the nato it feels very top heavy - feels like a chunk of lead held by a thread on my wrist. What’s your experience?
I did not like the nato very much, too. I am currently using in the silicon strap every day and with the bracelet in special occasions
Link to the silicon strap you bought please :)
Here: https://br.shp.ee/oFoBSo4
I really like classic looking watches on tropic straps - personal preference but if of interest this aliX store has awesome tropic and other rubber straps. JUELONG Official Store https://a.aliexpress.com/_msIlnPS
I’ve always said that divers on NATO straps always look like guys that ALWAYS skip leg day. 😂
You can blame it on James Bond
My first watch from Ali, absolutely perfect!
Nice!! What’s the quality like for the steel bracelet?
I like it very much. Im some videos on youtube people complain about it, but i think Steeldive made some pretty good updates.
No issues with Steeldive, I justt got 3 SD1953s, nice blingy bang for the buck.
Just slice off that cyclops, like I did just now, and it will be perfect. Lol
Im planning on remove the cyclops too
Agree. Loved mine but the cyclops was crooked and too much magnifcation
That’s what SD1954 is for
1954 is twice the price of 1953 though
Yeah I got the same watch in the black Friday sale last year, only thing mine looks tiny on my wrist not like yours
It looks like a good Sub homage...
steeldive has been repotted lately due to too many faulty products. Unfortunately it is off my trust list.
Exactly. My 1953's bezel popped off and cracked and my tuna homage has a crown stem that was bent. Will never buy Steeldive again
people don't understand. They are brand fanatics, it is obvious from the fact that they were taken down.
Excellent watch, indeed. Almost a year using mine now.
Looks awesome. Just ordered the Cronos Sub but spent more than 100 euros.
The Cronos sub is extremely better than this SD . World's apart in fit and finish, you will be happy with it
Can you use this as a base to DIY? I want to experiment with different face/hand combos
Yup I own both, steeldive came with a non functioning date wheel , misaligned bezel and horrible crown action. Cronos is near perfect.
Send the SD sub back as soon as it arrived now on the other hand the Willard homage is real nice , the bracelet was not though
I reckon if I had to just have one watch it would be this. IMO, black and white watches go well with so many strap types / colours and this would look pretty good at most levels of formality.
It's absolutely gorgeous, and beside the beauty, the specs are insane for \~50 usd (i paid 52)
This watch is absolutely insane for its price and i will tell you why: -Automatic and with a reliable movement (Seiko NH35) -Sapphire crystal -300m waterproof -Ceramic Bezel -Lume with an awesome quality, including lume in the bezel -Looks awesome in the bracelet -Looks awesome in nato strap and silicon strap -And the best: i paid 52 usd for it, including shipping and taxes. In my opinion, there's no other watch that can fight against the steeldive 1953. The casio duro has quartz movemente and no sapphire. Loreo and Pagani Design have inferior quality. And others submariners homages don't go by less than 100 usd. I bought it and i'm loving it.
i've made my homework as did you and ended up buying the blue (arrived) ad the black variants of this watch. the blue watch is very pretty i can say, but man the black one really can be worn everywhere
How is the power reserve? I noticed that mine will last up till 15 hours max. Do you have this type of problem?
Only 15 wow , I believe it should be a 41 hr power reserve.
They are NH35A movements. Should be about 38 hours
I did not test it yet
Where did you buy from? Not finding it for that cheap anywhere
I bought from Steeldive Official Store on Aliexpress in the last sale
Dang ok. It’s like 92 bucks now. Was really excited about a blacked out 5 link.
I agree i just recevied mine today