[soviet]

Re: Shanghai A631 mid-size watch

Shanghai A631 watch still use an A581's movement and was made since 1963. This watch was made right after the "3 years difficult time" so it could be an attempt to save materials. This watch has a chrome plated case and is 30mm in size.

They are less often seen than common A581 watches, but still about as often seen as a clean 18 jewels Beijing BS-2 in Beijing.

Rarity-*

 

[soviet]

Re: NOS Sea-gull watches

NOS common model vintage Chinese watches are not very rare. So why mentions these NOS Seagulls? Because they have a Sea-Gull made standard movement with Sea-gull stripes.

Still NOS Sea-Gull is less often seen than a Shanghai NOS 7120 or later model Shanghai brand watches.

These have a Rolex look alike case. Sea-Gull is a good Chinese brand watch for wear.

NOS Sea-Gull, rarity-*

 

[soviet]

Re:NOS Huang He

Huang He(yellow river) has a movement that is based on Zhongshan's 9 jewels unique movement, but with 16 jewels. Huang He watch is less often seen than a Zhongshan, and much less often seen in NOS condition. This is a normal size watch vs the $1 NOS Huang He mid-size one mentioned in another thread. Huang He watch also has a 9 jewels version.

9 jewels Huang He, and NOS 16 jewels Huang He, Raity-**

Others, maybe a rarity-*

 

[soviet]

Re: A unique 35 jewels Shanghai automatic

This Shanghai automatic S/S watch was issued to retired PLA officers of General Stuffs so it had to compete with Rolex watches, a favourite of PLA officers. This is the only one I have seen so far, so that it is rare.

It has a well made 35 jewels Shanghai automatic movement that should be better than those found in fake watches.

Rarity-**

 

[soviet]

Re: Later WU YI watches

WU YI brand watches has many model designations. These are no model name pre-series, 58001, 62-A,ST-2A. ST-2A is the last model designation, and is the most often seen watches with a 18 jewels movement. They have chrome plated and S/S cases. Clean watches with a textured dial are more disirable to a collector.

WU YI watches are less often seen than common version Shanghai A581 watches. These watches are extremely hard to find in excellent conditions.

WU YI 62-A with textured dials, rarity-**

Common WU YI, rarity-*

 

[soviet]

Re: Vintage mechanical lady watches

These lady watches are not interesting to collectors, but they are dirt cheap and almost never seen for sale outside China.

Still these are evidence of China's watch industry's technological level in its early stages. There are many types of movements used in these watches. However, a group of such watches could still be fascinating to look at as they look more like jewels than vintage Chinese man's watches.

Rarity- rarely seen outside China, but very common on local markets.

The smallest Diamond watch(movement size:14X16mm) is a rare one. I have only seen one of these.

 

[soviet]

Re: Tianjin brand watch

Although Sea-Gull factory is located in Tianjin, a Tianjin brand watch is very rare. There was a Tianjin brand of Wu YI watches that is much less often seen than watches with WUYI brand names. Also there is a very rare 1962 Chinese chromograph with a Tianjin brand name.

This black dial Tianjin watch is probably a commemorative watch with a Chinese pinyin J on the dial (Ji Nian). I have seen only two such watches for sale. It has a well polished ST5 movement and a blank caseback.

This Tianjin, Rarity-**

1962 Tianjin chronograph, Rarity-****

Tianjin brand WUYI, rarity-***

 

[soviet]

Re: Jie Fang 1120 watch

Jie Fang (liberation)1120 watch was made by Shanghai Nr 3 Watch factory. It is a very uncomon watch. I have only seen this one since last May. I don't know why Shanghai made this watch when the Nr 1 factory made millions Shanghai 1120 watches. It has a Mao style Chinese logo and "Cultural Revolution" background so that it is more desirable to a collector.

Rarity-***

 

[soviet]

Re: Yan An 1120 watch

Here is another watch with a SS1 type movement, a pie pan dial, and a Mao style chinese logo. It also has a revolutionary background as Yan An, a remote town in Shaangxi province was the main base of Chinese communists before they took control of mainland China. This watch was made by Red Flag Watch factory in XIAN.

Yan An watches are more often seen than Jie Fang and Suzhou 1120. But mint exampes are very hard to find.

Mint Yan An 1120, rarity-**

 

[soviet]

Re: Coloured dial watches

Watches with coloured dials are much less often seen than white dial watches. Watches with unusual colors and more features (day,date, automatic,luminous,etc) are even less often seen.

Some unusual color dial watches such as Shuang Cheng(double cities)automatic, the flashy red color Beijing day,date,etc, rarity-*

 

[soviet]

Re: Hong Kong made Jin Mao automatic

Jin Mao (gold anchor) was a brand of Qing Dao Watch Factory, but this Rolex look alike Jin Mao was made in Hong Kong with a standard Chinese automatic movement, and IMHO, the best(more accurate and reliable) Chinese automatic found in those replica watches.
This Jin Mao could be the father of current Alpha watches. It has a 2x date lens and a slightly larger dial than a similar Rolex watch. This is the only watch Ihave seen so far.

rarity-**?

 

[soviet]

Re: NOS Zhongshan watch

Zhongshan watch has a unique 9 jewels movement and many Zhongshan watches has a very interesting patterned dial. This is also the most mass produced Chinese watches for poor people who could not even afford a Shanghai 1120 17 jewels watch at 2-3 times of their monthly salary.
People now collect these watches IMHO for sentimental reasons of the old difficult times.

NOS Zhongshan watches could still be found occasionally.

 

[infinitime]

Re: Common Shanghai A581 watches

Shanghai A581 watches are hot collectable items among vintage Chinese watch collectors. A581 watches have many dial and case variations and this makes them an interesting watch to collect. Some collectors have hundreds A581 watches with different dials,cases,and casebacks. There must be over a million A581 watches made during its production run between 1958-1966.

Common A581 watches are not very hard to find on local markets, but clean examples are very rare.

rarity-*

Here are a few more examples of the A581 model. The two on the left are older variants, without a date stamp under the balance wheel, the other three are all marked 1962. I believe that all of them had text on the dial at one point, which may have rubbed off over time.

 

[infinitime]

Re: Shanghai A611 watches

Shanghai A611 is an improved version of A581 with shock absorbers and a smooth balance made between 1961-1966? In fact a Shanghai A611 is slightly less often seen than an A581. A very clean Shanghai A611 is about as hard to find as a Sputnik on local markets. A611 usually has 17 钻(ZUAN) on the dials while A581 has 17 占(17 jewels) on the dials.

Rarity-*

These three black dial variants are either late model A581 or early A611 models. Despite the fact that two are marked with "17 钻", instead of the "17 占" markings on the earlier A581, all three watches use the identical movement, which does not have any shock-absorbing protection. All three watches have the A581 caseback. Given the source of these watches, I believe that all they left the factory in this combination of dial, movement and caseback.

 

[infinitime]

Re: Rare 29 jewels Shanghai automatic

There is a 24 jewels version that was issued to PLA regiment commanders. 24 jewels version-***

Here's a few more. Interesting to note the one shown in the far right, which has a simple, smooth chrome plated bezel, without any minute indicators. This one is also unique in that it is the only one without a serial number on the back.

Apparently this identical watch is also branded as a "Torch" brand watch, with a Torch icon in place of the Shanghai logo. I am not certain as to its origin, or if it was ever issued to the military, but from a past image I've seen of the watch, it is almost certainly the same watch.

 

[infinitime]

Re: Shanghai 1120 model watches

Shanghai 1120 watches were made for a short time between 1966-1969? with a slow beat SS1 movement. Clean 1120 watches are sold quickly.

Here are a few more 1120 watches, which came in a variety of either gold or silver toned batons, with either black or off-white dials. It is interesting to note that the clear coat on the 1120 and 1110 models are much improved over the A581 and A611 models, as you can tell, there is generally much less corrosion or mildew forming on these dials, even though they are only newer than the 581 by several years. I personally believe that the 1120 was the peak of Shanghai's mass production model, with the right balance of technical sophistication and quality control. Models since that time have been less finely assembled.

 

[soviet]

Re: Pocket watches

These 3 pocket watches are not those with a flashy case and with a standard wristwatch movement.

IMO, the Meihualu(spot deer) 17 jewels pocket watch was the best quality pocket watch before Seagull's to be annouced pocket watch. It has a real China designed 35mm 17 jewels movement that looks like a scaled up standard wristwatch movement.

Zhongshan pocket watch is much less often seen than their wristwatches.

Many factories made this type of no jewels pocket watch that was first made by a Shanghai clock factory. These have brand names such as HONG QI, DONG FANG HONG, ZUAN SHI,etc.

Zhongshan pocket watch, rarity-* in Beijing

The other two are not rare, but less often seen than common model wristwatches.

 

[infinitime]

Two more Meihualu pocket watches from the JILIN watch factory in northern China.

 

[soviet]

Re: A watch for Shaolin gongfu fans

Shaolin temple is a famous Chinese Gongfu training site, but you had to be a monk first! :-D Shaolin temple is located in Songshan(嵩山), so this Songshan brand watch is a good gift for a Shaolin Gongfu fan.

This is a rare watch brand.

 

[soviet]

Re: Shanghai 1120 model watches

Here are a few more 1120 watches, which came in a variety of either gold or silver toned batons, with either black or off-white dials. It is interesting to note that the clear coat on the 1120 and 1110 models are much improved over the A581 and A611 models, as you can tell, there is generally much less corrosion or mildew forming on these dials, even though they are only newer than the 581 by several years. I personally believe that the 1120 was the peak of Shanghai's mass production model, with the right balance of technical sophistication and quality control. Models since that time have been less finely assembled.

I found Shanghai 1120 with this kind of non-reflective dial is about as rare as a black dial one. It is a later 1120 with a stylish Chinese logo. This dial is similar to that of a 1123 model's.