Sea-Gull Owner Review : Eccentric, fun and outdated

A Chinese watch made exclusively for export… Typical of the late 1970s (Deng Xiaoping period, post Mao). A fun watch that could be found in the markets of major Chinese cities, sold to the rare tourists of the time for $1 US… and later (early 80s) in Europe and France for 50 francs… You can still find them on the internet for between €20 and €30. This watch has a dial on a red background and more “rarely” on a blue background. On the dial is Chairman MAO, with a photo so kitsch… that it is impossible to resist the great leap forward… to buy one. (This is just my opinion…) The blurry photo on the dial looks like a low-quality paper print… The arm swings and swings with a regular back-and-forth movement, this arm is also quite blurry and malformed like the main image on the dial. Chairman Mao's arm is therefore oscillating (a fun complication) and works independently of the seconds hand... The seconds hand ends with a red star! The hands look like those of old cheap diving watches... with a green lume. The movement of the watch is a 17 jewels from the ZLN factory (in business since 1957). Movement that has been modified specifically, to operate Chairman Mao's arm... ZLN is the watch factory of the Liaoning Peacock Watch Company, Ltd (still in business), in the city of Dandong, Liaoning province. This movement, with manual winding, works approximately 24 hours, variation of +10 minutes in 24 hours... The operation of the arm is very erratic, you often have to shake the watch to make the arm move... But it ends up working! The case is approximately 36 mm made of a kind of chromed metal, the horns are oddly shaped. The glass is slightly domed and has a slight greenish tint (on older models), perhaps the lume has evaporated... (Radium or Tritium, the latter being supposed to be less harmful to health...). In conclusion... As Chairman Mao said: A revolutionary recognizes his mistakes and repairs them immediately... Today, the Chinese watch industry has perfectly received the message... Finally, forgive my impertinence, to all lovers of fine watchmaking.