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I'd been looking forward to returning to Beijing, especially since this time I'd managed a reservation at the Xiaoyuan Courtyard Hotel in the Lishi Hutong. I'd seen the place last visit when I stayed at another hotel, but I had not realized the Xuaiyuan was more than just a neighbourhood bar. I found out since I returned from China the first time that the Xioayuan is actually a very nice -- and q

...what i can find.

I was extremely pleased to be able to revisit the facilities of the Sea-Gull Watch Group Marketing Ltd., Tianjin 天津海鸥手表集团销售有限公司 (39° 7' 1.20" N 117° 24' 14.36" E ) on April 21st, and I very much want to very sincerely thank a few folks who I know had a hand in ensuring this visit to the Tianjin Sea-Gull facility was extra special for me. I had no idea what was comin

It's humbling and I confess to being a bit shell-shocked at the many, many kindnesses I have been shown. Everywhere.

The 120 meter (394 ft) Tianjin Eye is the second highest Ferris wheel in China and 4th highest in the world. It's also the tallest Ferris wheel built on a bridge; in this case: the Yongle Bridge (or Chihai Bridge), over Tianjin's Hai He (river). And since I already thought Tianjin's river/waterfront is one of the prettiest urban places I've ever seen, and since I was trying -- and succeeding -

Following the freak snowstorm in Shijiazhuang, and my arrival on a rainy gray evening in Tianjin, it was a welcome relief to see the sun shining brightly when I got up in the morning for my first scheduled Tianjin event. (And I'll take the time to again thank Joel Chan for arranging these wonderful contacts in Tianjin and Beijing) ... ...a trip to meet Mr. Jiang who is the President of the

I'll first note that some of the reason for the delay in continuing these posts was simply me coming to terms with everything that had happened since I left Shijiazhuang. My last couple of weeks in China (Tianjin and Beijing) was such a blur of activity and informational overload that it's taken this last couple of weeks for me to organize my memories, photos and notes into something orderly enou

Wonderful.

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...all sorts of very generous people in China. Bluntly, I'm astonished at how wonderfully I've been treated.

tech details and photos here I visited both the Sea-Gull store at the Sea-Gull factory, and the Beijing flagship store in Beijing. I'll write about both later, but I just got back home and among the 60 or so watches I acquired in China this trip, these are the only two new designs, not at all VCM, and I'm really excited about both of them. First, the Sea-Gull 813.384, running a Sea-Gull ST1

This post is kind of out of chrono order for my China trip, but... ... I visited both the Sea-Gull store at the Sea-Gull factory, and the Beijing flagship store in Beijing. I'll write about both later, but I just got back home and among the 60 or so watches I acquired in China this trip, these are the only two new designs, not at all VCM, and I'm really excited about both of them. First,

Excellent catches, Jon. Note to would-be VCM collectors: it would be possible to build a very worthwhile collection of VCMs based entirely on brands relating to mountains and mountain ranges.

Hi everyone: I'm in Beijing at the moment, wrapping up what has been an incredible month in China. I haven't put together any posts over the past little while and I figured I'd best explain why, and it's simple ... I've been just plain too busy with pretty much non-stop activity due to the (I'm trying not to over-use superlatives, but...) astonishing generosity of the people have been meet

I occasionally note that this hobby has changed my life. I don't mean that in any small way. I mean that my life is very, very much different than what it was or would have been. I have many new friendships, many new appreciations and countless new experiences. I have been shown more kindnesses than I could ever have imagined, travelled further than I would ever have dreamed (twice now)...and

The 7221's are a good build and not yet (as far as I can tell) over-run by hundreds of "new" rebuilds.

I've been in Shijiazhuang with my Chinese brother MaRong/Cameron Ma since the 13th. MaRong and I have been catching up on events since we last got together in 2011 (although we are in contact much more than that), spending time together at local sites (and a night of KTV) and I've been wandering around a lot on my own. (And, yes, I'm up about 20 more watches since I last posted...but most of t

I arrived in Zhengzhou by Air China from Shanghai on April 10th, and had arranged to meet with an English speaking guide named "Sky" and a driver the next day. Unlike most of the time when I go it alone, or with friends, I chose to use a guide since transportation from Zhengzhou to Guoliang is a bit complicated and because it would also take more than two hours even direct by car from Zhengzho

My last post chronicled a crappy hotel, a gray and chilly day, and a beautiful encounter with a true gentleman and his brother. This next post details a fresh start in Luoyang in a different part of the city, with a better hotel (and a pinch of watch content)... ...and a beautiful spring day in the midst of Luoyang's annual spring Peony Festival. I decided to take a good stroll through the

your Beijing also looks wonderful. Good choices, although I'd put that Beijing in the 60s or 70s. Which sure isn't criticism, it's a beautiful example. I'll tell you that seeing those watches so obviousy well-cared for is a wonderful start to my day. Thank you so much for showing me these.

Good catches. I also love textured dials, and the Zhongshan SN2 is a killer movement (and I think it'd be a well-advised movement for use in larger modern watches if the manufacturer wanted low cost and durability. I wonder what happened to the tooling?).

Written on April 12th in Zhongzhou. I'll post about Luoyang and Zhongzhou within a couple of days as I'm very busy with travel (Yuolang to Zhongzhou, and then tomorrow to Shijiazhuang), plus checking off bucket list items (Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang on Tuesday the 8th, and Guoliang Tunnel somewhat near Zhongzhou on Thursday the 10th) but I've wanted to write this post ever since a small, but

Finally I've had time to take these photos and to compile the information (with Joel's help) that I needed to do this properly. Here's the watches (and some additional ephemera) I've been blessed with so far this trip (with huge thanks to a number of very kind people for most of it): Mr Zhou, webmaster of the Chinese watch forum at www.watchstore.cn, provided this lovely Qionghua...

Thank you and it's a pleasure - 5 weeks ago

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...and we have actual watch content!... As I think I'd mentioned in an earlier post, WUS members ntchen2 and 13143268 and I had plans to meet together in Shanghai. Chen had contacted me some time ago and I was really looking forward to seeing him. He had expressed that he didn't speak much English but he'd already shown his English is miles ahead of my Chinese, and Chen had also noted that Sea

(Still writing from Luoyang) WatchuSeek member ntchen (who I'd first met on China's iwatch forum) and I had made plans to meet in Shanghai, along with WatchuSeek member 13143268 (Sean), and April 6th was the day this was gonna happen, so I knew it was going to be a fine enough day. I had no real idea... I wanted to start the day with a visit to Mr. Billy's Handmade Shoes in Shanghai, which

...with heartfelt apologies to any dialup users anywhere... I'm sitting in my hotel in Luoyang (it's now 9 PM here, April 8th), taking a night off from wandering and shooting photos, and from the astonishing friendship (and Olympic calibre drinking) that have occupied these last few days, so that I can organize my thoughts, cull and process a whack of photos (literally hundreds) and try to put

100 RMB is about $16 USD, so a 300RMB watch is about $50, still affordable. And even a 1000 RMB piece is $160 or so. The most special pieces run well over 5000 RMB, and sometimes much more. But the most sought after early pieces are getting rare even when they are not brutally expensive because not so many were made and because they were cherished, and worn. As I've mentioned before: in the

Yes, just one. I'll be showing a few watches in another post - 6 weeks ago

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