It’s not a Vacheron Constantin. It’s not a Jaeger-LeCoultre. It’s not even a TAG Heuer. But what it is, is better than you’d expect. Don’t go expecting to study this thing under a microscope and walk away happy, but if you want to give it a glance every once in a while, with plain old ordinary human eyes—it’s actually, surprisingly good. There are blued screws, polished finishes, weights surrounding the balance. They weren’t put there by a wizened Swiss watchmaker in the foothills of the Alps, but they are there, present and correct. Just. Another prototype with a slightly different case prototype SEA-GULL WingTourbillon SEA-GULL WingTourbillon As Sellita matured over the years, it perfected production and both the quality and reliability of its movements are generally considered to be comparable to ETA. The Sellita SW500, for example, is a copy of ETA’s Valjoux 7750, but slightly less expensive and more accessible to brands outside The Swatch Group. The Sellita SW300 is a copy of ETA’s higher-end 2892.A2. Finally, the widely used Sellita SW200 is based (with improvements) on the ETA 2824 architecture. Maurice Lacroix relies on the Sellita SW500 for some of its automatic chronographs. Note the resemblance with the Valjoux 7750 (simply because both movements use the same architecture). The commercially available version will be launched in late 2013, the presell price is 300,000 CNY (about 48,000 CHF, it’s far more expensive than the traditional tourbillon of this brand itself.)

I’m sending you the original photos, but I’m sorry that the quality of photos can’t be higher now. They’ve been done. In my personal view, this watch still has a long distance to go before becoming a real so-called high-end watch. The decoration of the movement and the tourbillon cage looks cheap. But remember, this one is only a prototype. The R&D department claimed that they certainly would brush up the designing and the quality.Both watches had straps with 'genuine alligator' marked on the inside. The ST8000SA has the bigger squares

SEA-GULL has developed its own tourbillion in-house in the tradition started by the French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, who invented the tourbillon watch in 1795. SEA-GULL tourbillion watches are made by its best master watchmakers and available in various designs that all reveal a deep respect for the tradition of fine watch making. After having had a Sea-Gull steel tourbillon (818.900) for almost a year, I thought I'd give a short review and my thoughts and comparisons with other watches. I think this will benefit those who are contemplating purchasing Sea-Gull's higher-end offerings, but are unsure as to whether the extra cost over similar watches is warranted. Btw, Mr. Cao secretly told me that the final version would be produced in September. At that time, I’ll bring more photos and a HD video of this watch to you”…The split between case and movemnent manufacturuers is as old as watchmaking itself. I’ve got a MIDO ”’bumper” automatic day/date and a forunner of the AQUADURA ‘cork’ sealed crown with a BRITISH PATENT number from the late 30’s, and one of the very first MIDO ‘bumpers’ to have a ‘hand wind’ function. MIDO made the case but the movement and that innovative cork Crown seal was I believe [hope my spelling is right] made by TAUBERT. It’s the biggest producer of watches in China, and not just the simple stuff. It makes chronographs, hand wound and automatic, minute repeaters—and of course tourbillons. The irony really is that Switzerland started off making watches in much the same way as China did: producing poor quality, cheap fakes. But, like Switzerland, China’s capabilities are improving every single day, and a fully functional tourbillon is proof of that.

I did not imply that I considered it par for the course for mechanical watches to be dropped on marble flooring, but the fact that a second-grade Sea-Gull tourbillon movement survived such an encounter has impressed me all the more. Granted this may be anecdotal evidence, but I rather doubt that most Swiss makers would submit their 5 or 6 digit tourbillons to the same test. Sellita is a relatively new Swiss movement manufacturer and often thought of as an ETA copycat. To make a long story short, companies can be granted patents for movements, but those generally last for only twenty years and Sellita has capitalized on that. The patent on the aforementioned ETA 2824-2, for example, which launched in the 1970s, has expired and is free of rights. The two companies have an interesting history and were actually partners at one point. ETA had outsourced assembly of its movements to Sellita but eventually decided to cut ties and resume all assembly within the company. The modern Sellita manufacture, based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.Other popular workhorses are the ETA 2824-2 automatic (25 jewels, 28,800vph, 38-hour reserve, available in four grades from Standard to Chronometer) and ETA 2892.A2 automatic (21 jewels, 28,800vph, 42-hour reserve, available in three grades from Elaborated to Chronometer). The 2824-2 is popular with brands like Hamilton, while the 2892.A2 is seen in many high-end brands like IWC and Breitling (even though both brands now mainly source from Sellita). Omega’s famous Seamaster line previously used a modified 2892.A2 as well (but keep in mind that ETA and Omega are both part of the Swatch Group.) ETA movements are so well-known and so reliable that they can be used to power multiple kinds of complications – even the most complex ones, such as the perpetual calendar module found in this Carl F. Bucherer Manero Perpetual. In short, it all comes down to the set-up. How much effort has been put into fine-tuning the movement? Has it been lubricated well? Is it clean? Has it been adjusted and regulated well? Everyone knows someone who owns a Seiko 5 which runs at +3s/day. Everyone knows someone who’s been disappointed with a supposedly high end movement. When talking about contemporary watches, companies generally use either in-house or off-the-shelf movements, the latter supplied by various manufacturers. Many high-end brands like Patek Philippe, Piaget, Rolex and Breguet can produce in-house movements that are optimized for their portfolios. A watch company is considered “complete” when it can produce its own movement, but many still rely on outsourced ones from large Swiss manufacturers like ETA and Sellita. Yet, the market has changed. A few established brands have decided to offer entry-range automatic watches and mostly, microbrands are all over the place, with the need to offer mechanical movements for accessible prices. Alternatives to the usual Swiss generic calibres have thus become crucial.

This thread aims to compare the two watches models that are oftentimes confused with one another. The 818.900 is often the version that Sea-gull provides for other companies to rebrand, while the ST8000SA is the model that Sea-gull sells directly under its house brand. Oftentimes, other companies will rebrand the 818.900 as a Sea-gull, which causes further confusion. And I've never used the word 'often' so many times in one paragraphYesterday, Mr. Cao, the head of the R&D department of SEA-GULL, showed me their dual-axis tourbillon prototype. This new model is named WingTourbillon. But honestly, even I don’t know the meaning of this English name. The thing that makes a tourbillon so appealing, beyond its finishing, beyond the extreme cost, is that it represents an incredible piece of lateral thinking from a period before CAD, before computers, even, that is not only a fantastic technical achievement, but also a visually stirring one as well. Well over two centuries have passed since Abraham-Louis Breguet filed his patent for his whirlwind invention, and here we are in an age where, despite its obsolescence, the very same device can exist for the same price as an Apple Watch.