Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Alpha Automatic Seamaster Homage

Alpha watches are as close as most people in this hobby like to get to full-on fake watches. This watch is obviously based on the "Bond"-style Omega Seamaster, right down to the waves on the dial and back and beefy stainless clasp. Of course, this Alpha version is totally made in China with a Chinese automatic movement. The only difference between this "real" Alpha and a fake Omega is the markings. Unfortunately, I know there's a good chance this watch came off the same assembly line as the fake Omegas, but I like to feel that by supporting the more honest of the two "brands", that I'm actually doing something to stop the blatant counterfeiting; showing them that they can make and sell watches without resorting to essentially lying. This is the most well-built Alpha I've ever laid hands on, nicer than the Rolex homages, and also nicer than the Omega Planet Ocean homage that I bought at the same time (on which they cheaped out on the clasp and bracelet.) Now, that being said, the pin holding the deployant clasp closed did come off today, and I haven't checked to see if I can fix it yet, but that's not incredibly surprising for a watch that costs 2% of the watch it's imitating. Probably the worst part of having an homage like this one is now I have the itch to get the authentic version. I've always liked them, and almost purchased one before the extra-huge Omega Planet Ocean came along (which I did buy and will post at some point.) Oh, and one last thing, unlike the real Omegas, this Alpha is marked as "3 ATM Water Resistant", which means it's probably splash proof but certainly not a diver, despite the screw-in back and diver looks.

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