Steeldive SD1979 - Squale 1521 Homage

[Steve O.]

Steeldive, like San Martin, produces above average quality watches. This 200m diver has many design ques from the Squale 1521: 42mm satin finish case, signed screw down crown, domed saphire crystal with AR coating, and 120 click rotating bezel with lumed ceramic insert. The movement is a hand windable, hacking Seiko NH35. It comes on a Strapsco soft silicone rally diver strap. The watch was delivered in a black pelican case. Picked this one up new for less than $200. Helluva a deal IMHO!

[CarloDWC]

Yes, Steel Dive is also very nice apparently. This one "almost" looks like a Paradive... if you swap the hands for ladder ones you will have a Poor Man Paradive...

[mattcantwin]

Nice add.

[deepcdvr]

Dang!
Love inexpensive fun... kinda like Olongapo in the eighties... but I digress..

Nice pickup

[kempoman]

They also make Omega Ploprof for less than USD500...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashion-New-Se ... SwWnRdr8YD

[AtomicTom]

Well have to thank you for the news of them Steve. Honestly did
not know about them until just now ! Thanks so much, and
a GINORMOUS congratulations to you also !!! ..Man, this hobby is
great right?! You have a watch that really does everything, and
has everything you could want a dive watch to have. Then it has
that Sweet Squale way about it. It’s a real home run/grand slam !

Yowzers, can’t get enough of just the satin finish, and even the
boxes they come in are neat. ..Steeldive gets a 5 out of 5 !
BIG congrats once again !!!

[streetracer101]

Dang!
Love inexpensive fun... kinda like Olongapo in the eighties... but I digress..

Nice pickup

Minus the syphilis.

[deepcdvr]

Dang!
Love inexpensive fun... kinda like Olongapo in the eighties... but I digress..

Nice pickup

Minus the syphilis.

Hopefully?

[streetracer101]

Dang!
Love inexpensive fun... kinda like Olongapo in the eighties... but I digress..

Nice pickup

Minus the syphilis.

Hopefully?

Nothing a sprinkle of penicillin won't take care of

[River Rat]

Remember when the ship would leave Subic naval base there would be a line in front of the Corpsman office wonder for what

[streetracer101]

Just looked at San Martin watches.
To think people pointed the finger at Ginault....

Watch collectors are a fickle group.

[tattoo chef]

Just looked at San Martin watches.
To think people pointed the finger at Ginault....

I think the finger pointing comes down to price.
Watch guys (not all, but generally) seem to be okay with a copy-homage-clone as long as it’s a cheap price.
Ginault has been well covered and beyond the high price tag, the over the top marketing, made in USA claims, and the blog post last year didn’t do them any favors. Ginault attempts to make the watches and company more than what they really are, which is just a really good mil-sub Rolex copy, made in China. I’m not going to get into a whole thing about how many companies make claims that aren’t true or market the watches in a way that make them more prestigious than they really are, but Ginault seems to go above and beyond when it comes to that.

With San Martin and Steel Dive (which I suspect is made in the same factories) and all the others, there is no pretense. The watches usually range from $150-$300 depending on the model, and these prices are very low compared to the models they copy.

Some can say this is hypocritical, and that a copy is a copy, but I’m not one to judge. It’s just my observation of being a reviewer and all the comments I’ve seen on various sites over the years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Ryeguy]

No offense to Steve, but I find that watch pretty distasteful.

It's one thing for San Martin (and the like) to copy a current Seiko model; while distasteful, the copies on the market probably don't create too much fiscal impact to Seiko Epson as a corporation. They really aren't putting our ability to get a new Seiko diver at risk (no more than a Sub homage puts Rolex at risk).

Squale, in contrast, is by all accounts a pretty small brand that (in theory) could go under fairly easily. I really like my Squale 1521 and I hope to be able to continue buying Squale dive watches in the future.

A really low cost Chinese copy of the 1521 probably really hurts Squale fiscally as someone who maybe could afford an $800 1521 might instead purchase a $200 clone. They are playing for the same audience and I'd bet the clone buyer may never "step up" to the authentic product (they way they might with a Rolex homage or a PAM homage).

Ginault, for all their marketing blunders / exaggerations / lies, at least copied a long expired design then added their minor twists (handset, crystal, etc.). I find it very ironic the same people who piled on in the Ginault threads are absent from the San Martin threads.

[Ryeguy]

Stolen from a thread over on WUS, but I thought it was relevant:

[Steve O.]

No offense to Steve, but I find that watch pretty distasteful.

It's one thing for San Martin (and the like) to copy a current Seiko model; while distasteful, the copies on the market probably don't create too much fiscal impact to Seiko Epson as a corporation. They really aren't putting our ability to get a new Seiko diver at risk (no more than a Sub homage puts Rolex at risk).

Squale, in contrast, is by all accounts a pretty small brand that (in theory) could go under fairly easily. I really like my Squale 1521 and I hope to be able to continue buying Squale dive watches in the future.

A really low cost Chinese copy of the 1521 probably really hurts Squale fiscally as someone who maybe could afford an $800 1521 might instead purchase a $200 clone. They are playing for the same audience and I'd bet the clone buyer may never "step up" to the authentic product (they way they might with a Rolex homage or a PAM homage).

Ginault, for all their marketing blunders / exaggerations / lies, at least copied a long expired design then added their minor twists (handset, crystal, etc.). I find it very ironic the same people who piled on in the Ginault threads are absent from the San Martin threads.

Well Chris, I have to disagree. I have several genuine Squales and don't think that this "Chinese copy" is going to hurt Squale in the least. Whether or not someone wants, or is able to, spend $800. plus on a genuine Squale depends largely upon their financial circumstance. The Steeldive is a fun, attractive watch, and may allow someone who otherwise may not be able to afford the real deal, to come close. No offense, but I find nothing offensive about that.

[Steve O.]

Stolen from a thread over on WUS, but I thought it was relevant:

Jeez. The Steeldive is meant to be my fun beater. Nothing more.

[Ryeguy]

No offense to Steve, but I find that watch pretty distasteful.

It's one thing for San Martin (and the like) to copy a current Seiko model; while distasteful, the copies on the market probably don't create too much fiscal impact to Seiko Epson as a corporation. They really aren't putting our ability to get a new Seiko diver at risk (no more than a Sub homage puts Rolex at risk).

Squale, in contrast, is by all accounts a pretty small brand that (in theory) could go under fairly easily. I really like my Squale 1521 and I hope to be able to continue buying Squale dive watches in the future.

A really low cost Chinese copy of the 1521 probably really hurts Squale fiscally as someone who maybe could afford an $800 1521 might instead purchase a $200 clone. They are playing for the same audience and I'd bet the clone buyer may never "step up" to the authentic product (they way they might with a Rolex homage or a PAM homage).

Ginault, for all their marketing blunders / exaggerations / lies, at least copied a long expired design then added their minor twists (handset, crystal, etc.). I find it very ironic the same people who piled on in the Ginault threads are absent from the San Martin threads.

Well Chris, I have to disagree. I have several genuine Squales and don't think that this "Chinese copy" is going to hurt Squale in the least. Whether or not someone wants, or is able to, spend $800. plus on a genuine Squale depends largely upon their financial circumstance. The Steeldive is a fun, attractive watch, and may allow someone who otherwise may not be able to afford the real deal, to come close. No offense, but I find nothing offensive about that.

It's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over. We all have our own yardstick regarding what is considered an "acceptable" homage and what is not and I am in the "buy what you like, wear what you like" camp.

I think I am more commenting in agreement to Andrea's observation than anything else.

For example, I bought a Ginault when they first came out (for $518 and prior to all the controversy) and reviewed it here. One comment to my review was "wearing that watch would hurt my soul".

FWIW, I do think this copy being on the market will hurt Squale more than their Seiko "homages" with fiscally hurt Seiko, but that is just my opinion.

[CarloDWC]

The actual fact is that there are now many more options for watches within the $200-300 range that this particular one is almost a drop in the ocean. If Squale has problems it isn't because of this one model but because of the hundreds of different dive watch models that one can buy now days for less then 1/3 of the price of a new Squale. Not that I justify Steel Dive from copying the overall design, I don't, and in fact I don't understand why they don't at least change it a bit instead of making it so similar... Same for the other homages as a matter of fact... It would be easy to keep the basic "mold" and then change at least the design of the dial, hands and bezel so as not to make copies. But I don't have a say on what these companies produce.

If someone wants a Squale he will get one. Squale is a specific watch, made in a certain place and a certain way, this one is not even the same although it is very similar. But no one would think that this is a Squale. One does not buy a Squale because he wants a Dive watch, he does because he wants that specific brand and model.

Squale themselves sell a watch that is essentially a Rolex Sub homage... are they hurting Rolex? I doubt it, one can see if a watch is a brand or another. And with a difference between $20,000 and whatever hundreds the Squale cost, I don't think it is a comparison anyone would consider. But in all fairness it is a homage that they make, same for Davosa and others.

[HapaHapa]

What I find interesting about the San Martin tuna versions is they are almost like tuna mods. Red, green, blue, brown dials are all colors that you don’t find in tunas (well, at least not until the Street series). San Martin also has a solar version with a completely different dial, again more like a modder’s version. If I had to dream up a yard stick on when it’s ok to produce a homage version, I’d say close to an order of magnitude price difference is a good starting point.

You won’t likely get blazing Seiko lume though, which would be a turn off.