Not a full review since I just got the watch today, but I wanted to share this find.
First off, this is probably not the best value on AliExpress. The Thorn T001 is likely a better deal overall. I paid $370 for this one.
It uses a Chinese-made Sellita SW261-1M manual wind movement. I’m not entirely sure what that means in terms of licensing vs. cloning, but it likely explains the higher price point.
37mm diameter
44mm lug-to-lug
10mm thickness
I mainly bought it because I wanted a gold dress watch with a manual wind movement and a display caseback and be somewhat small. After a lot of searching, this was the only option on AliExpress that checked all those boxes (there were st17 options but the movment looks ugly imo and they all 38mm, which is pushing it for a dress watch imo). I was really hoping Baltany’s pie pan would be manual wind, but no luck.
Overall, it’s a nice watch. The dial looks clean, crisp, and elegant.
That said, a few downsides worth mentioning:
19mm lug width — kind of an annoying size to find straps for. I swapped it with an 18mm strap I had lying around for now. The stock strap wasn’t great anyway.
It’s a bit loud — noticeably louder than an NH35, for reference. I don’t have a Miyota to compare it to, though.
Price — pretty steep for what it is.
Very clearly inspired by the Omega CK 859.
Still, it does exactly what I wanted, so I’m happy with it so far.