Wednesday 18 March 2015

Biaoka S017 Automatic Skeleton watch

Today I'm wearing a fancy looking watch from a brand I've not come across before.

The watch is by a brand called Biaoka. From what I've found online, the brand is Chinese and seems to specialise in mechanical watches. I've not found a website for the brand themselves, but the watches are sold at many different sales sites across the Far East. It doesn't look like the brand has spread much beyond the Far East though, as there is limited information on English language sites. The watches they produce seem to be in the low/reasonable price range, with many for sale in the $20-$50 range, but I've seen some models being sold for up to $360.

This model is the S017 and is a mechanical analogue watch with an automatic movement. The movement is a sweep hand design with a beat frequency greater than 14,400 beats per hr (-it looks to be around 17,000 bph from my crude counting). It has a 3 hand dial design with a small extra dial at the 6 o'clock position. The unusual thing is that the small dial covers seconds along with the seconds hand on the main dial, so there are two seconds hands running in sync.

The watch has a skeleton design with the gold and silver movement showing through the holes on the black face. Where the face isn't cut away, it is engraved with a fine pattern giving a high-cost feel. The brand name and small dial are in a pink colour, and there are also jewels/crystals at the hour markers. The back of the watch is also clear so you can see the spinning weight, and there is the text 'Biaoka' and 'Time Concepts' printed on the glass. The strap is metal, but very light, so I think it is a mix of stainless steel and base metal.

I don't think the brand is that old, so I'd guess that the watch is from this decade. I found one for sale on a Malaysian website for around $35, so I don't think it is a high cost model, although everything apart from the strap seems well made and high quality.

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