Are San Martin Watches Good? Watch This Before you Buy a San Martin GMT!

This video is an honest opinion of the quality of the San Martin GMT. Are San Martin watches any good? Are they a good value? Watch this before you buy a San Martin (Tudor) GMT.

[mikegreig]

It never fails to amaze me that people say you shouldn’t wear a watch that’s a copy, but we’re happy to wear clothes from department stores that are straight up copies of designer brands, what’s the difference?

[knutjunker]

I don't give a shit whether watch snobs respect my watch. I buy it so that I like it, not them. I have originals and homages, and I just don't care.

[jackmcclary]

How pompous presenting one’s self as the voice of the watch community and what it “respects” or doesn’t respect. The insecure person with a weak argument will frequently frame their position as “we” instead of “me” because they think “we” gives their take added validity and clout. It’s similar to the person who shares “people tell me all the time” stories that never happened or “sir you are such a genius” episodes that occurred only in their head.

Spend ANY time in the watch space and you will find that the gatekeepers are an ever shrinking part of the community and that there aren’t ANY universally held sentiments. Even if it is “most people”, who cares? When a snob finds another snob they often validate their minority view and smugly proclaim that’s how “everybody” thinks. It’s not enough to not buy a watch one dislikes, keyboard “experts” want to herd you into not liking or buying it either. Say no to herding.


People who are actually familiar with SM QC know that it very much holds its own with watches in the same price tier including Seiko, Seagull and Timex. Only the most shallow think “luxury goods” garner respect and gatekeeping snobs hurt the hobby more than any watch company ever will. I honestly suspect that many of the “I got a bad one” SM stories are keyboard posturing based on my talking face to face with many other enthusiasts who own SMs and the dozens that I have owned or handled.

I organize and attend many watch events, own hundreds of watches in multiple price tiers and conduct research on watch companies and their histories yet even I only claim to speak for myself. When one digs a little deeper one often finds that much of the SM hate isn’t even really about homages but rather thinly veiled animosity towards their country of origin. You don’t hear the same level of homage indignation for the many Day-Date and OP derivatives made by Swiss companies yet there are many more of those.

Tell me how small you are without telling me how small you are.

[ericbouza]

I own 3 San Martin's, they are all within plus or minus 5 seconds a day with a NH35.
All of them have perfect alignment.
Not sure what happened to yours but it is not indicative of San Martin's in general.
Maybe you can afford to buy a Tudor, but I'm not in that category.
San Martin and Baltany are as good as it gets for me. I get tons of compliments on my SM 39 Pelagos, so far no negative comments.
And it's made from stainless steel wich I prefer over titanium.
Want a SS Pelagos?
Sorry, Tudor won't sell you one.

[johnnyhock]

You got a bad one…
San Martins are renowned for their great finishing - better than higher end brands
I am 65 and been a collector for years. I have a huge watch collection, and I can personally tell you that TUDOR finishing is awful for the price. I have 6 Tudors in my collection and 3 of them have alignment problems - 2 of them straight poor bezel alignment!
I would say, hand on heart that the finishing on the couple of San Martins I have is at least equal to if not better quality than my Tudors !
The NH35 is a workhorse of a Seiko movement, reliable and stable and perfect for the San Martins to keep the price low .

[spasev]

I’ll buy a San Martin watch after watching your video because I despise snobbery and people like you.

[PatrickEVRAable]

This video just stinks of watch snob, completely disregarding all the amazing work San Martin has done for enthusiasts with moderate budgets.

[MrDazza]

The one thing you fail to mention my friend is….3-10 thousand+ watches can and do suffer from exactly the same issues you mention here. I know, Ive had, and do own some.
I also have a $50 mechanical watch that runs as accurately as any of my Cosc certified watches.
So quit trying to belittle the folks less fortunate than yourself by suggesting that anything below 3 grand is a pile of shite. Because that is just simply not true!

[SydneyDrums]

You wanna know what really sucks about this video .. Watching someone drive around in a car when you just want them to continuously show you the watch, features, spin the bezel etc

[khoeiaidin]

These Chinese micro brands have demonstrated that quality can be achieved in a much more cost-efficient way than high end or mid-end brands. They can in every aspect beat a Seiko except the original design. Standard sapphire Crystal, screw down crown, higher end bracelets so on and so forth with the same movement as a Seiko. Perhaps there is a lesson here for brands like Seiko and Hamilton that ask 10x more for fewer features. Knowing also that they have in house movements and original designs they can easily throw in sapphire crystal and a better bracelet. My Hamilton Kakhi has a shit Lume which is a complete shame for a brand like that.

Also I agree with whomever said this guy is a watch snob. Bla bla and this and that about how poorly built is a San Martin. I have one and it’s an outstanding watch for the price and has a much higher score quality to price ratio than all the big brands up there especially Rolexes.

Last but not least respect to these micro brands making these nice designs accessible to the majority of watch lovers who can’t afford them or have other priorities.

[MichaelAChang]

No body buys a Rolex for its accuracy. Want accuracy? Go buy a $15 Chinese quartz watch. You want to pay $15, 000 for someone to fuss over your watch on a polisher? Go ahead. Stop wasting our time with this nonsense.

[Jason-hveu]

First, blast the entire homage industry and its consumers. Then, try to be objective on whether San Martin produces “good” watches. 😂

[cosmodoc]

I have never seen a San Martin with misalignment or one with an accuracy of worse than +\- 7secs per day!

[drebarthelotte]

I disagree with everything you said.
You I bet have never built your own watch.
You I don't believe got one minute off in a day. Maybe the first day you ever worn the watch. I have 5 San Martin watches. They are regulated and pressure tested.
If you had such a watch to be off that much I'm sure the customer service can help.
You never compared watches under watchmaker glasses.
I done. Thank you.

[JFrusci]

I love it when I see so many YouTube reviewers talking about how these copies will get you no respect in the watch community, but in the same video go on to say that it doesn't matter if you're buying your watch as a snob or value buyer, just wear your watch. At the end of the day, who cares? No one would have the balls to tell me to my face they do not respect me because I'm wearing an homage watch. I truly believe that most people buy what they like and what they can afford. Clearly, there is a demand for these designs at a much cheaper price. Therefore, someone will step in to fill that demand. I must've gotten lucky with my San Martin purchases. I own the exact San Martin GMT here. To be fair, it has smaller dimensions than the Tudor GMT it is copying, which makes it more attractive for people who love the design, but have a smaller wrist. It also has the same GMT movement that's found in the Seiko 5 GMT, which everyone is praising for what it provides at the cost it is. If you're really looking for high accuracy, buy a quartz. Let's call a spade a spade, you should also point out that the issues this has for the price isn't that bad when Tudor has some quality control issues at a much higher price point than this. You should expect these issues from a Chinese homage. I would be surprised if these issues werent there in these brands.

[PocketUau]

Wtf kind of issues does that watch have? My San Martin GMT runs +2–5 in 6 positions. That’s a really low delta for an NH34.

[richardtyler]

I love my San Martin, it gets a ton of compliments. And with everyone having phones to tell time, all watches are these days are basically jewelry. Unless you’re an Elitist watch snob, then I can respect your opinion. Other than the Elitism, it was a fair and decent review.

[MichaelG]

I own a few San Martins and haven't had the sort of issues you mention. The finishing is generally very good, comparable to microbrand watches or better. The movements are generally a lot more accurate than what you experienced. They also offer watches with a Swiss movement option, but I find that the Seiko movements they use to be just fine.

[tomasarfert]

I got 6 San Martin watches so far. I had never had any issues with the quality, and when it comes to finishing, they are mostly better than more expensive watches I have, like my Hamilton, my Tissot etc. The movements in a San Martin are mostly made by Seiko or some ETA clone.

[LordSod]

This guy is comparing 10k watches to 300 dollar watches.. what do you expect? You get what you pay for. Not every can or wants to spend 10k on a watch which does the same thing as the cheaper watch. They tell the time and people enjoy whats on the wrist.