Sea-Gull Chinese Military watch Type-99 Tank Commander D813.581

Sea-Gull D813.581 Chinese Military watch Type-99 Tank Commander. Quite a long name

The watch is military themed which has to do with the Type-99 tank. The case is 316L stainless steel. It is 44mm wide, with crown it is 47mm, 13mm thick, 51mm lug to lug and 24mm lug width. It has interesting looking crown guards and a nice polished pull-push crown with Sea-Gull logo. On the other side of the case there is inscription that says: “Chinese Military #1 Watch”. The thing that surprised me the most after inspecting the case closer, was the finishing! It has polished edges on the lugs and small polished line around the bezel. It really gives it a bit higher end feel! And the brushed finishing all around the case is smooth and very good too!

Back of the case is polished and has a screw down case back with engraved Type-99 Tank and a star with Chinese text which translates to.

Around the case back you will find the same finishing as the case, small polished line around the case back. Water resistance is only 50m, which is quite odd to me, as mostly military watches are 100m and higher. But I guess these watches mostly aren’t going this deep underwater, so 50m are enough.

The dial is classic military green. It has retro Sea-Gull logo on top part of dial, in this kind of vintage/beige color. On the underside of the dial you will find writing like: “Automatic, Chinese Military watch since 1964” and under that there’s “China Made”. The hour and minutes hands are sword shaped, and also are in this vintage/beige color. I real like the hands sword shaped but I don’t like the cut outs parts. This is a real bug bearer for me. The seconds hand is simple line with a red arrow on the end and a star shaped counterweight. The hour numerals are 3d raised, which gives a very good depth to the dial. Around the hour numerals you will find minutes and hour markers. All the markers are sharp and easy to read. On the there is date window. The hour, minute hands, hour markers and numerals are applied with lume, and light up beautifully. The lume isn’t the strongest, but it does it’s job well. When I tested it, it was lit through out all night (around 9-10hours)

Crystal is sapphire, and is great addition to already impressive watch! Of course it would be better if it had anti-reflective coating,

The strap is nicely padded, lined, tapered, green canvas. It has solid 22mm buckle with retro Sea-Gull logo in brushed finishing. The strap at first will be very stiff, but it will wear in after 5-10 times

Movement is Sea-Gull automatic ST2553 with hacking seconds. You can also hand-wind it with the crown, and it winds smoothly. The rotor is very noisy and feels that it’s a bit loose. But that’s how it needs to be, as it’s unidirectional. And it’s fairly precise.

Quite surprising timepiece this is, for such a low price. I was very lucky I got it for the amazing prize of 1000 yuan which works out about $150, or £120. Normally this watch retails for 3200 yuan about $400 The finishing on the case, the dial and overall looks are very excellent , at least to me. Would I recommend it? YES! Buy it while it’s out there!