Pagani Design PD-1689 review — Spec monster in a classic dress watch form
This is my first Pagani Design watch. I heard Pagani Design produces affordable watches with not-so-origin designs. You can get a lot for a little money. I try to achieve that so I bought the Pagani Design PD-1689, a Rolex Cellini Date homage watch for $48.
The spec
I told it was a spec monster and it is. It comes with a super high water resistance of 200m, a screw-in crown, case back which is not likely to include in any dress watch. Dome sapphire (tested) with some amount of distortion and reflection which is not much expensive but provides full scratch resistance nonetheless. The movement is 2 jewels Seiko VH65 quartz but it is not like any quartz watch that ticks once per second. This watch ticks 4 times per second provides a smooth second-hand sweep like a mechanical watch and I don’t have to worry about second-hand not hitting the second markers. The movement has a small circle date dial. Full stainless steel case size 40mm dial and 20mm lug width, 10mm thick,47mm lug to lug, a good size for men's watch in general. The weight is lite only 59g. The leather strap is fine, plastic feel but softer when wearing it often. I like a sweet spot for everything for the spec.
The design
It is a copy of the design of the Rolex Cellini Date, a classic expensive dress watch but Pagani Design(PD) doesn’t just copy it, they modify the design to their own and it could be a good thing or bad thing. The sunburst dial design looks the same as the Cellini but they change the 12 o'clock to a double apply marker and put their PD logo lower. The handset is not the same as the Rolex, PD uses a bigger handset that is well proportioned at a first glance and easier to read the time but I found a problem with the handset, the hands are too big, and could hide the date hand and the minute marks because the minute mark is not on the edge of the dial like other watches. There is no need for the hands to reach for the edge. That’s why the Cellini uses the smaller handset circle around the inner area of the dial. PD completely missing the design point. The white paint on the dial is not truly bright white or painted too thin makes it harder to read the minute in the low light situation.
The case design is not good too. PD uses the larger flute bezel and another dome shape bezel inside to hold flatter a sapphire crystal making look like a real dome from a far distance. I admired PD to design a watch to lower the price while still trying the look like the original design. The polished case shape is like the Rolex but this PD has a sharp edge on the backside and it starts to dig my skin and make a mark on my wrist after only wearing it for a few hours. It is because the case back is sitting too low in the back and not pushing the case edge up. The case edge hurts my skin when my wrist moves around.
The spring bar holds are placed too close to the case, making it harder to swap the strap without using the curve spring bar and curve end strap which no one has laying around. I use a nato style strap and change it to a summer watch since it can get wet and could stop the case cut.
The sapphire crystal is a single slightly dome but with a lot of reflection for lacking AR coating. They should just use a flat sapphire crystal since it is almost flat anyway. The PD logo on the strap buckle is upside down. The crown is signed and screw-in to provide water resistance. The jellyfish on the screw-in case back is nice. I am not sure about 200m WR, the material is too thin but I can treat it like a 100m WR watch.
Verdict
This is a mistake. The watch design while looking good on the stock photo but the real watch is not so good. The uncomfortable on the wrist from the sharp edge case make it unwearable. The dial is harder to read the time. I have to work around the strap to make it wearable. Cannot change to any strap you like due to the spring bar hole placement. Overall, PD-1689 is the watch that anyone should not buy even at the AliExpress sale price of $48. Good spec for the money but I am not recommended.
