Ginault Ocean Rover review

Specifications from manufacturer’s website:

• 316L stainless steel, 40mm diameter, 50mm lug to lug, 45mm with crown, 15.6mm thickness, 20mm lugs
• 120 clicks, counter-clockwise rotating bezel, aluminum bezel insert, lumed pip
• Ginault Caliber 7275 auto-hacking-hand winding movement (38 hours power reserve)
• Domed sapphire crystal
• 1000 feet (300m) water resistance
• Vintage lume.

Ginault is a new brand recently introduced Ocean Rover in to the vast sub-homage universe. There is a lot of controversy on forums about the Ginault brand especially on their Built in US claims. As a first time reviewer, I tried to show best only the built quality.

Box and packaging:

Watch comes with a nice presentation box. Box includes shining cloth, 2 piece zulu strap, screw driver, warranty card and timing sheet to show accuracy. Every glossy surface of the watch is covered with protective tape. Especially on the clasp, you will have a lot of tape to remove.

Cacasework & Finish

Overall case work and fit- finish is very good. It is a beautifully implemented homage. It feels excellent on hand or on wrist. Compared to some popular homages I have in hand (Tisell, NTH &Steinhart) it feels better in terms of overall quality. NTH is a strong contender by the way.

Side profile is really handsome. Crown is signed with Ginault logo, machining is crisp as the photos tell.

Dial has a glossy finish with applied indices. It is beautifully executed. Sand lume looks gorgeous and add the vintage vibe of the watch; lume application is impressive very precise. Leaving the center of the second hand to the tip, it is shiny, a very small but a good detail. Dial is a little crowded with writings but it add the look in terms of the aimed watch it pays tribute to.

The bracelet is excellently machined; this is the best bracelet I ever handled (compared to Seiko, Alpina, Tisell, NTH, Steinhart). I usually do not like to wear bracelets but this one feels really good; not too light, not too heavy, no much slope and it snugly fits the case as if it is a solid part of it.

Compared to some of the popular budget sub homages:

I can state that it feels better than the other sub homage watches I have; also its profile-case shape is appealing and handsome. Comparing is not very right here, since they all have different styles, but Ginault holds its own place and deserved to be praised.

Lume:

Lume is an important aspect for watch geeks like me. Lume on this watch satisfies the company claims; It is as bright as the C3 of NTH while looking vintage and stays as long as the BGW9 (As of my experience BGW9 stays longer than C3 even though weaker at the beginning) of the Tisell. Steinhart’s vintage look lume fades away really quickly. Ginault keeps glowing less green (maybe my eyes but it looks like whitish) as the initial bright glow fades.

To conclude, Ginault is a new brand with competitive claims and their Ocean Rover satisfies those claims. I did not check what exactly inside it yet (might update later), but the movement is very accurate. It is +1 according to my experiments. If you are on the market for a high-end sub homage you should consider Ginault and do not forget to ask about their discount codes.