What Are Some Popular Homage Watch Brands?

I talk a lot about homage watches on this site, but I am generally quite vague about what brands are good and actually worth looking into, so here I want to talk about a few brands that are popular and have some great offerings.

If you are looking to get a homage watch, I would stick with these brands. Some are maybe cheaper than others, and some maybe have stronger homage levels than others, but these are all brands I would happily buy from.

San Martin

San Martin are one of the better homage brands you can buy on Aliexpress. The quality of their watches is incredible and pretty much everyone agrees they are extremely good value and easily compare, if not beat a lot of watches that a lot more expensive than them.

The quality of finishing is incredible on these watches and you will be very happy with your purchase.

When it comes to the designs, San Martin have started to move away from the more direct copying style of homage watches, but a good few of their watches are still pretty strong homages, you can definitely tell what they are trying to do.

They are actually starting to produce their own designs, so potentially they may move away from homages, and just be a full blown microbrand, only time will tell.

However, for now, they are one my favourite homage brands. I would actually be pretty happy to just have a collection of watches that was only from San Martin, they really are that good.

(You can read more about – Are San Martin Watches Any Good?)

Pagani Design

Pagani Design is the other main player on Aliexpress and they have really started to step up their game in the last few years.

They are known as being the affordable homage brand on Aliexpress, offering some seriously cheap watches, with surprisingly good specs.

These watches are not always the best quality and they always have awful lume, but when you take a step back and realise that you have usually paid less than $100 for the watch, it’s pretty incredible what you end up receiving. 

Paganis whole catalogue is full of very strong homages of currently available luxury watches, they are skirting very close to the clomage side of things, but of course everything is legal, even if it’s only barely at times.

If you want one of these luxury watches, but can’t really justify the price, Pagani is probably where you want to look. There is certainly a big difference between the $100 pagani and $100k luxury watch. The quality is not going to be the same, but you can still get a pretty decent watch for what you are paying for.

(You can read more about – Are Pagani Design Watches Any Good?)

 Steeldive

 Steeldive are another Aliexpress homage brand, who seems to call themselves a mircobrand, which is fair enough. Although, the reality is that they are very much a homage brand and their levels of homaging is pretty high.

They make some really good quality watches and interestingly they actually homage a few Seikos. You could easily argue that you should just save up for a short while and get the original, which may be true, but their versions are certainly comparable, at a fraction of the price.

This is especially true for the Seiko Willard, where the 1970s original are going for just shy of £2k and the newer release is around £1k. This is still pretty obtainable for most people, but can still be considered a lot of money …the Steeldive is less than £100 and it is excellent quality, so you can understand the appeal for these watches.

The rest of their offerings are their versions of the usual luxury watches, and they do a pretty good job. If you buy one these you shouldn’t be disappointed they are a decent brand.      

(You can read more about – Are Aliexpress Watches Any Good?)

Squale

When people think of Squale, they think of excellent entry level Swiss diving watches  …but they are actually a homage brand.

When you look at some of their catalogue, I think it’s pretty clear what they are homaging, although they do also homage their own watches, taking inspiration from the ones they produced back in the 1960s.

They are a Swiss company that is over 60 years old and they are the perfect example of a how homaging should be done. They are not doing the 1 for 1 copies that you can find on Aliexpress and are instead actually tastefully producing watches that give a subtle nod to some classic watches.

I would argue they are more of a brand that does unique designs, but the historians among us collectors will point the little homages here and there.

These watches are a going to be a little more expensive, they are Swiss and very well made as well as being actual proper diving watches. However, you are getting a great watch with a rich heritage and maybe only a slight dash of homage thrown in too.

This brand is not like the other cheap homages I have mentioned, Squale can really stand on its own as a proper watch brand that can be respected by any collector. 

Steinhart

Steinhart are another Swiss brand that would probably be classes as knocking on the door of entry level luxury. They are certainly making some great quality watches and while their watches have their own charm, it is pretty clear where they get the inspiration for their dive watches.  

A lot of people like to buy dive watches from this company if they want a homage, that isn’t a total one for one replica and is actually also going to be of a very high quality Swiss watch.

These watches get a lot of respect from collectors for good reason, they may be a little bit pricier than the Aliexpress ones, but they do outclass them all by miles.

Conclusion    

Hopefully this short list helped you and maybe now you have a better understanding of the type of homages that are available and maybe even you might have seen one or two you want to buy.

Homages can be great watches and if you stick with any of the brands I have mentioned here, you will avoid the poor quality watches and end up with something pretty decent that you can wear and enjoy for many years.

(You can also read about – Affordable Watch Brands That Are Not Just Homages)