At the end of March I posted a deal for a Thorn watch, and which I ended up purchasing for myself. It’s most definitely an homage to the Tudor Pelagos 39mm or, as someone suggested in the comments of the deal, “…a slavish copy”. However, with a difference in price of well over $7K it seemed like a good idea to try one out to see if I like the look and form, and which would also tell me if it’s worth saving up for the real thing. After wearing it quite a lot over the past few weeks I wanted to share my experience in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same thing.
Thorn SHY036 Titanium 39mm Automatic Dive Watch
THE STYLING
Let’s first address the (gigantic) elephant in the room - it’s been copied almost verbatim from the Pelagos. Apart from that it’s a fairly standard dive watch format with a unidirectional rotating bezel, sterile screw-down caseback, and screw-down crown. The entire case and bracelet are made of titanium with fine brushing on all surfaces, including the bracelet, except for the crown - strangely, that’s been left high-polished and is unsigned (maybe made of stainless steel?). Overall it all has the characteristic darker gunmetal hue that titanium displays. The push-button bracelet is milled and has 4 holes of micro-adjust. The bracelet is a common 20mm width with fitted end-links and has no visible pins or screws, which left me dismayed at first as I had no idea how I was meant to resize it. After thoroughly poking and prodding I was left completely stumped until I had another look at the Thorn web site and discovered a video showing how it features a toolless system for removing links. Nifty idea, but it would’ve been nice to know about it in advance (more on that later…).
The dial comes in a choice of blue or black with white indexes or a slightly greyish black with fauxtina indexes; I chose the latter for mine, although in retrospect I maybe would have preferred black instead. When I had a really close look under strong light there’s an ever-so-slight sunburst effect which is kind of pleasing. All text is painted on and the indexes are applied lume blocks that are really quite chunky and solid looking, and there’s no date to clutter things up. White dial text is the company name and logo above the pinion and three lines below advertising WR rating (in red), that it’s an automatic watch, and an inexplicable ‘EXPLORATION ROAD’. (To this day I still have no idea what that’s in reference to.) Minute markers are printed onto the rehaut with simple lines.
The hands are a Tudor-style snowflake shape with full lume, but in a surprising departure the seconds hand on the style I got is red coloured along the entire length (it still has the diamond lume spot, though). The bezel is ceramic with lumed markers and numerals around it. Capping it off is a flat sapphire with some anti-reflective coating applied.
THE FACTS
- RRP: USD $189 (purchased for USD $164 shipped)
- Case width: 38.8mm
- Case material: Titanium
- Thickness: 12.1mm (including crystal)
- Lug-to-Lug: 46.2mm
- Strap width: 20mm
- Weight: 99g (94g w/ 2 links removed)
- Crystal: Flat sapphire
- Movement: H.K. Precision Technology PT5000, 3-hander (with date?) and hacking
- Caseback: Solid sterile
- Crown: RH barrel, unsigned, screw-down
- Strap: Titanium bracelet
- Strap width: 20mm
- Clasp: Milled deployment w/ 4 holes micro-adjust
PHOTOS
I’ve added links to some photos in the text above but here are some others to show off what it looks like under artificial and natural light.
- Packaging with the box and full contents - Note the dated warranty card!
- Wrist shot - LH - artificial light
- Wrist shot - RH - natural light on NATO-style strap
WHAT I LIKE
Okay, I admit there’s zero originality in the design, but I bought it precisely so I could road-test the size, weight, and form factor to get a real-world idea if the Pelagos would be something I’d like to own. This is not a new phenomenon amongst Chinese manufacturers with many making homages, such as San Martin, Seestern, and Tactical Frog. The Thorn watch does a credible job of doing exactly what I asked of it, and at a price that was very palatable. It’s a very comfortable watch to wear that’s lightweight and with a bracelet which fits my wrist nicely. The toolless adjustments makes resizing a breeze, and with 4 holes of micro-adjust I feel confident that seasonal changes won’t compromise fit too much. It’s also a bit of a strap monster - I tried it on a bunch of NATO-style and rubber straps and it suits those really well, although leather looks a bit incongruous with the tool-y nature of it.
I’ve never had a PT5000 movement before, and after reading about it at Caliber Corner I learnt it’s a clone of the venerable ETA 2824. From the comments of that article it looks like it’s well regarded and most people are happy with it (with one caveat - see later). Interestingly, this one seems to have a ghost date position as the crown has two clicks before getting to the time setting position. Still, I found that it kept reasonable time, running at about +5 seconds per day which is a refreshing alternative to the NH35 that often runs slower.
Legibility is good and even without my glasses I can still tell the time easily, including the seconds hand. The lume is awesome - it’s bright, long-lasting, and there’s not too much detail. I think that’s what put me off the Steeldive SD1970, the fact there’s so much lume detail it’s actually difficult to tell the time after dark.
I purchased it direct from the Thorn store during an ‘Anniversary Sale’ event at USD $164 with free shipping when paired with a code. Today, however, it’s still $164 so I suspect that will be the street price moving forward. It can also be found on Ali Express for close to the same price, and with coupons might even be cheaper, but you’ll also need to factor in the GST. This makes it one of the most affordable Pelagos homages around.
WHAT I DON’T LIKE
I guess the old adage of “You get what you pay for” definitely applies here. Firstly, while the bracelet resizing system works really well there was zero mention of it in the packaging; in fact, there was no documentation at all except for the warranty card. In this instance I feel that some sort of manual would have been warranted. Additionally, ample micro-adjust is welcome but with the wide availability of on-the-fly adjustment that would’ve been much preferable, and also leans further in the Pelagos design language as that’s a defining feature. The absence of quick-release sringbars, though, is definitely a glaring omission and something I was surprised to see was missing considering how resizing is so easy.
Second, the bezel action is not smooth at all, it’s quite ratchety when turning and there’s noticeable play when it’s in position. Third, while it has some anti-reflective coating on the crystal it could’ve done with another coat or two as in bright light the dial can get a bit lost.
Lastly, the movement. This is the first PT5000 I’ve owned so I have nothing to compare it against. When I first started winding it up I was struck by how tight it felt and also how noisy it is. When I read the comments in Caliber Corner article there were several mentions of broken crown stems and more than a few suggestions hand-winding should be avoided altogether. Thus, I’ve only been winding it if it’s completely stopped - having said that, power reserve is ample so with daily wearing you shouldn’t need to hand-wind ever. I also find the rotor rather noisy. Miyota are famous for having noisy rotors due to the unidirectional winding, but the PT5000 is meant to be bi-directional so why the spinning noise? I actually unscrewed the caseback to have a look and, sure enough, it does wind in both directions. I could also audibly hear it working when moving the rotor by hand.
WAS IT WORTH IT?
Yes and no. I wanted a cheap Pelagos lookalike made of titanium and that’s exactly what I got, so I can’t complain I was cheated. However, with the issues I outlined above I cannot recommend this watch to anyone as a suitable daily wearer. The rubbish bezel action and a bracelet that’s missing key features would rule it out for that alone, but the concern over the movement really puts a nail in it. Spend a bit more and get the San Martin instead, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get better finishing and a more robust movement.
For now, I’ve gotten what I wanted out of it so this is going to be relegated as a beater watch in my collection, one that I’ll wear when I don’t want to worry about knocks & bumps or if it’ll break off and get lost. I think it’ll be fine for that purpose. It’s not one I’ll wear out daily or at the office.
I think you should have my username.