#orientalphilosophy

Today I am reviewing a watch microbrand called BM&Y Watch. Firstly, the name BM&Y means ‘Between Me & You’. Also, let me mention a little bit about the company itself. Rickie Pak and his friends in Hong Kong established the watch brand within the past couple of years. They have experience in the watch making field especially Rickie, as he has been involved with watches since the 70’s. Rickie is also a watch collector but wanted to create a watch that was affordable yet is good quality at the price point of a quartz watch. The BM&Y motto is ‘Time Unites Us’ along with ‘Oriental Philosophy’. I think the latter suits it more as this brand comes from Hong Kong thus has oriental ingrained within in the company.

So far as I am aware BM&Y Watch has 3 models in their watch line up and fitted with various straps. Let’s look at the aesthetics first; they feature one main design, a vintage 1960’s style watch but with differences in colour of the dials and the seconds hands. The seconds hand uses ‘&’ symbol on it as a weight and this is certainly a nice touch along with good craftsmanship. There is the white dial watch and this comes with a tan brown leather strap. Secondly, the black dial with red seconds hand and this comes with a black leather strap with red stitching. Thirdly, there is the version with the blue sunburst dial that is the one I have, it comes with either a denim strap or blue suede red stitching. My personal favourite is the sun burst blue dial version, as when it catches the light it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Going into more detail, the watch has a case diameter of 43mm without crown, which is considered large for a dress style watch, but this has a sporty feel to it too. The watch uses a highly domed mineral crystal glass, which was typical of vintage style acrylic used on watches in the 60’s, this pay homage to watches of that era certainly. The domed mineral crystal gives the watch a distorted look from certain angles and this I love, this cannot be achieved on sapphire crystals. BM&Y Watches have also added Anti-reflection (AR) coating and anti-scratch technology to the mineral crystal thus making the watch more eligible under sunlight and robust to knocks and scratches.

On the back houses an exhibition case back, which too also uses a mineral crystal. Although it would have been good to use a sapphire crystal at the price point of $299 it is acceptable and dress watches don’t need sapphire. The watch has a 20mm lug width and a 50mm lug-to-lug length. The thickness of the watch is 12.45mm so it is able to fit under the cuff of a shirt with ease.

The BM&Y watch uses a sword blade like hour and minutes hands, the hour hands brush along the numerals so are an adequate length. The minute hands are longer and brush across the minutes/ seconds track. There is a track around the outside with 5 minute/second intervals and notches in between these markers. The numerals on the watch are Breguet style classic numerals and are applied onto the dial with silver markers, which give the watch a classy vintage style to them.

Beneath the 12 o’clock position there is the ‘BM&Y time unites us’ logo, I think there is too much text, as one line of ‘BM&Y’ would suffice. Nevertheless, most watch brands could make improvements to their design department. The date is at the inside of the 3 o’clock position; the date wheel has a white background and black numeral. I wish the colours had been inverted, meaning dark background with white numeral to keep the date wheel subtle and less obtrusive. Alternatively, I would have liked the date wheel to be at the 6 o’clock position to keep the dial of the watch symmetrical and maybe cause I have yet to own a watch with the date wheel at that position… still craving for it.

The crown of the watch is signed with ‘&’ which adds a nice touch of design to the watch, as a lot of watches at this price point don’t tend to have signed crowns. The buckle of the watch strap also has ‘BM&Y’ ingrained into it which again adds further detail into the watch, you know have a good quality product here.

My watch came with 2 straps, a blue suede quick release strap and a Milanese mesh strap. I have been trying the watch with both straps and I say they both have their pros and cons but much more pros! The Milanese mesh strap is so comfortable and makes the watch look like a watch costing a few thousand dollars. The blue suede strap gives the watch a more casual feel so it would equally feel at home on your wrist if you were to wear it with a t-shirt and jeans rather than a suit. The quick release pin on the suede strap makes this an easy watch to change straps if you wish or you do not have a spring bar tool, so convenience is a major pro for this watch!

Now looking deeper into the internals of the watch, it uses a BM2130 automatic movement which is essentially a Seagull TY2130 automatic movement with the rotor having been decorated very nicely with the BM&Y name and has a The Côtes de Genève (meaning Swiss Stripes) too. This is usually used on higher end Swiss watches so I am surprised to find it here which is delightful. The watch makers have put a great amount of time and effort to decorate and finish the watch movement to a better standard than that of an ebauche (standard) movement. This movement contains 25 jewels and they can be viewed with the exhibition case back. One criticism I would mention about the watch is the hand winding movement on the crown, it is slightly stiff but then again this watch is automatic so placing it on a watch winder or giving it a slight shake then wearing it will do the job nicely.

The watch has a frequency oscillation of 28,800 beats per hour which means the seconds hand vibrates 8 times per second in order to get that silky smooth movement rather than a typical ticking from a quartz watch. The watch has a power reserve of approximately 36-40 hours and on testing I have had about 38 hours, which is also typical of Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement. Therefore, it matches that of a Swiss movement nonetheless. I am still learning about watch movements but I would say that thus Seagull TY2130 movement gives the Sellita SW200 (another Swiss clone of the ETA 2824-2 movement) and the ETA 2824-2 a good run for its money! 

In terms of water resistance this watch has a rating of 5ATM (50 meters water resistance) meaning it can withstand splashes of water and even showering. This is actually good for a dress watch as most are usually 3ATM (30 meters water resistance). Nonetheless, you will try avoid getting the watch wet due to the leather denim straps which should avoid getting wet at all costs. Also, as an indication of how robust the watch is, Rickie even wears his BM&Y watch whilst playing tennis during his free time… then there are brands like Rolex who tell you that you should take your watch off whilst you play golf.

BM&Y Watches also offer 1-year international warranty on the movement only so if there are any issues with time keeping or parts needs repairing on the movement they will repair it for you, which is another bonus and pleasant service they offer.

In relation to the style, this watch design should be considered unisex as it has similar design cues to say a Daniel Wellington Watch. The design is classic and vintage so should appeal to both the female and male gender. Furthermore, with the recent trend of boyfriend watches, i.e. females wearing larger male watches. These watches will be equally as appealing to females now that they wear 40mm and above sized watches.

Overall, the BM&Y watch at this price point is a great timepiece! I have received many more compliments whilst wearing this watch than some of my expensive Swiss timepieces in my watch collection. This watch has a classic vintage style catered for modern day times and along with a reliable movement that would last many years to come. The watch is also quite robust for a dress watch and has many nice features such as 5ATM. Therefore, BM&Y Watches gives you a timeless vintage design, a good movement and at the price point it is difficult to find much competition whether it be in the independent watch market or in your brick and mortar/ high street shops.

Thanks for reading my post!