San Martin SN0115 Variant Review

San Martin is a Chinese watch company that has a well deserved reputation of making high quality homages and original designs with excelent specs and finishing at a very competitive price point. They do a lot of releases, and sometimes they do something a bit different and it flies under the radar; this is one such watch. It is a SN0115, which in itself nothing unusual, but this limited run color palette flew under the radar and I thought It deserved a bit of attention,

Long back story, I saw it first get posted on the Chinese Watches subreddit in these colors with the San Martin representative asking for feedback on what they should do for a custom caseback for this color way. I suggested a lizard of some sort, thinking the gold and orange was reminiscent of a desert motif with some green for the cacti but I digress. I recall the thread being met with mixed input and no one really seemed excited about the piece one way or another. It seemed like they had something planned for this release as a special edition from the way the representative was talking about it - I could be misremembering but they may have mentioned a run of 200 units or so.

Anyways, I liked the color way a lot, made a mental note to keep an eye out for the next post about it and... promptly forgot about it. There was no further mention of it on Reddit, but the next time I saw it, it was out of stock on AliExpress, listed along the other color ways of the SN0115 but greyed out.

I was dismayed, but months later came across it on eBay - paid over retail for a San Martin, imagine? Finally my white whale that had slipped through my fingers was on my wrist and... I felt nothing. I'll be honest - the watch sat basically unworn for the better part of a year, maybe longer.

Then I saw a [WTB] on the Chinese watches subreddit, someone else was looking for one and was willing to pay retail, so I started talking to them. I was ready to sell and I put it on my wrist one last time, and I had the realization that there was nothing in my collection like this, and I'd never find something this funky to replace it. I did a complete 180 on this piece in that moment and it's been one of my favorites since. I know a lot of people have a piece they've regretted selling - this would have been mine.

On to the watch itself - at this point the SN0115 has been reviewed ad nauseam so I'll focus on what makes this watch special: the dial. It's hard to capture, but there's a subtle gold flake that gives it a beautiful retro feel without feeling too stuffy. I'm not a gold guy to be clear - but the way it's toned down by the surrounding dark chapter ring and dark green bezel makes it less flash than you might expect from a gold dial watch. The orange indices are possibly a polarizing choice but I think the color matches the theme well. Unfortunately, calling the lume mediocre would be a stretch, and that's the only complaint I have of the watch. It glows a faint orange but by no means would be functional overnight.

The handset is the usual from this lineup, color matched perfectly to the indices. The pop of orange on the second hand works well visually for breaking up the dial and making the gold/orange not blend together too much. The orange triangle and lume pip matched to the second hand and indices respectively draw the whole thing together and prevents any one design choice from being overpowering.

The 120 click ceramic bezel is aligned perfectly, snaps with satisfying haptic feedback, and is a beautiful shade of green. Somewhere between forest and British racing but I'm a watch nerd not a pantone geek.

The bracelet is probably the best I've handled by San Martin and I wish they'd do more of this sort of "chainmail" style bracelet but it's absolutely ace. OTF adjustment works with no issues, screws were a bit hard to get out for sizing but that's a one time problem.

The is well finished, brushed with polished chamfered edges. Drilled lugs are always appreciated but it's never come off the stock steel. It would have been a nice touch for them to color match a funky NATO but again, it's never left the bracelet so I am more than happy as is. The case curves nicely to the wrist and the 39.5mm case fits most wrists well. Mine is 7.25 in for reference.

The crystal is sapphire, unsure if it has any ar coating but it's invisible at some angles. I love the way it curves into the bezel so seamlessly. Excuse the arm hair on that profile shot.

Oh an if you were wondering - the caseback was blank, so nothing came of that.

As I said earlier, this watch has been well covered so I mostly wanted to share my story and what makes the watch special.

I'm not sure what happened with what San Martin had planned for the watch, but I think the design is a knockout and a sleeper hit in their massive catalog.