Review: Parnis Automatic Power Reserve

Parnis is a Chinese watch maker. Their watches are cheap and cheerful – this one cost me £ 58 on the internet. So expectations shouldn’t be too high.

Parnis Automatic Power Reserve Tourbillon – pleasant dial

Firstly, I notice that this is not an illegal copy of another watch – this is a Parnis and looks like one. The design might remind you of some IWC watches, but this is not a copy of anything. Good on them.

The leather strap is nice and thick, and made of real leather.

The back of the watch is glass, so you can see the movement in action.

The face is rather nice – at 10 o’clock, there is a dial for the current date, and at 2 o’clock, a dial for the power reserve which is actually fairly accurate.

As a feature, you can see the balance wheel through the watch face.

At 6 o’clock, there is an opening that lets you see the balance wheel. An additional set of gears drives a triangular contraption and a small second hand on top of the balance wheel. The balance wheel itself, the pallets, the escapement wheel, etc. are all static and don’t move.

This Parnis has the Sea-Gull ST2505 movement. The balance wheel swings at 21.600 bph – so 6 swings a second, which explains partly why this watch is actually a decent timekeeper.

Glass back of the Parnis

The watch has a very solid feel to it, and it is quite chunky. Diameter with crown is 45mm, and the thickness is 14mm.

I’ve worn it for a couple of weeks, and after regulating it a bit, it kept a fairly constant +4s / day. Not bad for £ 58 at all!

The crown, when pulled out to the first stop, halts the second hand (hacking second) so it’s easy to set the watch exactly to the second.

On the left side at 8 o’clock, a little push button can be pressed to advance the date hand by one day per press.

As this watch is pretty new, I didn’t want to take it completely apart, but just have a peek inside to see how it is made.

The movement with dial taken out of its case.

The finish of the ring that holds the movement in place is a bit dubious – with pieces of metal sticking out! Oddly enough, it is this part only that has such a bad finish – the rest of the watch is executed rather well for the money

The bottom of the movement with the dial removed. The second hand on the fake tourbillon is still in place. You can see the markings for adjusting the date and power reserve hands.

The top of the movement with the automatic winder removed

Dial and hands back in place and ready to go into the case again

Movement back in case, case ring not screwed in yet

Movement secured in the case

… and the watch is assembled again

Let’s see what the timegrapher says:

Position Accuracy s/day Amplitude Beat Error
FU 1 257 0.5
FD 1 286 0.1
CR -3 253 0.0
CU -4 216 1.1
CD -1 252 0.0
CL -4 248 0.1

Overall, I am very impressed what you can get for £ 58 from China. This is a decent automatic watch that runs quite accurately, with a pleasant look and a nice case.

I bought the open balance version out of curiosity, but would definitely recommend the plain versions – they look nicer, and who wants a fake tourbillon?

68 thoughts on “Review: Parnis Automatic Power Reserve

  1. Hi – I have been tinkering with a couple of St-25 and found the reason of most of the rotor noise: 1. the small copper spring next to the rotor being too tight keeps continuously pushing the gears into the rotor when it spins in the non-winding direction. 2. All the winding wears are made of the same material.

    It gets significantly reduced if you loosen the tension of the spring by changing its geometry a bit and also apply a very small quantity of oil in its tip – the oil will eventually gets distributed into the gears further reducing the noise.

  2. Just bought a couple of hours 2 units of Parnis watches.
    – GMT (OR) and Diver (RD) for $303. I cant wait to see the beautiful puppies on my wrist.

    I bought if form their web and not not from ebay or other reseller. Just to be sure the quality i got is much better.

  3. One should read the story about the origins of the Sea Gull movement, in order
    to understand why they so precise.

  4. In the same model that I acquired, either manual or automatic loading. The pointer is no more than 45 hours. It came totally unregulated and one of the broken Incabloc springs. It was replaced by one of a suta ETA movement.

  5. I bought my Parnis a few months ago and I have been useing it every day. Keeps perfect time and I have no rotor noise at all. Love this watch. i am very happy so far

  6. Hi I have a parnis manual wind but I need the small non return clip on the main winder cog does anyone know were I would get one please

  7. I regulated my Parnis Power Reserve with the timegrapher and got lucky and found the magic spot . It’s been going now for 28 hours being spot on “Time.is” .. It’s running like a quartz I can’t believe it…also the amount its wound doesn’t have much effect on the rate…This watch is surprising me ..

        • Had a problem with the power reserve going passed the 45 and ending up pointing to 3 o’clock.. Managed to fix it by manually winding the watch untill the power reserve hand went up to the 45 again … This happened because I stupidly gave it a manual wind when the reserve was pointing to the 45 …. Moral of story is to wear the watch to wind it and don’t play around with the manual wind ..

          • No modelo igual que adquiri, tanto faz carregar manual ou automaticamente. O ponteiro não passa da indicação de 45 hs. Veio totalmente desregulado e uma das molas do Incabloc quebrada. Foi substituída por uma de um movimento suisso ETA.

          • In the same model that I acquired, either manual or automatic loading. The pointer is no more than 45 hours. It came totally unregulated and one of the broken Incabloc springs. It was replaced by one of a Swiss ETA movement.

  8. How many jewels does this movement has? I read somewhere 38, but I can’t believe that, because other watches have 21 – 25, and chronographs and more complicated ones have more.

    Also why don’t you recommend adjusting the time accuracy when opening it? What is the regular way to regulate it, as far as I know – it is by hand – moving at very few distance the lever by hand, or there’s a special tool to move it? Why do you think the spring can be broken/bent? If I move it by hand, but ultra carefully, I think it will be ok, I’ve done this before and regulated a watch being ahead with 2 minutes per day – to 20 seconds per day.

  9. I have a power reserve Parnis and is runs well. You can remove the mini second hand, but why bother! The auto wind is noisy because of the large glass case back which amplifies tye sound of the counter weight winder. No big issue…just don’t move your arm:)

    • I recently bought a Parnis model Caliber BL from Parnis.org. This watch is beautiful and the quality is obviously fantastic. The Seagull movement is smooth as silk and silent, no noice at all. Parnis.org quality checks each watch prior to sending them out, and they give a 2 year warranty with each Parnis watch. Their customer service could not be better. Everything on this watch works perfectly and it keeps perfect time. I highly recommend this watch and Parnis.org.

        • Why do not you think that? I have watched Parnis with the ST3600, I have been very happy for two years now. It’s a pilot watch, very nice and accurate. I can not say anything wrong.

  10. I have A Parnis hand wind watch and it works perfectly – better time then my $ 4,500 Rolex , which I am going to sell as it loses a minute a week…. My Parniis is prettier and looks very ” French” according to my friends so bye, bye Rolex….! Very pleased with my Parnis after wearing it 3 years . Hasn’t lost a minute since 2012 !! Amazing watch !!
    Cmdr. R. Wintermute , US Coast Guard

    • Amazing! To continue this way, the Rolex, with its lower clocks, made with disqualified workmanship, will soon collapse and close its doors. Sad.

  11. I am seriously thinking of buying a Parnis on looks alone. Are they really worth having, considering all the negative comments. I can’t understand why they are sold “without
    Tags”. Can somebody explain, please?

    • I have 3 Parnis watches and I can assure you that they are excellent and stylish watches for the price. Many people have commented on them.

  12. I bought this watch Parnis and the only thing what annoys me is the noise coming from the Movement back advice on how to fix it.

    • It’s called the auto winder, and it is supposed to make some noise. You paid USD 100 for this watch, and you should keep that in mind. It’s not a Rolex.

    • Prior to purchasing my Parnis model Caliber BL from Parnis.org., I had read that many sellers do not oil the movement prior to shipping, saying that oiling is left up to the customer. I checked with Parnis.org. before ordering mine, and was assured that their Parnis watches are not only oiled, but quality checked prior to shipping to the customer. So, I believe that it’s best to check with the seller prior to purchase just to make sure that it is oiled and quality checked before making the purchase. I am very glad that I decided to buy from Parnis.org., instead of some other seller. Plus, Parnis.org. gives a 2 year warranty with each watch they sell, which is not so with other sellers. Also, customer service is the best with Parnis.org. I own many automatic watches, and my Parnis is now my favorite in my collection.

      • You are fake as fuck, a spam operating on behalf on the fake parnis.org website. The website is fake and is only made for looting money, 2 months and still didnt get my order and on top no one replies.

  13. Hi,
    I have the same parnis ST2505 but it is gaining around +18 sec a day now. Can you please guide how to regulate the watch to get better accuracy ? Sorry I dont have timegrapher.

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  15. hi!dors the rotor of the parnis work in both directions, or does it move freely. in one direction ? thanks!

  16. hi!does the rotor work correctly,or only in one direction,please?i have heard some rotor were moving freely….. thanks

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  18. I’m about to purchase one of these watches (after much reading about them). I notice that your watch has the main second hand and the secondary second hand almost exactly lined up with each other. Also, your smaller second hand seems to be exactly centered between two of the pinwheel triangles (I guess that’s what you’d call it??). That seems to look the most correct. I also know from looking at a multitude of images of this watch from various places around the internet that those hands being lined up is a rarity and that the small second hand may be pointing no telling where in relation to the pinwheel. Did your’s come that way or did you set it up that way upon reasembling it? I know nothing about disasembling a watch, but I’m guessing that it would be a fairly inexpensive proposition to have a watch repair person rectify that if mine were not lined up upon arrival (I don’t want to turn an inexpensive watch into a moderately expensive one with costly modification). Am I correct in assuming that, or am I just better off trying to ignore it. Or is there some secret to getting them lined up without disasembling the watch? Thanks in advance, and thanks for the thorough review!

    • Hi Kris,

      The two second hands lined up pretty well when I bought the watch, so I might just have been lucky there. But it’s not a big deal to line them up properly. You have to take the movement out of the case, take one of the second hands off, and re-set it properly. Still work that has to be done, and you will have to fork out roughly a quarter to a third of the purchase price to have that done 😉

      I would recommend living with whatever line up of the hands you will encounter on your watch. Considering the price, it isn’t really worth it to have work carried out on it.

      That said, mine is still ticking happily 😉

      • Hi Christian,

        Thanks for the quick reply! Just thought I’d throw you a quick update on my watch purchase. I purchased the watch through an Ebay seller that is supposedly the same person who runs one of the more reputable websites that sell “Parnis” watches. The seller was wangxiaohong522. I mentioned in the comments on the order that I would really like to receive one that had second hands that lined up with each other. I recieved a shipment notification about 12 minutes after I placed the order, so I wasn’t hopeful that anyone had taken my request into account. But, when I received the watch 9 days later (fast shipping for Hong Kong to Houston, TX USA!) I was pleased to find that the second hands were in fact lined up almost perfectly! The secondary second hand is not centered between two “triangles” as your’s is, but hey, I’m happy!! Either this seller is assembling them this way or he did in fact pay attention to my request (unless I just got very lucky!). So, kudos to this seller! I love the watch in person, by the way. And I ordered mine on a pretty nice, tan, leather strap with a seemingly good quality deployment clasp. I’m actually fairly impressed with the strap. It’s as nice as other watchbands I’ve owned on decent, domestically bought watches from decent brands, and it is real leather. FYI, although I don’t know much about the inner workings of watches, I’m fairly experienced with leather craft as I spent time in college working for a leather company. It’s far from the finest example of leathercraft I’ve ever seen, but it is nice looking, has a good leather smell, and is finished well. It actually looks very similar to what I can see of your’s, but as I said, in tan.

        Kris

        • Hello! The small (and useless) second hand, on the model I purchased, was immediately withdrawn, leaving the clock more austere and less ornate. Luckily, my piece came out totally unregulated and with one of the springs of the Incabloc damaged due to poor fitting. It was replaced by one of an ETA movement. After some work, the clock went back to working reasonably.

    • I just got one of these and the two second hands are synchronized.I love the watch. It’s currently running about 8 sec a day fast.

  19. Asi es cristian utilice el google traduce,y espero que hables español,mi duda sobre este reloj es simple admite cargarlo manualmente a rosca,muchas gracias por tu atencion

  20. I praise contribution chistian, alone I still have a doubt for knowing, it is possible to load manually to rope? For if I it do not take great position.

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  22. I have a Parnis chronometer – a U boat lookalike (PO763/OS10 50mm) and until today it has kept perfect time. Suddenly the minute hand loosened and is flopping around; is this repairable? I know its only £60 but it seems such a nice watch – solid and beautifully machined.

  23. Nice watch, got one for 2 weeks. Only one thing feels uncomfortable – very loud “spring noise” when automatic winder moves.
    Is this normal by design?

  24. Hi
    I have a 47mm parnis in a Panerai style – appears to have the same movement as the pictures you have shown here.

    The problem I have is I cannot get it to run – it has a small hacking second hand that just wont move.

    Everything appears to be free and moving (it has a glass back) but it just wont run.
    Any ideas –

    Thanks
    Paul

  25. I like this watch, I got one. There is only one thing though that bothers me, it is the secondary small second hand, Its odd. Do you think it can be removed?

      • Have you done this? Im afraid that doing so could interfere on the working of the movement… this little hand seems to be holding the pivot on place…

        Also the date hand is misaligned , so I will open it anyways to fix this.

        • No, I haven’t done this as I’m really not in the business of modifying watches. You leave them as they are, they only lose value if you change anything.

          I would be surprised if that little hand would hold the pivot in place, though.

  26. I agree that marketing these as “tourbillons” of any sort is improper and needlessly devalues the design.

    Oddly enough, when sellers openly market these as an “open-heart” (and they sometimes do), then it isn’t deceptive…and it makes a good thing of their smart decision to have the balance moved to the front (dial side) for looks.

  27. Pingback: Parnis Automatic Power Reserve Tourbillon partial tear-down

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