ON THE WRIST: Pagani Design PD-1617 'Aquaracer Homage' NH35 Watch

PD-1617

Well, I bet you weren't expecting this? To be honest, neither was I, but see... I regularly watch the 'Just One More Watch' YouTube channel and while most of the micro-brand watches Jody reviews do little more than pass the time while I'm eating my lunchtime sandwiches, this was bound to pique my interest being a blatant TAG Heuer Aquaracer knock off.

I remember when I first saw one of these and straight away it occurred to me that it was ridiculous that they were able to openly market something so similar. Why bother to fake an Aquaracer when you could buy a box load of these and put a TAG Heuer logo on the dial? Well, we'll come back to that later... but for now let's take an honest look at this Pagani Design PD-1617.

Like the real Aquaracer this one is 43mm in diameter, but right off the bat I have to say I don't think this would fool anybody who was familiar with the real deal, but (hopefully) it's not intended to. All Pagani Design are really doing is exploiting a growing market for cheap 'luxury' goods by producing 'look-a-like' watches at ridiculously low prices. They don't just make TAG Heuer style watches either; obviously they sell Rolex Submariner homages and even a very nice Yacht Master (which I must admit I kinda hovered over for a while on eBay) alongside their own creations - which admittedly probably don't make up the majority of their sales. But crucially they are not passing them off as 'genuine', and I'd much rather someone who wants an Aquaracer but can't afford one bought one of these rather than a 'fake' TAG Heuer..

So what are we talking about here price wise? What do you reckon? If I didn't know and somebody showed me this watch I would honestly have guessed somewhere between £200 and £300 pounds, maybe even a little bit more. But I would be way off. This watch was bought off eBay, brand new for £74.99. Let's think about that for a moment, the cheapest genuine TAG Heuer rubber strap costs about £45, the last one I bought cost £115, the textile strap for my WAY208C Aquaracer cost £220. You could have three of these watches for the same money as one textile strap!

Right, so it must be garbage then, right? Not at all. For a start, this has a ceramic bezel. It also has a very solid and weighty steel bracelet, which of itself doesn't necessary mean anything (I do chuckle when people selling watches on eBay say it's 'really heavy' as if that must be a good thing) but it does give the impression that the watch is 'substantial' if nothing else.

I was under the impression that this watch was powered by a Seiko NH35 movement, but it actually carries a Seagull ST6. That's not something I am familiar with but I understand it's fairly decent although the power reserve tops out at a fairly lowly 30hrs. It also has a date function and a cyclops, the typical 'Aquaracer' horizontally slatted dial and the bracelet features a push button milled deployment clasp. Indeed, you have to wonder how they can actually make it, sell it at this price and make a profit? Or perhaps you start to wonder exactly how much it costs to make a genuine Aquaracer in comparison?

Admittedly the lume is a little bit of a let down in comparison to a real Aquaracer, and that rotating bezel is not the best, it's got a lot of play in it and it doesn't want to sit square (then again neither does my 500M Aquaracer!). But still, let's not forget the price of this watch: £74.99. And you know what, if you can get watches like this for that money there really is no excuse for wearing dreadful fashion watches like MVMT and Daniel Wellington.

Is it morally reprehensible though?

Well I guess here we get into a complex ethical issue, is it right that TAG Heuer can spend millions of pounds building their brand by sponsoring sporting events, paying for advertising and enabling 'brand ambassadors', not to mention spending a fortune on R&D only for someone else to copy their product and sell it for a tiny fraction of the price?

No, but unfortunately we live in a world where the second biggest economy in the world doesn't give two hoots about intellectual property, which is why 'branding' is more important than 'design' these days. People can rip off your designs all they like, but it doesn't actually become a 'fake' until they put your branding on it.

And that's where this get's a little uncomfortable, because looking on eBay at these watches I did come across a listing where you can buy the Pagani Design PD-1617 with TAG Heuer branding on it (I have sent a link to TAG Heuer, though I haven't had a response so I'm guessing my contact is furloughed at the moment) and unfortunately that does raise a red flag. I'm sure Pagani themselves aren't involved in this scam and I wouldn't dream of suggesting otherwise, but they are facilitating the fakers. That said, there's any number of companies making 'Submariner' homages and I'm sure you can probably find some of them with Rolex branding applied, so it's rather unfair to single out one brand.

I get that TAG Heuer and other watch brands like them have a lot of overheads and those overheads are very important at the end of the day because they generate the luxury price tag that TAG Heuer can charge, but I'd be lying if I said handling this watch doesn't make you question the actual cost of a real Aquaracer (and it certainly makes you question the use of cheap pressed clasps on £1000+ Formula 1 models). If they can make it this good for £74.99, what could they do for £150?

And I can't help wondering exactly why it is that they are selling it so damn cheaply, when it feels so much better than it is. I guess the micro-brand market is a crowded place these days and 'affordable' watch companies have really stepped up their game over the last few years. And yes, to be honest I can totally see why someone might want to spend their £1800 budget on a collection of twenty look-a-like watches rather than one Calibre 5 Aquaracer, even though I won't be one of them.