# IK Colouring Skeleton, what movement?



## mcwc (Sep 2, 2008)

I've been trolling this forum for the last few weeks and this is my first post.

So, after buying my first automatic watch, a Timex SL Automatic and the other watch is a Seiko 5 given to me from my father, I have fallen into watches. First, it was cameras, now watches. *SIGH*

I was on dealextreme browsing through their selection of cheap Chinese watches and the IK Colouring automatic skeleton caught my eye. For $20, I bought it just for fun. What can I lose?

I've had the watch for over a week and I am quite surprised at the accuracy. It has not been adjusted and it is much better than my Timex and as good as my adjusted Seiko 5. It is about -9 to 5 seconds a day. The bezel doesn't turn, the crystal is dome plastic, and a 40 hour power reserve but I can't complain for its price. The movement does allows for manual winding but it does not hack. From the pictures, what movement is used in this watch?

Oh BTW, because of the Affordable Watches & Chinese Mechanical Watches forums on WUS, I have an Alpha Chronograph on order o|.


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## SquishyPanda (Mar 13, 2008)

Looks like the good ol' Standard to me. As far as I know, all of IK Colouring's watches use a Standard. You get good ones, and you get bad ones. Sounds like you got a good one, though.

The Chinese watch wiki (link at the top of Chinese Mechanical forum) has a good write-up on the Standard movement. Pretty interesting if you're into the technical stuff.


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## mcwc (Sep 2, 2008)

Yeah, I thought it would be using the Chinese standard movement but I wanted to confirm it.

I've read the wiki on the standard movement before but I have reread it and it seems that there's no possible way to determine where the movement came from?


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## Chascomm (Feb 13, 2006)

mcwc said:


> Yeah, I thought it would be using the Chinese standard movement but I wanted to confirm it.
> 
> I've read the wiki on the standard movement before but I have reread it and it seems that there's no possible way to determine where the movement came from?


Basically, that's right. Nobody seems to want to sign them these days.

There are several skeleton Standards on the market, and a few auto Standards. There are a couple of new auto Standard patterns with a wide auto module bridge that I would guess have come from factories that had previously only build hand-winds. This new all-skeltonized Standard auto is interesting as it uses a skeletonized version of the narrow auto module bridge design common to all the older Standard autos. This suggests to me that it is from one of the factories that have been making Standard autos for a while and until now have lacked an auto skeleton in their product range. Shanghai and Liaoning would be my best guesses.

Gigfy has an eye for this kind of detail. He might have something to add.

I've just had one more thought. A couple of members have hand-wind Standard skeltons that are apparently confirmed Shainghai-built. As each Standard skeleton base calibre is cut slightly different from its competitors, we might be able to confirm or eliminate Shanghai from the list of possibles.


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## SquishyPanda (Mar 13, 2008)

Shanghai basic skeleton Standard:








(Crown of the watch bears the Shanghai logo) I'm no expert, but the basic cuts look pretty different from mcwc's watch.

IK Colouring lady's Skeleton Standard (unknown manufacture):








On the left is an automatic Standard from a Goer-branded watch. It's not too apparent in the picture, but the lady's one is a few millimeters smaller in diameter than the men's one, but I think maybe the cuts are more similar to mcwc's. Possibly IK Colouring uses the same supplier for all their Standards?

edit: On closer inspection, my Shanghai has a similar cut around the bridge screw near the mainspring, while the lady's unknown has a similar cut at the balance. But what I can see of the central bridge on mcwc's watch (peeking out from under the auto module) is different from both of mine.


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## Chascomm (Feb 13, 2006)

Thank you, Detective Squishypanda. Scratch Shanghai from our enquiries.

IK Colouring seem to be quite an opportunistic purchaser or parts. They don't seem to have a strong partneship with any movement manufacturer. I've seen examples with the PTS-Liaocheng ML-7101, the Hangzhou Xihu auto and various other movements.


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## walpow (Jul 30, 2008)

I've got the same watch as the OP. If I remember correctly, it was about $10 for the watch and $20 for shipping. It's simply too weird for me to wear, but I took off the strap and keep it on my desk, and whenever I need a break I shake it and watch the innards. Cheap therapy.

I'm also fond of the subdials. The center one is the hours in Roman numerals, to match the Arabic ones around the edge. The other seems to be minutes, but there's no hand.


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## mcwc (Sep 2, 2008)

Oh well, thanks in trying to ID the movement.

For $20, if it is a low to standard quality standard movement and it breaks, it was worth it for the cheap thrill. 

Though, my dad bought a regular men's IK automatic watch for fun and it hacks and manual winds. It definitely sounds like IK gives the contract to the lowest bidder.


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## delaguer (Oct 14, 2008)

I don't mean to resurrect an old thread, but since I just received my IK Colouring watch two days ago I thought I'd post here rather than creating a new thread.

Anyway, one member in the affordables forum posted a thread about something that he got from dealextreme. So I check out the site and I was surprised to see how affordable the things that they sell there, particularly the watch.

After learning that the site is legit, I decided to get one myself and after 3 weeks of waiting, I finally got my IK Colouring mechanical watch. 

I got the watch from dealextreme for $15 shipped, not bad right? 
The worst part is shipping however; I ordered on Dec 29, the watch left HK on Jan 7 :roll: Got it in my mailbox on Jan 13.










Spec:

Make / Model: IK Colouring Skeleton Dial (Stylish See-Thru Stainless Steel Semi-Automatic Mechanical Wristwatch according to dealextreme  )
Material: Stainless Steel
Movement: based on the pics by SquishyPanda, I think it is using Shanghai Standard movement as well. It's a hand wind and the manual states that if it's fully wound, it will run for 24 hour. So far it has been running good, no problem at all. 
Water Resistant: 1 ATM 
Dimension: 40mm Diameter w/o crown, 12mm height
Lug: 20mm
Lug-to-Lug: 45.5-46mm 
Weight: 108grams according to dealextreme
Lume: the lume on my analog casio is still better than this 

Packaging: watch was shipped in an envelope with bubble wraps. At first I was kind of worried that it would be damaged, but after I unwrapped it, I was glad that the watch is perfect; no scratch, crystal is clean, bracelet looks pretty good.










Crown is functional, unidirectional, but not really lined up straight to the 12 o'clock position as you can see from the 1st pic. :roll:










I was actually going to get the one that the OP had, but I thought it's just weird for a watch to have subdial but no hand on it :-s

So I get mine instead, and so far I am pretty happy with it. Not bad for a $15 watch. ;-)


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## SquishyPanda (Mar 13, 2008)

Definitely a Chinese Standard, but I've never seen one cut like that. Neat-looking, overall. For $15 you can't go wrong, right?


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## Jwvandegronden (Jul 18, 2012)

Hi gents,

This thread has grey hair, but the movement question was similar to mine, so hopefully it wasn't a carnal sin to resuscitate it.

I have been collecting automatic watches for quite some time now, mostly focusing on Bulova. I like their history, and the watches look great on the wrist, and are swiss made (depending which era of course).

But I also purchased an *IK Colouring* watch, and wondered which movement was in there too. Only recently through another watch aficionado I found out the case is "borrowed" from the Tag Monza, with this one having a balance wheel at 12, big date at 6, sun&moon at 9 and weekday at 3... Automatic watch runs smoothly, power reserve is less than 40, maybe a full day. I added a Hirsch leather strap, and I have to agree with quite a few people who say they like this one the best. A bit worrisome knowing how much I spent on the Accutrons... ;-)

I will try to post a picture later. But given the details here, could anyone chime in on the actual caliber? Thanks in advance!!


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## Triton9 (Sep 30, 2011)

What standard movt? Does it has a name or model number for it to called? To me, it looks like some Seagull ST5 with crude finishing? Probably some low grade movt.


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## Pawl_Buster (Mar 12, 2007)

Triton9 said:


> What standard movt? Does it has a name or model number for it to called? To me, it looks like some Seagull ST5 with crude finishing? Probably some low grade movt.


That would be the Chinese 'standard' movement as dictated by the government during the cultural revolutions days. You may recognize it as being called the 'tongji'. There may be a calibre number for it but I've never seen one.


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## ecthelion (Jun 4, 2011)

Pawl_Buster said:


> There may be a calibre number for it but I've never seen one.


This page indicates that its prototype designation was SZ-1, and that "tandard calibre codes are generally three characters prefixed by Z (Zhonggou = China) followed by two characters for the factory e.g. ZHZ = Hangzhou, ZSH = Shanghai, ZDL = Dalian, etc."

Also, from the same page: "Shanghai Number 2 Watch Factory's Baoshihua brand was the first Standard watch in production. The first batch actually bore the SZ-1 designation, before the factory-specific ZSE was introduced. Other early examples were the Beijing Number 1 Watch Factory ZB-1 (20 jewels), and the Shanghai Watch Factory SS7 (19 jewels)."

All indications suggest that those caliber numbers that are assigned are facility-specific (so the various companies, with and without names, that produce/license it use this to justify assigning their own caliber numbers to it, like Stuhrling Original, for instance, does) and that there is no single caliber number series (or any hard and fast rule on designations) that covers all variants of the Chinese Standard Movement.


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## Pawl_Buster (Mar 12, 2007)

ecthelion said:


> This page indicates that its prototype designation was SZ-1, and that "tandard calibre codes are generally three characters prefixed by Z (Zhonggou = China) followed by two characters for the factory e.g. ZHZ = Hangzhou, ZSH = Shanghai, ZDL = Dalian, etc."
> 
> Also, from the same page: "Shanghai Number 2 Watch Factory's Baoshihua brand was the first Standard watch in production. The first batch actually bore the SZ-1 designation, before the factory-specific ZSE was introduced. Other early examples were the Beijing Number 1 Watch Factory ZB-1 (20 jewels), and the Shanghai Watch Factory SS7 (19 jewels)."
> 
> All indications suggest that those caliber numbers that are assigned are facility-specific (so the various companies, with and without names, that produce/license it use this to justify assigning their own caliber numbers to it, like Stuhrling Original, for instance, does) and that there is no single caliber number series (or any hard and fast rule on designations) that covers all variants of the Chinese Standard Movement.




I'm not sure I would call any of these letter combinations(aside from SZ-1) calibres. The three letter designations as pointed out indicate the facility where the movement was made.
This would be similar to a Seiko 6309 made in the Suwa factory vs one made in the Daini factory...same calibre movement; different facilities.

Since the tongji was supposed to be a single calibre built to the same state dictated specifications and that parts would be interchangeable, the only differences would then be in jewel count, movement finish and ultimately quality/grade.

In the end; it's simplest and probably the most correct to just call it the Chinese 'standard' calibre or 'tongji' calibre since most of the new ones are not even stamped with facility letters any more..


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## BriceMunn (May 17, 2015)

Forgive me for resurrecting this thread well past it's sell by, but I figured this was the best place to pose my question. IK watches are still selling strong, and I recently saw an advert for the below pictured model. Very nice looking watch with a sturdy looking steel case and very attractive sub-dials, but I was hoping someone might be able to tell me what movement that is. I'm guessing it too is Chinese, but do you think it's reliable enough to warrant the £80 price tag this watch carries?


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## Thrax (Oct 6, 2012)

I would never ever ever ever ever spend 80 quid on an IK Colouring. These are $50 watches, tops.

It looks like some sort of Hangzhou movement.


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## gigfy (Apr 13, 2007)

+1 for Hangzhou. Here is a good place to find the movement. PTS Resources Limited

cheers,
gigfy


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## BriceMunn (May 17, 2015)

Thanks for your help! I can see from the webpage you suggested that the movement isn't the most accurate (+/-45s/d), so might find a cheaper dealer and get this as a novelty.  For any other interested parties, here's the relevant specs from the PTS Resources site:


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## Chascomm (Feb 13, 2006)

+/-45 seconds per day is fairly standard for a mid-range movement. This is a factory specification that defines the _outside limit_ of acceptable performance i.e. if it's gaining 50 seconds in a day you can make a warranty claim but if it's only gaining 40 you can't. Even an ETA-type movement will only be spec'ed to within +/-30. Real world performance is likely to be a lot better (5 to 20 seconds) but if it isn't you can't claim something is wrong so long as it's within spec.


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