Review: Tandorio - who?

I don't have a clue who they are, and frankly I don't really care. If I want history I'll look to other pieces in my collection. It's another AliX brand and so far the watches I've had from AliX have been better quality than the price point would suggest. This was just labelled as "SKX Mod", no model number or reference which is refreshingly honest. A version without branding was available, but it looks odd without something below the 12.

I bought this on a whim, not something I usually do. I saw the dial on the standard watch and was tempted by it, but something wasn't right:

I realised that I don't like the plain bezel, a few millimetres of metal around the dial don't really do it for me (though I do have a couple). This realisation prompted my earlier poll. There were a couple of options with a blue diving bezel but I have a teal Scuba Dude with teal bezel. I figured the brushed steel would give this a more icy blue feel overall, and be less of an overlap with the Vostok. (There are also versions with richer blue, black, and white dials).

The standard version cost about £10 less, this diver was £60 including tax (currently £60 excl tax), which makes it cheaper than some of my Vostoks purchased directly from their online store. This is my only non-Vostok diver. For this you get a standard cardboard box, foam padding, a booklet and the watch. It's an NH35 movement in a nicely shaped case with a 4 o'clock crown, paired with a jubilee bracelet.

The specs:

Movement: NH35, unfinished. On each day I've worn it, over the 24hrs, it's been within +1/-1 which is just stellar. And no doubt a fluke! I may put it on a timegrapher, the results would be interesting. In my world an NH35 rates 3/5 but I'm bumping it up in this case to 4.

Size: 41mm X 13.4mm, lug 45.4mm

Strap: SS Jubilee, 20mm, three micro- adjustment positions. Surprisingly good feel, just enough flex, square edged against the skin but no rough edges, good weight, easy to size. Impressive.

Case: A standard 4pm crown case, I really like the shaping (nice in profile). Well finished.

Caseback: SS, screw. I've replaced it with a sapphire back even though it's an unfinished movement. The original caseback was a little higher than it needed to be, so the replacement hasn't added any height.

WR: Marked 200m

Bezel: 120 click anti-clockwise with 10 minute markers engraved, lume pip at 12.

Crystal: Sapphire, no AR that I can make out.

Dial: I love the look of this dial, various silver blues in an asymmetric pattern. Standard dot pattern hour markers. A different style of handset which is ok, I like the second hand with the pointer split between red and lume for visibility. The dial catches the light really nicely, which is the whole point of this package to me. Note that the look isn't quite as advertised, on their photos (below) the dial looks MOP with more relief than in actuality. 3.5/5

Lume: Standard layout of green dots with excellent showing; the 12 bezel pip is blue. At 4am it was still very effective. If this is possible at this price point, then why...?

Overall: Amazing quality for the money. It's comfortable on the wrist, build feels solid, and there's a heft to it. It really catches the light and it's a different look for me. Added bonus of accuracy which was not expected! Quality marked as 3/5 because despite all this it's still off the shelf case, bracelet, movement and there's no AR on the crystal.