Maen Hudson 38 GMT - AGM.02 - Review

I bought and received the Hudson last week, quick shipping. I posted my thoughts on someone else's post but I'd thought I'd make my own post and let everyone know my thoughts (if anyone was considering one of these).

Packaging was average. Not as great as Christopher Ward, maybe about the same as Steinhart. Pretty average packaging and bare minimum things included. (Leather travel pouch, warranty card, welcome/thank you letter). A microfiber cloth or sizing tool would have been nice to include as well.

The size is perfect. I have 16cm or 6.25" wrists, and I like conservative sizes so this is great for a slender wrist.

Quality: Brushing/polishing competes with Christopher Ward IMO, but the case design is more slab sided and not as intricately designed as CW light catcher case. There’s a few things it does better than watches in this price range and a few things it doesn’t. The brushing is maybe on par with modern Omegas including my Speedmaster as well as the Tudor BB58. The bezel action is fine, but I’m missing crisp clicks, the upside is it’s quiet, albeit a bit difficult to turn at first but I hope it’ll break in and get smoother. No backplay at all, but the clicks are harsh and quick, I like slower 'molasses' feeling bezels like Seiko. The bracelet is fantastic, and the links themselves are on par with the Omega/Tudor and better than CW, aside from the subpar screws (I think Steinhart does bracelet screws better). The screws are not well finished, soft metal, rough, and difficult to screw. The clasp has excellent brushing as well, great button resistance, I do find some rough edges and the inside of the clasp is pedestrian with a few tooling marks remaining. I do wish the clasp tolerances were a bit tighter against the bracelet. I would like to see less gap between the bracelet and clasp. Not sure why the date wheel is white, I think you can get black date wheels for a Soprod A10? Applied logo would've been a nice touch in an already matte looking dial where the only shiny things are the hands.

The lume is adequate, it’s not BRIGHT but it seems to last long. Not Tudor or Omega diver level, but definitely usable and legible in the dark morning hours. tldr; Lume doesn't start out bright but it plateaus and stays legible for longer than most non-divers. No splotchy or uneven lume. I'd prefer X1 C3, it's better than X1 C1...but the X1 C1 is adequate in this watch. The lume has a yellowish tinge color, but it's not faux patina, I think it's just the formula of lume/or batch they used and I think it looks fantastic for this design.

Timekeeping is great. +6s a day out of the box and settled to +2s a day. Crown screw action is good but a bit disappointed that crown does not disengage winding when screwing in crown. I don't want to wind the watch when it's already fully wound, and I'm just setting the time. The dial quality is fine for the price point, the texture looks fantastic and so does the print but I do wish the black of the dial was more matte or charcoal for a more premium look. The bezel insert looks great, but I'm still not sure if it's ceramic or steel (the website doesn't specify).

AR coating is pretty good. Time is legible in all kinds of light. The hour markers contrast against the matte black dial well. The hands finishing looks fantastic at first glance but closer inspection reveals tiny scratches, possible during manufacturing or handling for assembly. At $900 I'd like to see perfect hand sets on a watch.

All in all its a fantastic watch, mostly for its looks, size, and accurate movement. Brushing on case and bracelet is great. The dial and bezel make for a very versatile watch for all kinds of straps. I paid $917 shipped to my door. I think it's worth it, but not for more. The bracelet is better than CW despite no microadjust, but I wish the bezel was ball bearing 120 click. I wish the crown disengaged when screwing in, and the dial printing could use thicker use of lume and text print.

Let me know if anyone has any questions.